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Danica Kombol & Ana Flores

Society Spotlight: Ana Flores

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There’s a special place in heaven for women who launch blogging conferences. On the one hand, it seems easy as pie – pull together a group of super social women who love to blog, invite them for a weekend at a swanky hotel. Realistically, there’s so much more that goes into it – you have to invest your own time, energy and dollars into an idea that you hope will attract sponsors and attendees; then once you have them all there, you’ve got to keep them entertained and fed! So frankly, when I heard that my good friend Ana Flores was organizing We All Grow, an entirely new blog-conference aimed at her Latina community, I thought she’d lost her marbles!

I like to joke that Ana is your classic under-achiever. She’s a published author (having written the authoritative book on raising bi-lingual children, Bilingual is Better), the founder of the premiere Hispanic influencer community Latina Bloggers Connect, co-founder of the on-line community Spanglish Baby, has appeared on The Today Show, been featured in Parenting Magazine, and even graced the cover of a Corn Flakes Cereal box! That’s not all! She’s been heralded by sites like Babble as one of the Top 100 Mom blogs and is a doting mom to the most adorable daughter ever. So with all that “underachieving”, I’m shining the Everywhere Society Spotlight on Ana, whom I still sometimes refer to as LA Flowers, her original Twitter handle.

I recently caught up with Ana and asked her about We All Grow:

Q. What’s your inspiration for launching We All Grow?

Ana: Well Danica, as you know, you and I first met at a blogging conference. I’ve always navigated both cultures that way. Over the years, I attended so many general market blogging conferences and I took away so much from those experiences to help grow my blog and my business. I wanted to bring those same kinds of connections and the learning that takes place in the general market back to my community, the Latina blogging community. I very much so wanted to create a similar environment and provide a space where Latina bloggers can truly learn and grow their skills.

Q: How will this be different from other blogging conferences?

Ana: Truth? I’ve been grabbing inspiration from the best of the best blogging conferences for a while now. I’m hoping We All Grow will be an incredible mix of all these amazing blogging conferences I’ve attended over the years (like Blissdom and Evo, which no longer exist or Blogalicious and Mom 2.0). My plan is to take what I’ve learned from my favorite conferences and combine it with a healthy sprinkling of what we bring from our culture.

Q: What one thing do you hope bloggers who attend your conference take away from We All Grow?

Ana: I hope they walk out and say, “I have a skill set that I now understand and I’m taking this skill set with me back home to implement immediately and help me grow my blog.” I also hope they walk away and understand, “This is a business.”

Q. How do you find the time?

Ana: I’m never going to find the time. I find the right people. Because there is no more time! Finding amazing people is how I invest back in my business.

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Hopefully by shining the Everywhere Society spotlight on Ana Flores, it will help her find the right people to attend and help cultivate, We All Grow. I’ll be there supporting the conference in LA come February, will you?

Blissdom11

It’s Blissdom at Blogging Conferences

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We love going to blogging conferences, even though we always face the challenge of leaving behind the office and an overflowing inbox for the madness surrounding any blogging conference worth attending!

This week, Britton Edwards and I travel to Blissdom in Nashville. I’ve never attended Blissdom, but have long heard raves. When I met the wildly dynamic Barbara Jones, Blissdom’s founder, at another blogging conference, Blogalicious, I made a vow not to miss this year.

The names of these blogging conferences probably give away the nature of the blogging conference beast, don’t they? Blissdom? Blogalicious? Still, my husband asked, “So what exactly do you DO at a blogging conference… sit around all day and blog?” Lawd, How can I possibly explain what goes on at a blogging conference without busting my cover!?

Truth is I love blogging conferences for the communing. At Everywhere, we spend so much time connecting the dots online, it’s just a fantastic payoff to connect the dots in person. And frankly, I love the sound of squeals at blogging conferences. Squeals take place the moment when two bloggers, having only seen one another via avatars or blog photos, realize they are standing up close and personal with a digital BFF. Britton and I love meeting bloggers who’ve worked on campaigns with us. Often we’ve had long phone (and Twitter conversations) with them, but never met face to face.

This Blissdom will be both a trip down memory lane and a chance to meet some folks we’ve never met in person. This year we’ll see our Atlanta posse (whom we NEVER see in our home town), like Stacie Haight Connerty, Anissa Mayhew and Desiree Miller. We’ll see a lot of our LA friends like Leah Segedie and Rachel Matos.

We’ll see all our Heart of Haiti ambassadors, tripsters and supporters like Jeannette Kaplun, Ananda Leeke, Ana Flores, Fadra Nally, Johnica Reed and Stacey Ferguson. And for the first time ever, we’ll finally meet Vegas mom blogger Emily Knight, whom we’ve been working with on a Cox Communications campaign. We’ll also meet the most devoted reTweeter of all things @beEverywhere, ever, Jenna Farelyn.

