Confident. Responsible. Happy. Strong. Beautiful. When I grow up, I want to be like Miss Lori. If I were a 10-year-old, making that statement wouldn’t be so strange. See, I didn’t know who Miss Lori was until I heard her dynamic keynote speech at the closing of the SheCon 2012 New Media & Brand Expo last weekend. Apparently parents and children who grew up watching PBS between 2006 and 2009 know who she is.
Who Is Miss Lori?
Miss Lori had a PBS Kids Preschool program and was the first host in PBS history to broadcast live. Although her PBS gig retired, Miss Lori has evolved and she continues to inspire today’s youth, their parents, and her elders. She’s a nationally recognized children’s entertainer, performer, parent, and one heck of an inspirational speaker.
Her presentation really hit home because lately, I’ve been letting people emotionally take from me. I enjoy helping others and sharing knowledge but sometimes the emotional-well needs replenishing to keep a gal going. Miss Lori’s “The Me in New Media” keynote speech did just that, replenished my well with a healthy dose of inspiration. Here’s what I learned…
Confidence & Strength
It wasn’t necessarily the content of her hour-long presentation but it was Miss Lori’s confidence which first grabbed my attention. Up on that stage she owned the room by standing tall, smiling and delivering a brilliant presentation.
What I Learned from Miss Lori: Have confidence in myself and remember to be my own champion. Continue to lift others up, particularly other women bloggers. Rather than being concerned with comparing myself to them and questioning what I’m doing wrong, I’ll focus on what I’m doing right.
Responsibility
Do I have a responsibility as a travel blogger? You betcha. Miss Lori reminded me why I launched this blog – to share my traveling adventures with hopes of inspiring other women (or men) to travel solo.
I had “great ‘aha’ moments on PBS,” she said and explained how many parents will forever link her with their children’s first time of connecting letters to form words, even connecting the simple letters T-H-E to form “the.”
“It made me proud but incredibly responsible.”
What I Learned from Miss Lori: Because of her responsibility, Miss Lori protects her image or as we bloggers say, her “brand,” and is selective about which companies and organizations she works with. She reminded me to continue being authentic and always be “me” with every aspect of my life.
Beauty
She’s not shy about being a tall, curvy woman and she’s done something most women wouldn’t dream of doing – show off her curves in a swimsuit on Twitter and Facebook as part of Land’s End Swimsuit Confidence program. At 40-something-years-old and after shedding what drained her, she said she finally felt beautiful. Miss Lori didn’t pose for a photo in her bathroom or backyard like most women. She went outside, in public and flaunted her swimsuit confidence. (Note: Land’s End has more than 940,000 Facebook fans – would you post a photo of yourself in a swimsuit on their Facebook page?)
What I Learned from Miss Lori: All my life I’ve had this internal battle. I wasn’t a girlie-girl growing up and relied on my brains rather than external beauty to navigate through life. I’m the behind-the-scenes kinda gal and at 40-something-years-old, I still don’t know the proper way to apply eyeshadow. Beauty comes in all sorts of shapes and sizes and I need to remember I am beautiful. Life is too short to worry about not being a size 6 with perfectly tame hair when Florida humidity reaches 98 percent. Who knows, maybe I’ll have guts to rock my Land’s End swimsuit and post a photo online.
Now that I’ve written this post, I don’t necessarily want to grow up to be like Miss Lori. I want to be the best ME I can be. No offense, Miss Lori. And I thank you for the inspiration.
Connect with Miss Lori:
Miss Lori’s Campus
Musings from My Minivan
Twitter/MissLori
Read what fellow travel blogger Eileen Ludwig had to say about the Fantabulous Miss Lori in this post.
Great recap! Thanks for sharing what you learned from Miss Lori. I actually missed that session but feel like I was right there with your recap! =)
Joey Fortman
Host, Real Mom Media
http://www.JoeyFortman.com
Thank you, Joey! I’m sorry I missed your presentation, I heard it was informative and amazing (I didn’t arrive until after 7 p.m. Friday.). Looking forward to seeing you next year if not sooner!
I’m reading your recap of my keynote again. It’s now 2019, 7 years later. So much has changed in my life but your post is a reminder of how at my core things are still the same. What a gift stumbling on to this memory this morning. No matter my size, look, course change, if my ME remains authentic I’ll never lose myself. I hope you feel your “you” is even more vibrant than it was 7 years ago when you emmoted this piece. Because it’s still clear today that you are very special.
SMILE On!
Miss Lori