Welcome to The Blair D.C. Project, Blair Guilfoile's weekly blog about her experience being a fall intern for BRAVO!. We love our intern blogs and hope you enjoy following Blair!
Week 2
September 7 - September 11, 2015
"There is an energy field between humans. And, when we reach out in passion, it is met with an answering passion and changes the relationship forever." – Rollo May
Last Friday, I went to the best concert I’ve ever experienced (and I’ve been to a lot of concerts) and it was not Taylor Swift or Justin Timberlake. It was… Langhorne Slim and the Law. Ever heard of them? Until last week, I hadn’t either. But a group of friends were going and I figured I’d tag along.
So when I walked into the 9:30 club on Friday night I was just hoping for some decent music and a good time with my friends. Instead, I got a transformative experience that I could not stop talking about for the next 48 hours. I had never seen a music artist inspire so much energy and connect so well with an audience. The thing is, you didn’t need to be Langhorne Slim enthusiast in order to walk out of the venue that night and feel like that was the best 20 dollars you’ve ever spent. It didn’t matter if indie folk music isn’t your passion in life, because Langhorne shared his in such a way that not only made you feel connected to him and his music, but everyone else in the room. And I know I am going to look back at that concert as one my most favorite things I did during my time in DC.
This ability to give someone else energy and create connection that transforms them (even in the form of an indie folk concert) is incredibly powerful. If there’s anything my boss, Nancy, has instilled in me so far during my first two weeks at BRAVO! it’s that event planning is not about planning parties. It’s about creating a live experience so transformative, it allows someone to engage with your idea, brand, or story and feel a connection that they otherwise never knew existed.
It’s only been two weeks into my BRAVO! internship, and yet it feels like we’ve been a part of this team for months. Now that the interns are settled in, we have been diving head first into projects. While Madison, Tracy, and I are able to work with all our clients and their events, each of us were assigned clients/projects to work on specifically. I am working closely with the Walk to End HIV event. The Walk to End HIV (formally known as the AIDs Walk) is a fundraising walk and 5k timed run benefiting Whitman-Walker Health, a non-profit organization that provides care and support to those affected by HIV. The Whitman-Walker team is incredibly passionate about what they do, and their energy is definitely something that continues to inspire us at BRAVO!