Shake Shit Up

Friday June 24^th, 2016

As today brought the Entertainment Lions to a close, we got to see some very influential and successful people speak on their work in the entertainment industry. The first talk we saw was between Maurice Levy, CEO of Publicis Group, speak with Harvey Weinstein, founder of The Weinstein Company. Very cool to be in the presence of such powerful yet interesting people. 

After this we made our way to the Inspiration Stage, to see Spotify discuss the industry with DJ Mark Ronson. Mark has done producing work with famous people such as Amy Winehouse, Bruno Mars and Christina Aguilera. He helped produce some of their top hits, like Uptown Funk and Rehab. His advice to the audience was to be open to any idea at any time. I find this to be something that I will take into my career, because the more open minded you can be, the more creative potential you will have. 

The third talk we saw today was on Masculinity, a subject that is not brought up as much as women empowerment, even with all of this gender equality stuff. I did not realize how much of an issue it really is, but then I realize I have never really taken the time to think it through. The media focuses on women trying to become equal to men throughout different industries and markets, but we all need to step back and realize that men are sensitive and subseptible to things too. There is an increasingly growing gap between ideology of how men are perceived and what men are actually doing. One speaker, Dr Michael Kimmel, stated “don’t try to be something you’re not, if you’re an asshole, be an asshole. We want authenticity.” From such a young age boys are told to “be a man” and to “man up,” these are horrible things to say to someone when they don’t know anything other than that. The next speaker was the producer of Miss Representation, an amazing documentary that I highly recommend watching. She discussed how less than 50% of men actually seek help for depression and that every day 3 or more boys in the USA commit suicide. These words hit home to me, having been personally affected by both in the past. These are the statistics and the people behind the statistics that feel they can not speak up, and it could all be because someone told them to “man TF up” when they were 13 years old. Gender equality really goes both ways, and that is something that needs more light cast on it. Shaun Ross also spoke about the difficulties of growing up as an African-American Albino. However, it was the people who told him that he “couldn’t” that drove him to pursue his dreams. He also touched on the fact that a lot of brands need to open up their minds, because we live in a world that is so confined that non of us look the same. He left us with this advice: “Make the world uncomfortable, shake shit up.” And with that, I was inspired. 

Masculinity panel in the Lumiere Theatre

After an influential day of wonderful speakers, we headed to the Samsung penthouse suite. There we found lots of Virtual Reality, 4D VR and a 360 camera- oh and free food. The 4D VR was my favorite, it was a very strange sensation standing on a moving surf board with VR goggles on, but SO cool. Now we’re back in JLP getting ready to head back to Cannes for the closing fiesta of the Entertainment Lions section of the festival. Sadly, tomorrow is our last day of the festival itself, but we still have a week here to look forward to!

360 Samsung Experience

Robson and Hawk experiencing the 4D Virtual Reality

Xo,

Shan

Jour Six Du Festival

Thursday June 23rd, 2016

Today was day 6 of the festival, the days here have been insanely long but yet the time has flown by. Thus far there has not been a dull moment. On today's celeb talks we saw Minday Kaling and Rashida Jones. It's really cool just being in the presence of people that you usually see on a small TV screen. After the festival, Kaitlyn and I decided to head to the beach for a couple of hours of much needed relaxation in the sun. And what better place to do that then on the sunny French Riviera. 

For dinner tonight we headed to this cute little restaurant in Cannes called L'Epicurieux. Vivian, the Ringling teacher that joined us this week, found it online. It is a reasonably priced, clean food, absolutely delicious, french restaurant. We got the yummiest meat and cheese plates as starters, as well as a nice French Bordeaux. They cut the meat right there in the restaurant. For my meal, I got chicken and penne pasta with pesto sauce. How nice it was to f-i-n-a-l-l-y get a nice piece of protein. It's all sandwiches, pasta and pizza here. The chicken was delicious, but the penne pasta with pesto was to die for. Quite possibly the best carbs I've had here. 

After dinner it was late, so we missed all trains home except for one that went to Antibes. Luckily, Antibes is a 20 minute walk from Juan Les Pins, so we opted for that rather than another 20-40 euros cab ride home. It was nice to walk anyways after dinner. Now we're headed to Zapatos for a couple of margaritas to cheers another great day here in the South of France! 

xo,

Shan

Swish, Sniff and Sip

Wednesday June 22^nd, 2016

Today I woke up refreshed, who knew finally getting more than 5 hours of sleep would feel so amazing? Oh, right, everyone. I checked my Fitbit sleep tracker for the past week and my average was 5 hours and 5 minutes… Yes, I am EXHAUSTED. But the lack of sleep is so worth it, I can’t complain.

We started our day at the festival with a rosé tasting on Facebook Beach. This was actually very interesting and it being my first wine tasting I had absolutely no idea what to do. Swish, sniff and sip? Right? Sure. Each wine was on average between 10 and 20 euros, except for the last one, it was 100… And to be completely honest it was my least favorite. High price does not necessarily mean best flavor (to me.)

