A day before Love, Bonito Launching Event, me and Sonia, who happened to be two of their many hosts for the show, had an impulsive idea to hang out with our "followers" (I'd hate to put it this way, but I have to, so this story will make sense). Basically as the host we have extra invitations to give out, and usually we just hand them over to the person before the show begin - no further conversation needed. But this time we both think that it will be a pity if we don't start the idea of getting to know our readers/fellow bloggers/community better by having a quality time with them outside the fashion show. So instead of just giving away invitations, we ask them to come hanging out with us over coffee before the show - because we want to know them and learn about what they do. And surprisingly the respond were greater than we expected! Me and Sonia were finally able to cut down our picks to 10 person, and here they are below (minus some who were a bit late due to the traffic):

Left to Right: Clara Naava - Cindy Stefiana - Rizka Sherlyta - Me - Ancilla Queena - Sonia Eryka - Livia Leonardo

Our first attempts to get a mirror selfie in the restroom (but failed)

Another photo with the squad - with the addition of Faula Savika (on my left)

More and more pics: two-person photo taking

The girls made it to take pictures with Tex Saverio himself! Proud mama! Oh, and there's Archangela Girlani (second from the left) and Jessica Felita (third from the left) who finally made it to the show.

Blogging community has been growing incredibly fast for the last couple years - especially the last two years. People said bloggers can be "the new breed of celebrity", getting all the spotlights and money and fame by "being themselves". I was carried away by the commercial flow from the blogging world until I forgot the main thing that made me a blogger: the community. I missed the sharing, the support, the humble side of it. And thanks to Sonia, I realize that I'm not the only one who feel like there's something else for us rather than trying so hard to do commercial job over and over again without paying attention to our own deepest passion and idealism. I believe there are more out there who feel the same, and I wish to connect with them. Being a woman, I've always have a strong passion towards woman empowerment and courses about woman issues in real life. I can't explore that if I'm busy creating content for brands. I feel like it's the right time to get back into my true color - someone who's passionate about writing and sharing positive inspirations for others. And I hope I can start from now. Here are the reasons why girls meet-up is important for me:

Woman needs to support each other more, while the fast-growing digital community is more into silent competition and unhealthy materialistic exposure - either they realised or not. It's great to meet up with other women who once were strangers, and being open to see who they are - it made us realize how much we are unique but also share similar quality from one woman to another woman.
Collaboration is the key. It's great that we can be independent and do everything by ourselves, but when more creative minds meet, we can create something new and fresh and potentially reaching out more people who need the support. Also, it's a great way to help new generation of creative content maker to be in the more experienced circle and open new opportunities for themselves to get noticed.
Some very simple things like taking lovely pictures, sharing good food, tasting great coffee and complain about our crazy hair/body/life can be healthy for our soul every once in a while. It's nice to know that other women can try to understand us without straightly judging.
Nothing is more fun than loud, expressive girl talk between crazy routine days.

I can't be anymore excited to start meeting new friends like we used to do back then. If you're someone who missed meeting up with fellow creative-enthusiast like me and sonia, just shot us an email and we can always plan something! And yes, it can involve a lot of ice cream or talks about unicorns. xxx

The Importance of Girls Meet-Up