In Photos: Lunch with Ricki Lake

Last Monday, I had lunch with Ricki Lake. 

Me with Ricki Lake

Well, not actually lunch as in we sat together and shared a meal.  Actually, I was lucky to enough to sit next to these wonderful bloggers and social media mavens.

Lauren from Mrs. Weber's Neighborhood,
Emily A. Hay and Betsy Critchfield
from Hay There Social Media, me, and
Elena Wollborg from Mommy is in Timeout 

While we ate an amazing lunch of grilled chicken and kale salad, we were listening to Paula Tutman from Local 4 interview Ricki Lake.

Ricki Lake and Paula Tutman

I am super excited for The Ricki Lake Show which premiers on September 10 at 3pm on Local 4!  I think the way that she plans on incorporating social media into her show is incredible.  Ricki has created the hashtag #FriendsofRicki on Twitter so viewers can continue the conversation after they are done watching the show.  Also, the Friends of Ricki Facebook fan page is a great way to connect with viewers.  What I think sets her apart is not only that Ricki’s production team accessible via Twitter, but they have production meetings that are open to the public (I had the pleasure of meeting Josh from Team Ricki, and he was very friendly).  You can log in at the website and participate -  seriously, how cool is that?!

Ricki talked a lot about how she has evolved as a person and how her life experiences (marriage, motherhood, divorce, producer of The Business of Being Born) have helped her to gain a better understanding of her authentic self.  As someone who is trying to figure out this new stage in her life, I connected with this statement.  And I like how she used evolved rather than reinvent.  I look at it like this: to “evolve” is to take life experiences and learn from them as opposed to “reinvent” which sounds like forgetting the past and disregarding any lessons learned.  

My day could have stopped there, and I would have been totally happy.  Hanging out with fellow bloggers and meeting Ricki Lake was such a fun way to spend the afternoon.  But the cherry on top was meeting Local 4’s weatherman Andrew Humphrey (who is so incredibly nice and tech savvy), chatting with Paula Tutman, and getting a little peek at the Local 4 studio.

Me and Andrew Humphrey

I savor these moments that are totally out of my normal routine and soak up all that I can, whether it be adventure, inspiration, or fun (or in this case, all three).  It was an incredible day, and I feel so fortunate to have been invited!