Thank you, Toyota and SIMPLY LA Conference for sponsoring this post.  All opinions are my own.

If you follow me on Instagram, you probably saw that I was in LA last weekend to attend the SIMPLY LA conference. I attended the SIMPLY NY conference during fashion week back in February and had a great time. Given that I was already going to be in LA for work, I decided it was worth the effort to check out the SIMPLY LA conference. I’m so glad I did.

The event was held at the Americana at Brand which is located in Glendale, CA, about 10 miles north of downtown LA. Plus, I enjoyed my drive to Glendale because I got to ride in a limited edition Toyota C-HR in a gorgeous ruby color with black roof. The car is so plush, with leather seats, an excellent sound system and a really nice screen in the console with GPS and other smart technology. The car rode smoothly, had good pick-up, and was just a lot of fun to drive.

This was my first time in Glendale. I didn’t have any expectations, but I was pretty impressed by the mall. It was lush and really pretty with all it’s fountains and greenery. I wasn’t expecting the SIMPLY event to be outside, but it was a nice surprise.

When I arrived, I checked in and waited until the brand experience section opened. There were a lot of great speakers and panels throughout the day, but I most enjoyed meeting new brands. I learned about several new brands I hadn’t previously heard of, including TOTALEE Haircare and BH Cosmetics.

Each of the brand booths had some sort of fun activity to do. At FHI, I got my hair curled. At Ziba Beauty, I had my eyebrows threaded for the first time (and they look amazing, by the way). It was just so much fun to learn more about brands and get to meet some of their team members.

One of the major highlights for me was getting to talk with the Luna Bar team. I’ve been a fan of Luna Bars for a long time and SIMPLY paired me with them to sponsor my conference attendance. Luna’s booth was extra special to me because they had a game for us to play to think more deeply about what type of negotiators we are. Their goal was to empower women to ask for equal pay.

New on Posh in Progress, I’m sharing my highlights from the @simply conference. I had such a good time at all the brand booths, but @lunabar was my favorite. They had this game for us to play so we could think about how we negotiate in our careers. . Did you know, on average, men make 20% more than women? Luna is working to help women get equal pay! Link in profile for the complete Simply LA recap! . #simplyla #lunabar #equalisequal

A post shared by Stacey || Posh In Progress (@poshinprogress) on Aug 18, 2018 at 4:46am PDT

Given that I have a professional career and I’m also an entrepreneur who created this blog and business, it’s so important to me to ask for what we deserve. Participating in their booth got me thinking about how I negotiate and how I value myself and my work. I love to see companies like this who are tackling such tough issues, especially for women.

The other thing I had so much fun doing was making my own cocktails with Grey Goose Vodka. They had these adorable little stations where you could make your own cocktail. The recipe I made used vodka, St. Germain, club soda and fresh limes. I love fresh limes, so this recipe was perfect for me. Note, I did start drinking at 9am, but hey, why not! (Don’t worry, I stopped long before I had to drive anywhere).

Overall, I had so much fun at the event. I haven’t even mentioned the amazing swag bag yet! I can’t even tell you how many amazing goodies were in there! I’m most excited about the desert oasis palette from BH, but there are so many other goodies I can’t wait to try. I’m definitely happy I made the time to attend the SIMPLY conference again and I already can’t wait for the next one!

I received complementary conference admission and vehicle loan in exchange or my honest experience.