Flashback: Packing for Seminar

I used to work in the Mary Kay Canada Inc. corporate offices as the Consultant Communications and PR Coordinator. Those were the days when I was corporate, approximately a decade ago and I wore suits. Mary Kay has career training and a yearly recognition event known as Seminar. This is where the most productive sales people and their teams are rewarded for their work.

It’s a very glitzy event. The attendees wear full length gowns, gloves and I’ve seen a couple in tiaras (why not?). But for those who worked at Mary Kay corporate, it was work. Fun, but work. Three days of almost 24-hour work.

And there was a dress code. No trousers. Skirts only. (It’s a Mary Kay thing – as in the woman Mary Kay Ash). So that meant at least three skirt suits with shoes (preferably flats) to to with them. Tights (again, a Mary Kay Ash thing) and of course, hair and make up.

I recently found my packing list and it’s two pages long. For three days. Clearly I was a bit of an over-packer. Those were a lot of suits.

The list (edited because clearly I brought undergarments and toiletries)

• Black Club Monaco suit
• Black Banana Republic suit (BR has always been my go-to for suits)
• Black Tristan suit
• Black dress shirt
• White t-shirt
• 2 white dress shirts
• Peach HR top (Holts? Also, I wore peach?)
• Black Betsey Johnson top (remember when she used to do cute things?)
• Black Capezio flats
• Black Feet First flats (which I hated but after three days on a hardass convention floor, I remember these were the only pair of shoes I could wear without wincing).
• Black HR flats
• Mint Bliss leg treatment (Concrete floors!)
• Blister BandAid plasters
• Painkillers
• Eye drops
• Mints
• Eye mask
• Nasal spray
• 8 pairs of sheer tights, mostly from Secret.

These days I have a suit which I wear once a year, if that. I still like the idea of a suit (uniform dressing?) and a well-fitting suit is as comfortable as jeans or yoga pants.