A Floral Maxi Dress And Lessons From Lafiya Lifestyle Expo 2018 In Abuja

Last Saturday was a memorable one for me and probably same for anyone that attended the Lafiya lifestyle expo by She Leads Africa. While I was excited to attend the event, I was also excited about visiting the location so that I can wear my floral maxi dress.

When I first bought the fabric, I had travel style in mind with palazzo trousers but when the fabric was delivered, I changed my mind and asked Portia to sew a maxi dress with sleeves for me. After receiving the finished dress, I thought of different styling options, channeling my inner Asiyami and Cynthia (SimplyCyn) with coconut on a tropical island or even at a beach in Lagos.

Well, that didn’t happen but I ended up in Sarius Palmetum, a botanical garden in Maitama, Abuja. I’ve always wanted to shoot an outfit there and the lafiya lifestyle expo was an opportunity to finally visit. I couldn’t think of a better opportunity to rock my floral maxi dress.

Below is the low-down of last saturday for me.

The Outfit

I wore my floral maxi dress with a black fabric belt, clear heels (first seen in my convertible denim dress outfit) and my black mini bag (seen with several outfits including my kimono shorts outfit).

The Event

On getting to the venue of the event in an Uber, the security men told the driver that he couldn’t take me further except I was a vendor. I knew wellness was part of the topics to be discussed but didn’t expect to start exercising walking that early on a motorable road. When I asked for the reason because I could clearly see a tarred road further, they said “na the order be that” (those are our orders).

It was weird and also uncomfortable because of the distance, hot weather plus my heels (which were comfortable, thank God). I was wondering if they did that to every vehicle including people going to the Indian restaurant at the end of that very long road. Anyways, I just walked away and let them be since I already made the mistake of not telling them I was going to the restaurant in the first place.

Nothing was going to ruin the day for me. *P.S. I saw cars drive down after I reached. When I was leaving, I made sure my Uber driver told them he was picking me up from the restaurant, I wasn’t about to do that long walk again.

Getting in was pretty straightforward because I bought my ticket online few days to the event. It was 2,500 naira online and 3,000 naira at the venue. I got there around 2pm and met speakers on the main stage rounding up. The host announced that we should head to the next session – a photography masterclass.

The Topics Covered

Main stage:
– Mental health, keeping your mind right and your game tight.
– Doing the most, the art of balance.
– Finding happiness and balance when life gives you lemons.
Masterclasses:
– Staying financially healthy, investments for the motherland mogul.
– Photography as therapy: How photography is beneficial for your mental health.
– The art of mingling: Networking your way to success.
Wellness Circles:
– Career woman on the go: Staying on the track with your health goals.
– Diet and health: Beyond the basics.
– Staying mentally healthy while navigating your work environment.
– Adulting, you’re not alone, embrace your network.
– Relationship building: How to get the most out of meet ups and networking events.

The Confusion

No one mentioned that all the sessions (main stage, master classes and wellness circles) will be going on at the same time. One needed to join one session at a time and move to a new session at the end. I kept wondering why there were other people meeting at different places till I figured it out and asked. Eventually, I was able to attend only two of the sessions and actually gained something from just one.

The Extras

There was a Maggi stand where free lunch was served. I didn’t eat because I ate at home just before leaving for the event. The food seemed nice as people enjoyed it. While I didn’t eat their food, I made sure to use their set up for my outfit photos as the colors blended.

Few vendors were at the event including familiar faces from Nigerian flavours, Fusion lifestyle, etc.

The Meetings

The event not only gave me the opportunity to rock my floral maxi dress, it helped me meet some abuja based bloggers. It’s very easy to follow each other on social media for years and never meet. Before the event, I was in contact with Sarah of Princess Audu because I knew she was going to attend the event.

We met at the event and subsequently, I met other bloggers: Larisa of Larisa le fleur (one of the bloggers who used my blogger to WordPress migration service), Vanessa of Style by Ohaha, Chioma of Yh its Chioma (host), Amaka of Mind of Amaka, a few photographers and different entrepreneurs.

Lessons Learnt

The first set of lessons were from the stand for photo sessions. There were inscriptions with the following:
– Sometimes, your faith has to be a down payment for your future.
– It’s not who you are that holds you back, it’s who you think you are.
– You can start late, you can look different, you can be uncertain, doesn’t matter, you can still succeed.
– Stop calling it a dream, start making a plan.

Afua Osei (co-founder of She Leads Africa) was the speaker for the networking class I joined. She gave us 5 points on networking and making the most from it.
– Understanding your personality.
– Practicing your elevator pitch.
– Being strategic about what you want (going to where the network is).
– Building your own network (if you can’t find the right network for you).
– Adding value to the next person.

I had read Laiza’s guide on the perfect elevator pitch and thought I had mine sorted till I was asked to give my 30 secs elevator pitch during the practical session of the class. Then, I realized I haven’t been practicing enough with people because I got certain things mixed up while talking and got critiqued by others while we practiced more.

The lesson from that practical session for me was, no matter how good you think you are at something, there is a better person out there, keep practicing and learning because mistakes are a part of life but practice reduces the number of times they occur.

What I Didn’t Like

There was no information about joining a session and moving to another afterwards at the entrance (at least not for me). It would have been easier and more straightforward if that information was passed while checking our tickets. I missed out on the earlier sessions because of this.

Before I left, one of the coordinators asked for my feedback and I told her about the confusion with the sessions. She admitted that it wasn’t properly explained and promised that their next event will be clearer.

There weren’t enough food and drinks vendors. I got hungry by evening and by then, the maggi team had left. Its always a good idea to have food and drinks vendors on ground at such events.

This was my first time of attending an event by She Leads Africa. I’m glad that I attended and will definitely attend any other event by them in Abuja.

Thanks to Sarah (princessaudu.com) for helping me take photos of my very colorful floral maxi dress outfit.

You can start late, look different, be uncertain, but it doesn't matter because you can still succeed! This and more were lessons learnt from the Lafiya lifestyle expo in Abuja. Read the full blog post now for how it all went down. Click To Tweet

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Did you attend the Lafiya lifestyle expo, What lessons did you take home? What did you do last weekend that has added value to your life? I’ll really like to interact in the comments.

Thanks for stopping by as usual
xx!

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