And we’ll meet what seems like 100 new friends and get to know women bloggers who found their voice, their platform, their community and their niche through blogging.

Confession: I’m a bit of a collector, so I actually save every single business card I get at blogging conferences. I keep them in neat little packets in a huge colorful bowl on my desk, labeled by conference. I love going back through my collections and remembering when I first met someone and reflecting back on the many connections we’ve made since then.

So in answer to my husband, “What exactly do you DO at blogging conferences, sit around and blog?” Think I’ll just let him continue to think that.

Join the conversation at #Blissdom Thursday, Feb. 23rd to Saturday, Feb. 25th. Catch our blissful tweets @beEverywhere @brittonT13 and @danicakombol.

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Weaving a Story of Hope

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Consistency is a luxury Haiti was never blessed with. What has persisted is the instinctual, innate ability of Haitian people to turn something seemingly ugly, into an incredible work of art. One could imagine that paint actually flows through the bloodlines of the Haitian people. Their colorful aesthetic pumping from some reservoir deep within the surrounding mountains spilling out into the streets, masking the broken houses and wildly painted taxis, or TapTaps as they’re called in Creole.

A few months ago, the Everywhere team organized a trip to Haiti for a first-hand look at the inner-workings of our client, Heart of Haiti, a line of home décor products made by artisans in Haiti and sold exclusively through Macy’s. A portion of the proceeds from the sales go back to the artists whose passion and creative expression go into each and every hand-made piece, allowing artisans to work in safe conditions while providing their families with food, shelter and education.

In November, we extended an invitation to our network of blogger friends and Heart of Haiti supporters to join us on a trip to Haiti to see how these artists live, work and heal post earthquake. Armed with inoculations, bug spray and reeking of anti-bacterial gel our group of five bloggers, two Everywhere staff members and one woman who functioned solely as our comic relief dubbed ourselves “Bloggers4Haiti”. Last week we ventured out with the belief and hope that through our reporting, we could make a difference.

“Bloggers4Haiti” represents a cast of characters from diverse backgrounds and countries bound together by a common thread of fierce independence and need to help others less fortunate. Together we encountered reflections of ourselves in Haiti: mothers, daughters, sisters and savvy business women. The strength of Haitian women inspired us, as they endure obstacles and tragedy that we could never imagine. They fight desperately to better their lives through talent and work ethic. A feat they face with an infectious spirit of hope and resilience.

While we continue to process and document the specifics of our journey, the “Bloggers4Haiti” begin to weave the tale that brought Haiti into our Hearts. You can read about our bloggers and their stories below:

Heart of Haiti Trip Photos

Bloggers4Haiti collective photos

Heart of Haiti Tumblr

Elena Soninno/Ciao Mom:

Elena began writing Ciao Mom in October 2009 to reflect on what it really means to be a cancer survivor, have a child, go through a divorce, fight the running/non running roller coaster, and find herself in love and getting remarried. Recently, she launched Just.Be.Enough.com in the hope of inspiring women, parents, and children to believe in themselves.

http://www.ciaomom.com/taking-the-trip-of-a-lifetime-to-haiti/

http://www.ciaomom.com/building-capacity-in-haiti/

http://www.ciaomom.com/jp-hro-fosters-self-sufficiency-in-haiti/comment-page-1/#comment-25322

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75TP6qz4jhg

Jeannette Kaplun/TodoBebe:

Jeannette is an award-winning bilingual and bicultural journalist, parenting author and cofounder of Todobebé, Inc. Where she oversees all Todobebé parenting content and websites. She also co-hosts the Spanish-language network TV show “¡Viva la Familia! de Todobebé.”

http://jeannettekaplun.wordpress.com/2012/01/21/me-voy-a-haiti/

http://www.todobebe.com/criando/columna-de-la-editora-2/blog-de-la-editora-haiti-pais-de-contrastes

https://plus.google.com/107469029821955226915/posts/jaSsaTN6ued

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43gv5lMU5hM&feature=youtu.be

Leticia Barr/Tech Savvy Mama:

Leticia Barr writes a weekly column about technology and education for The LeapFrog Community and was one of the 30 original City Editors for Being Savvy Washington DC. She contributes to DC Metro Moms, a Silicon Valley Moms Blog site, and writes for The Washington Times. She uses her background in technology and education as the Community Manager for PBS Teachers, where she manages an online learning community of over 58,000 teachers.

http://www.techsavvymama.com/2012/01/sustainable-income-through-art.html

http://www.techsavvymama.com/2012/01/dam-dam-haiti-bloggers4haiti-introduce.html

 

 

