Quote of the night

“Listen blondie, you’re making a big mistake.”

–the granddad of Apprentice contestant Lee Bienstock said this to Donald Trump, after Trump picked someone else to win The Apprentice.

I love when speakers tell funny family stories.

 

 

Ericka Dunlap, workshops and more

Ericka Dunlap, Miss America 2004, spoke this morning. She spoke about having the right attitude and leadership building. My favorite part of her session was actually the Q & A bit– someone asked her to sing a country song (she’s in Nashville trying to start one).  She has a really nice voice. She mentioned that music producers telling her to just stick with rapping instead of country, because she’s black.

She also left us this bag of M & M’s. It was part of her analogy about being a truffle in a bag of M and Ms. I don’t see any truffles in there, but I’m happy to chug the M and M’s.

The bag was full when we got it. I was not alone in eating them.

After Ericka’s speech, we’ve had about two hours of workshops on everything from writing a personal statement to how to take the GRE. And there’s more workshops to come in the afternoon after 3.

Before that, though, we have Lee Bienstock and Astronaut Chris Armstrong– between 1:30 and 3pm. Lee was on the 5th season of the Apprentice, where he spent several weeks staring down Donald Trump in the boardroom and trying his hardest not to laugh at The Donald’s hair. (At least I assume that’s what he did– I know I’d fall over laughing if I had to stare at DT’s hair all night).

I wrote the intros for most of the keynote speakers we had at the Convention. It’s fun and a bit strange to hear the National Leadership Council folks read those intros. Maybe that’ll be my next career– convention speechwriter. No, don’t feel sorry for me.. I’m only half-joking about the speech-writing bit.

Bill Strickland’s keynote

My battery has virtually no power, but I have to type this right now. Bill Strickland was awesome tonight. Bill runs a nonprofit in Pittsburgh that helps people find jobs in virtually any industry imaginable– the crafts, the culinary arts, you name it. But his commitment to helping people and the collaborations he participated in, were amazing.

Two things he said that I found interesting. The first– that he believed people’s behaviors are responses to their environments. That’s why he built the building that houses all his programs in one of Pittsburgh’s worst neighborhoods.

He also said that he got a “depression gene” from his mother that made it impossible for him to get images of suffering out of his mind–whether it was suffering in the US or overseas. (He put it much better, obviously). It was a really good speech, and he got a standing ovation.

Sara (who posted earlier today) will add some pictures of him speaking, soon.