My quick two take away's from the rally were:
#1) Shop retailers. I know! It can be so so challenging as women to do so. Very seldom do shops have gear for us and if they do, our size is never in sock. As well, if we get into the industry mid-life knowing nothing about how to maintain our bikes, it can be intimidating and or frightening having to go to the male dominated service shops with a concern they wont be friendly and kind to all of our questions. We, however, have so much more control over that by GOING and talking about what we want and need. Order it from the store instead of an online dealer. Unlike many of my counterparts, back in the day, before I had a bunch of kids and got really busy in life, I loved to shop retail at the mall.. I still do actually. I now have so many other things in life that demand my time that keep me from going however walking through the mall or going to a boutique is my fav.
My point is, the next time I order boots or the riding jeans I want, I'm going to go see my long time friend Tim Burke at Piston Society to order them. I want our motorcycle shops to continue to thrive and offer the best customer service, particularly small business. As women in moto grow, lets do our best in making a place in the industry by showing up!
#2) Use sunscreen! Sounds silly right? In fact, as soon as I walked in the room, a woman pulled me aside to ask me to address that topic during the panel and I almost brushed it off. My new friend, Joclin Snow, quickly affirmed this topic saying that she has had to have surgical procedures on her face because of pre-cancerous cells. As it turns out, the woman we were talking to had lost her entire nose to the most painful cancer she could put into words! Once it was brought up during the panel discussion, I was shocked how many women talked about the cancer on their faces that was directly related to 30-40 years of long rides, dirt bike riding, adventure riding etc without proper sun protection. I am already kind of a sun screen freak and I wear hats most summer days because of this, however hearing this from so many other women made me think of all the beat red noses I see when my girlfriends take off their helmets after a day of riding. I always keep my sun visor on my helmet unless I am going so fast it will take my head off. This piece of counsel really stuck with me after hearing an entire room of veteran riders talk about their painful experiences having cancer. So, wear sun screen ladies!! Reapply! And if you need a cute hat, we sell them through our vendor over at queencityspirit.com under the "moto" category... had to put that little plug in;).
After we got back from the rally, the women who were on the panel all decided that after high demand, we will be doing a webinar together in July to answer questions and reconnect. It will be so informative considering the women on the panel. I'll keep my social media paged informed so you can check it out!
That is all for now. I'll leave a few videos from the rally. Thank you to my precious friend Kelly who roped me into the panel. It was such an amazing experience.:) Can't wait to see what is to come!
BTW, in the beginning, when we all sat down in the front of the room, my friend Kelly had the Mic and need to get the attention of the audience. She asked if I would sing a Disney song! (For those that don't know me, my degree is in voice and I am contracted performer as well known princess characters for a local Cincinnati company). At first I said no, then my friend Joclin started egging me on.. so I did and it quickly got so quiet you could have heard a pin drop. It was hilarious.
Thanks for tuning in! Don't have time to correct all my grammar, and I never will, but you get the point!
For those really motivated, to hear the entire panel discussion, click here .
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