Design*Sponge founder Grace Bonney's latest book, In the Company of Women: Inspiration and Advice from over 100 Makers, Artists and Entrepreneurs, hit shelves (and well-appointed coffee tables) this fall, and Bonney hit the road on a twelve-city book tour ending in Philadelphia in November.

She was joined by Cuban-American artist Veronica- Corzo-Duchardt, cookbook author and pastry chef Klancy Miller, floral designer Sullivan Owen and Kimberly Glyder, an illustrator who focuses on book covers. Corzo-Duchardt and Miller and both featured in the book, and Owen's floral arrangements, and her studio makeover, have appeared on Design*Sponge.

The sold-out event was co-hosted by AIGA Philadelphia and was one of their most well-attended to date, bringing nearly 400 women together in an auditorium at Moore College of Art and Design to hear from Bonney and the panelists about the challenges and joys of being an entrepreneur in the creative sphere, and a woman in general. 

During the discussion, the panelists shared some wisdom on being a woman in the arts in the City of Brotherly love (ahem, time for a rebranding?), getting candid on everything from what they dreamed of becoming as children (Indiana Jones, for example) to the real deal on competitive colleagues. Bonney chimed in with some awesome insight, as well. 

Grace on the work-life balance myth:
"The work life balance is complete and utter bullshit. It doesn’t exist and you shouldn’t expect to get there. I wasted a lot of peoples time on my podcast telling people they could get to it and I secretly thought that I just wasn’t working hard enough. I think a lot of us have realized that you can work yourself into the ground and still not feel balanced. That is because balance is stasis, it means you are not moving.”

Read more about the panelists and their top tips from the discussion in my article covering the event for Billy Penn.