As the last day of the festival began, it was off to a slow start. Most of the more interesting talks were earlier on in the week. The one speaker we made sure to see today was Blake Mycoskie, luckily he spoke at 3:30 PM as the winner of the LionHeart award he was chosen to be the final speaker of the entire festival. What a way to close, he is so inspirational I am so glad we made it to this talk. The way he spoke about his company was with pure passion, you could just tell that he genuinely cared about what he does and his philosophy. Blake also seems like a real person, he spoke about how a few years back he was completely burnt out and had to take a year off from working with Toms. A year off to figure himself out, and to rekindle the passion he once had for his work and company. He stated that after this year off he was able to clearly see the direction his company was heading towards now. It really inspired me that he went from a single idea- giving a pair of shoes to a person in need each time someone buys a pair, aka where his philosophy of One for One comes from- and grew that into more ideas. After a couple of years of doing shoes, he started to do the same idea but with glasses, and then coffee and lastly with bags. The best part about the bags is that each time a bag is purchased they give a pregnancy kit to a women in need, in a place of need. He really made me want to come work for his company, or atleast try to become a campus ambassador for Toms. That could just be my shoe in the door...
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| Blake Mycoskie, founder of TOMs |
The final awards show emphasized on things such as film, film craft, editing and things of this sort. It was really cool to see the winners of these categories because they are all so detailed and different. By the time the awards show ended it was nearly 9:30 PM and time for the closing gala to commence. However, students were not allowed entry... Bummer, right? Well, for most of us yes as we made our way home slightly dissapointed yet slightly ok with it due to lack of sleep. The people at the entrance weren't turning us away, it was the dang scanners. When it picked up that our badges said student it turned red and was like the X factor flashing. So naturally the boys opted for the sneak your way in method, which actually wasn't very hard considering you could walk down the beach right into the gala. And once you were in, they really did not care since we all had "complete" badges (meaning access to everything.) Stevie, Kaitlyn and I opted for the head home on the free train method, so we made our way home and missed the closing gala. But I'm completely okay with it because I got 13 hours of sleep last night.
Now I reflect on this incredible week and I can not believe it has come to an end. Maybe next year I'll be back. Maybe in 10 years I'll be back with my own company on my badge. And maybe, just maybe then I'll be allowed in the closing gala!
xo,
Shan
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