After this we made our way to the Lumiere Theater to see Anderson Cooper interview Anthony Bourdain. Just wow. Sitting in the same room as two incredible news people that love storytelling is as cool as it sounds. They’re incredible at what they do and they acknowledge that you have to be able to connect with people on different levels for them to be willing to share their story.  

We snuck out of the end of there talk to see the one and only Gwyneth Paltrow discuss Goop. This was filmed Live for BBC Hardtalk, so if you watch it know I was in the audience for it! Her website and company sounds very interesting, with tips and life advice as well as recipes and shopping. She is someone who has really branded herself well through different markets.

Then we made our way to the Martinez hotel down the Croisette (main street) to the Girls Lounge. This is a place for girls to come and really feel and be beautifully themselves. They have a nail salon, which Kaitlyn and I did and the coolest thing happened. As we were sitting there getting manicures, right behind us is Joanna Coles… THE Joanna Coles, the editor in chief of Cosmo. The one and only magazine I actually do read. My heart was racing so fast I did not know how to handle it other than just sit there in shock. When else am I going to be able to say I got a manicure next to the editor of Cosmo. Oh, Martha Stewart was in the room too (!!!!!!) After our manicures, we made our way to the patio where we got to be in the small audience to witness Joanna Coles interview Channing Tatum. He discussed his new vodka brand as well as his personal sex life, apparently that was research for his upcoming Magic Mike Live show. I would have never thought he would be so genuine and as real as he was. Watching their convo, it just flowed so easily and nothing sounded forced or scripted, it was great.

Selfie with Channing Tatum

After an incredible afternoon at the Girls Lounge, we decided to go shopping before heading home. Rue D’Antibes is a dangerous place ladies, they have not one but TWO Zaras… Sorry wallet.

A quick dinner and change, we caught the last train back to Cannes to head to the closing party for the Innovation Lions. It was held on the Cannes Lions Beach. A little bit of rosé and a whole lot of networking (or vice versa) seems to be the theme of this festival.

Xo,

Shan

"Mexican Food Near Me"

Tuesday June 21^st, 2016

Today we woke up fairly early and not knowing the train schedule, Kaitlyn and I decided to just wing it and go as soon as we were ready. We got lucky and a train came right then, so we didn’t miss more than 10 minutes of Anna Wintour, the past editor of Vogue. She is just as amazing live as expected. After her Will Smith was up next, another incredible talk and celeb sighting. The day continued with one after the other, as Ryan Seacrest interviewed Usher on the same stage right after. The talks were worth going to, each celebrity has to brand their personal image and that is something that can be impactful on your entire career. Once these ended we went to scope out some Mexican food in Cannes. Come on, it’s been a month since I’ve had it, I neeeeeeed it the cravings have gotten unreal for it. But who knew that Mexican food just is not a thing here. So we settled for Asian Fast Food, about as bad as it sounds too. Can’t say that satisfied any American cravings, but it satisfied the hunger. I never realized I would be so tired of carbs during this trip. But yes, yes you can get sick of a Pizza Pasta Panini diet. Ick. Tonight we had a chill night, and stayed in to write our blogs and catch up on sleep. This festival is amazing, but it sure is tiring.

Xo,

Shan

What Are Monday Blues

Monday June 20th, 2016

Today we got off to a later start, the late nights are starting to catch up to us, but also the boys are slow and waiting for them takes about 30 minutes on MINIMUM. It's great, Kaitlyn and I get ready apparently fast because we're always the first people ready. Who would've thought that'd be the case? Anyways, we got to the festival at about 1 PM, partially because of the train strikes too. Luckily, we got there right at the start of the Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky was going on. What a great guy, he seems so genuine and like someone you could actually have a conversation with about his life and he wouldn't be annoyed by it. In his talk he told us how many times he failed before Airbnb actually took off. Granted now it's a multi-billion dollar company, but at one time it was nearly in debt. Can you imagine going from one extreme to another and remaining as humble and approachable as Brian. After this we went to the theater across the way to see Mofilm people speak on drones and 360 vision in creativity. This was way cool. Unfortunately, in terms of safety they weren't allowed to do a live demonstration so instead they streamed a Live video of a guy in Germany on Faceboook. Using VR and 360 settings, introduces an entirely new way of experiencing a video. The next talk we went to was on experience and the speaker that stood out to me the most was Bobbi Whitehouse. She is the founder and CEO of @WearableExperiments. The company connects fashionable clothing items and human experience. Def something worth checking out! In the evening we made our way to the awards shows in the Lumiere theater. It feels like we were sitting in on the Oscars, with the flashy lights and loud music, what an experience. At night we made our way to the Young Lions opening party. It was nice being around people our own age for a change. Unlike most parties, the background images playing were commercials and advertisements, my inner nerd went wild. Also what a better place to exchange business cards with other creatives then the dance floor. 

xo,

Shan