BlogHer Health Recap + Your Financial Health Matters Too

This post is sponsored by Chase Slate and SheKnows Media

I’m so glad that I decided to attend the BlogHer Health Conference in New York City. While BlogHer is not new to hosting conferences, this was their first health-focused conference and I think they did an awesome job with both the organization and the programming.

The conference took place over the course of a Tuesday night session and an all-day Wednesday session. You can read about Tuesday here and I’m going to dive into Wednesday in this post.

My favorite thing about the BlogHer Health Conference is that it was themed around ALL areas of health and specifically geared towards women’s health issues. During the day we heard from presenters on health when it comes to a variety of areas from physical health to emotional well-being to mental health to financial health and much more.

My morning kicked off with oatmeal and fruit over a breakfast date with an employee of Pinterest. We talked about how I use Pinterest, features I’d like to see, challenges I face and cool things they have on the horizon.

The morning programming was packed with amazing speakers and we covered off on topics including endometriosis, underserved women’s health issues, the college rape culture and self-advocacy in healthcare. I also listened in on a panel about visual storytelling and live streaming.

We broke for a quick lunch and then programming resumed with the afternoon keynote. There was a panel discussion on media representation and mental health and then a conversation with actors and writers (including Kate Walsh!) on Hollywood and health and how characters and storylines can bring awareness to a range of physical and mental health issues.

One of my favorite speakers of the day was Jillian Michaels. I’ve always liked her but now I LOVE her. She was so real and really funny! She made some great points about using your power for things you are passionate about. Jillian encouraged us (as bloggers/writers/influencers) to deliver on our promises and to take a stand on topics that are important to us. She said to have a position and stand by it! I appreciated how authentic she was about her success as well as her shortcomings and how willing she was to accept responsibility for things she’s done/sold/taught in the past which no longer resonate with her. 

Before we wrapped up the last few afternoon sessions, I stopped by the Chase booth to learn about the Chase Slate card and to take their “money personality” quiz.

After answering some questions about my spending habits, saving strategies, how I monitor my credit and a few other things, I was pleased to fall into the balanced category.

Finances are something that have REALLY been top of mind with a baby coming in May and I found it helpful to learn about the tools that Chase Slate offers to help you stay on top of your financial well-being.

Here are the top three things I like about Chase Slate:

• Chase Slate focuses on credit health and gives you access to tools that can help you improve healthy credit behaviors.
• One way they do this is through their Credit Dashboard which shows your monthly FICO® Score and a graphical analysis of your 12-month score history.
• The dashboard also shows you the top positive and negative factors impacting your credit score and suggestions on how to manage your credit health.

In the late afternoon sessions, the discussions about health switched over to financial health and business/career with a focus on “Welltrepreneurs.” I got some great takeaways from Farnoosh Torabi who is a Chase Slate Financial Education Ambassador.

Her passion is personal finance and she led with a message that when you have control of your finances, you have control of your life. It’s our responsibility to be our own biggest advocate for personal finances.

Finances impact our overall well-being and did you know that debt impacts health? Just check out this infographic from Chase Slate!

Farnoosh had some great tips for improving financial well-being.

• If you are overwhelmed and don’t know where to start or that you’ve made mistakes and can’t get over. FORGIVE YOURSELF. No personal narratives like, “I’m not good with money. I don’t have the time.” They are a roadblock to progress. Some women have a tendency to harbor insecurities around money but it’s just a story we picked up along the way.
• There is power in reverse-engineering. Discover your WHY first. Why are you doing this? To save just to save? To get out of debt? What is your carrot? What is the end result? Start a business, buy a home, start a family. Figure out your why!
• Find a supportive community around your goal of becoming financially healthy. You can’t do it all on your own. We don’t have all the answers in a silo. Get vulnerable and talk to your friends and partners about money.

And then beyond the big-picture stuff, Farnoosh encouraged us to get down with the numbers. Just like in fitness with BMI and wealth, numbers in the financial world are important too. Your credit score is super important and has a huge impact on achieving major milestones, your freedom to pursue passions and how close/far away you are to achieving goals.

Her biggest advice around credit scores was to…

• Check scores well and often.
• Have credit cards.
• Pay bills on time. Automate payments. You can set up auto-pay with Chase Slate.
• Avoid maxing out cards.

To wrap it all up, you don’t have to do everything today. Mini-goals have so much power to taking you to your big picture goals. Maybe just start small with the goals of paying all of your bills on time, monitoring your credit score, meeting monthly savings goals, etc. All of this will pay-off in the long run.

BlogHer Health wrapped up with Wine + Gyn which was an unabashed conversation with leading women’s health experts on the importance of normalizing and owning our bodies and the power of sharing. The final keynote of the conference was delivered by media icon Arianna Huffington. What an event it was!

This conference was less focused on tactical blogging techniques and skills and more focused on starting a very real and very open dialogue about women’s health issues across the spectrum and how we can use our voices to help and empower each other. I’m so happy that I was able to attend.

Which aspect of women’s health are you currently most passionate about?

What steps have you taken to take control of your financial health?

What are your current financial goals? Paying off student loans or other debt? Saving for a house or a baby? Anything else to share?