Nadia Jones/Justice Jonesie:

A veteran blogger and social media enthusiast, Jonesie has blogged for more than five years at her group blog, Mamalaw.com, an award-winning parenting and lifestyle blog. Jonesie and her partners created MamaLaw Media Group and founded the largest social media conference devoted to celebrating diversity in social media Blogalicious Weekend , the MyBlogalicious Community, and The b-Link Marketing Network.A veteran blogger and social media enthusiast, Jone

http://www.justicejonesie.com/blog/blog/2012/01/haiti-cherie/

http://www.justicejonesie.com/blog/blog/2012/01/the-strength-of-haitian-women/#comment-1218

http://www.justicejonesie.com/blog/blog/2012/01/haiti-little-signs-of-hope-amongst-great-poverty/

Ana Flores/Spanglish Baby:

Ana co-founded SpanglishBaby, the online community for parents raising bilingual and bicultural kids, which was recently chosen as a Must Read Mom’s Blog by Parenting Magazine and featured on CNN en Español, PBS Parents, and BabyCenter, among others. Latina Bloggers Connect, her new venture has garnered clients such as Sprint, Kellogg´s, Clorox, Pine-Sol, WGBH, JOHNSON´s, Neutrogena, Maseca, Mary Kay and McDonald´s.

http://spanglishbaby.com/2012/01/a-trip-to-haiti-with-heart-of-haiti/

http://spanglishbaby.com/2012/01/we-are-in-the-heart-of-haiti/#comment-68204

Bloggers4Haiti Supporters:

Jennifer James/Mom Bloggers For Social Good:

http://mombloggersforsocialgood.com/2012/01/24/bloggers-visit-haiti-raise-awareness/#comment-127

Bloggers-Meet-Haiti-Metal-Workers

#Bloggers4Haiti

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Some days I have to pinch my arm to make sure it’s really real. Like today, I pinched myself and said, “You run a Social Media Marketing firm and you are going to Haiti? Really?” Truth, at Everywhere we have all sorts of adventures that aren’t geeky on the surface. I guess because we’re all about driving conversations and sometimes the best way to do that is to have an adventure! We’ve found ourselves all over the globe from the BET awards to Beirut. We love all our clients and campaigns but there are some like Macy’s Heart of Haiti that really are close to our hearts.

Heart of Haiti is an economic empowerment initiative designed to help this devastated country deal with the after-effects of the 2010 earthquake by providing income for artists. With Macy’s Heart of Haiti, artists make stunning art out of items we’d normally discard here in the U.S. Metal artisans forge beautiful frames out of old oil barrels. Vases, fashioned out of recycled newspapers and cement bags, create colorful painted papier mache pieces. Self-taught jewelers carve cow bones into sleek ivory and black bracelets.

And what does this all have to do with social media? We have the amazing privilege of managing the social outreach for Macy’s Heart of Haiti. We connect with bloggers, tweet and speak to a great community at the Heart of Haiti Facebook page. The Heart of Haiti story resonates with bloggers who often share stories or campaigns that make a difference. Heart of Haiti, focuses on “Trade not Aid” and was founded as a partnership between Macy’s and the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund. Haiti is an enormously creative country – I ran across the statistic (somewhere) “One in four Haitians consider themselves an artist.” With Macy’s involvement, Haitian artists apply their trade and actually earn a living. To date, the program has more than 750 artisans and their families.

This is my third trip to Haiti. Every time I go, I see real advances in the artist communities. Thanks to the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund, artist studios are being rebuilt. But it’s the individual stories that move me. One artist proudly told me about his pride at seeing his son go to school – a luxury he could not afford before Macy’s Heart of Haiti.

This trip to Haiti came together more or less serendipitously. Several bloggers know about our commitment to Heart of Haiti. When I started talking about possibly going back to the country, it was like that scene in Jerry Maguire where Renee Zellweger says to Tom Cruise, “You had me at hello.” We’re headed to Haiti with five amazing bloggers, all friends of Everywhere. This is not an Everywhere-sponsored trip. These five bloggers who said, “You had me at hello” also had to get their own funding to come to Haiti. While Haiti is a mere puddle-jump from Miami, flights are expensive and there’s hotel, food, and the cost of transportation. We’ll aggregate blog posts about the trip on our tumblr account and feature blog posts here at Everywhere. You can follow us on Twitter at #Bloggers4Haiti. In the meantime, here’s a list of those five amazing bloggers with whom I’m about to dive into an adventure. I’m sure they are pinching themselves too!!!

Jeannette Kaplun - ToDoBebe

Elena Sonnino - C. Mom A Day in the Life

Ana L. Flores - Spanglish Baby

Leticia Barr - Tech Savvy Mama

Nadia Jones - Justice Jonesie