One of the biggest reasons that influenced me to drop what I was doing and go to WPPI at the last minute was the remote possibility of being able to hear Jasmine Star as a platform speaker!  I loooooooove  her and her work and I knew that would be a major highlight of 2010!!

She was scheduled to speak at 6:30 on Monday evening!  The minute I finished up with the shoot on the Vegas strip, I literally took off to my room…… exchanged my camera bags for my purse, pen and paper and off I went.  This being only 4:00 I was on a mission.  I had heard about long lines for popular speakers and people being turned away at the door and I knew I would be crushed if this happened to me.  On my mad dash I picked up one of those $15.00 tasteless sandwhichs and continued my sprint.  I was practically out of breath when I rounded the corner and was greeted with an amazingly looooooong line already.  My heart sank, but I took my place in line…. made myself a table on the floor with my sandwhich and waited.  Not too long after that an event worker came by counting heads … I was #307 in line! The room was supposed to hold around 900 people.  I was so excited!  Would you believe this crazy guy walked by and wanted to know what we were waiting in line for and when we told him he said ‘who?’.  Myself and the people around me just looked at him in disbelief with our mouths open…. Seriously?

When the line started moving somehow my #307 went to #670!  How did that happen???  Regardless, I was in!!

If there was a ‘nose bleed’ section for this event my seat was definitely in it…. but I really didn’t care!  I was going to be in the presence of  ’the’Jasmine Star!!

Her presentation was everything it was hyped up to be!  I left feeling uplifted and inspired.  My notes from that night are a little tattered because I have carried them with me and read over them several times.  Her topic was ‘Ghetto Fabulous Marketing’!  She made us laugh and feel good about our journey.

One thing I left Vegas and WPPI with was a quote that Jasmine’s husband JD told her when she was facing the decision to go back to law school or follow her dream to be a photographer.

It went something like this:

‘I would rather see you fail at something you love, than succeed at something you hate’.

I can’t hep but believe this was a point in her life and career that she will never forget and I don’t think I will ever forget it either!  It takes me by the throat and squeezes me until I remember to breathe again …….. and remind myself to keep dreaming.

I didn’t want to leave you without a photo so here I am out in the desert again!  I told you I was COLD!!!!  I promise AGAIN …  I will show you more of the models for these shoots soon!   Stay tuned …..