The Creative Connection

Wendy Piersall has been blogging professionally for nearly 5 years and established herself as an early voice helping people build a business online via blogging. She has written for Entrepreneur.com and was featured on the Today Show as an advocate for mom owned online businesses. In 2009 she was named by Nielsen as one of the 16 most influential moms online. She transformed her personal blog into a powerful blog network, selling it to private investors soon thereafter. Today she runs the Woo! Jr. Kids Activities Blog Network, attracting nearly 250,000 monthly visitors.

BlogHer Moderator-Content & Community Building – Building Community Around Craft

Megan Jordan parents and writes by the same clear principle: the beauty is in the threadbare. “Relish the Velveteen. Revel in the Threadbare.” underscores her personal blog, Velveteen Mind. Her literary magazine, Story Bleed Magazine, aches for you to discover yourself where the lines between our stories bleed together, unexpectedly resonating. Mother to three, her balance and perspective make her a sought-after voice in the parenting community, at top social media conferences, and for influential consulting projects. Her approach to integrated marketing in social media has generated solid case studies that are modeled almost immediately. Writing from Gulfport, Mississippi, Megan infuses her writing with depth as rich as mud in the bayou and humor bold as blackened shrimp. Megan is working on a book about resilience and our cumbersome blessings.

Contact:
Web:http://VelveteenMind.com
Twitter:@velveteenmind

BlogHer Panelist-Content & Community Building – Building Community Around Craft

Marie LeBaron is the founder and managing editor of Make and Takes and is a mother of 3 living in Seattle. Marie graduated with an Early Childhood and Elementary teaching degree, taught 4 years of kindergarten, and now shares many of her tips and tricks she’s learned over the years on her blog. Marie is set to publish her first craft book with Wiley publishing (due out October 17th) called, Make and Takes for Kids: 50 crafts throughout the year.

Contact:
Web:http://www.makeandtakes.com
Twitter: @makeandtakes

BlogHer Panelist-Monetization and Business Models (Intermediate-to-Advanced)-Craft + Money: The Next Steps

Megan Auman is a designer, maker, educator, and entrepreneur who has built a multi-faceted business around her passion for great design and sustainable business. Her eponymous jewelry line is sold in stores across the US and online. In 2009, Megan founded Crafting an MBA to help designers and makers develop their business skills.

Contact:
Web:http://craftmba.com
Twitter:@meganauman

BlogHer Panelist-Content and Community Building (Beginning)-Your Social Media Solar System

What does an Advertising Art college drop out + retail sales super seller become when she grows up? An entrepreneur! When Stacie Tamaki had the opportunity to create some bridal veils for a fashion show back in 1997 she jumped at the chance. Not because it was something she’d always dreamed of doing, she did it because it sounded interesting. Years later her custom couture bridal accessory company, The Flirty Bride, needed a website. She thought what better way to get one than to learn how to make it herself. The very first site she created transformed her into a sought after web designer and developer for other small business owners. After starting her own blog in 2006 and experiencing the benefits of blogging, Stacie became a blogging evangelist who now teaches small business owners about blogging and using social media to market their products and services.

Contact:
Web:http://theflirtyblog.com/
Twitter:@theflirtygirl

BlogHer Panelist-Monetization and Business Models (Beginning)-Introduction to Monetization Models for Creative Bloggers

Gina created The Shabby Creek Cottage in 2009 to chronicle her and her husband’s journey of remodeling her childhood home. A mom of two girls, Gina shares DIY tips and home décor ideas on her blog. They take on all of their projects with their own labor to save costs, creating a custom home on a fraction of the budget. When she’s not busy with remodels or blogging, Gina also runs an Etsy.com shop.

Contact:
Blog: www.theshabbycreekcottage.com
Twitter: @Shabbycreek

Presenter:BlogHer Session-Growing Your Reach (Intermediate-to-Advanced)-Using Technology to Grow Your Reach: Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Connie Bensen is a leading Social Media & Community Strategist who has provided resources and mentorship since 2007. Her career in social media began when she and her sister created a community for digital scrapbookers at http://DigiScrapInfo.com. In addition to helping digital scrapbookers get their supplies organized, Connie provided online marketing tips. Connie’s definition for the Community Manager role is linked from Wikipedia and has been referenced by many organizations. She can be found presenting at leading social media conferences around the world. She has authored a series of ten white papers on the ROI of Social Media. Forbes.com recognized her blog, Community Strategist, as one of the top 20 best marketing and social media blogs by women. 451 Marketing has noted her as one of the top social media strategists to watch in 2011 and she was a 2009 Fellow of the Society for New Communications Research. When she isn’t in front of the keyboard she enjoys gardening, cooking and travel.

Contact:
Web: http://communitystrategist.com
Twitter: @cbensen

BlogHer Panelist-Monetization and Business Models (Beginning)-Introduction to Monetization Models for Creative Bloggers

After a successful career climbing the corporate ladder in Silicon Valley, marketing high-tech start ups and brands like IBM and Animal Planet, Traci left the corporate world to pursue her passion for art. The year 2011 marks the 10-year anniversary of launching her creative business endeavor treiC designs. Prior to becoming a full-time artist, she worked as a graphic designer, event planner, marketing director, professional cheerleader, elementary art teacher, fashion designer, and web designer—to name just a few positions. Experiences that she gained through these positions, coupled with her innate drive to explore and create without boundaries, are what contribute to her success as a mixed media artist. Her passion for sharing art has led her on a worldwide tour, teaching mixed media workshops in handmade books, art journaling, collage, art marketing, and surface design. Traci is the author of the bestselling book, Collage Unleashed, and is currently working on her next book which will be released January 2012. Her art has been featured in over 15 art/mixed media books and 40 craft magazines, including Somerset Studio, Altered Couture, cloth.paper.scissors, Art Journaling, Art Quilting Studio, Belle Armoire, and Craft. Her column “Creativity Unleashed” was featured in Somerset Studio Magazine. She has been a regular guest on DIY/HGTV Craft Lab. Her creative business includes designing licensed product lines, Collage Pauge adhesive, and {kolLAJ} paper crafts. She has developed business partnerships with numerous craft manufacturers, and has built her online presence solely on her own, designing every aspect of her brand and marketing strategy.

Contact:
Web: http://www.kollaj.typepad.com
Twitter: @treicdesigns

BlogHer Moderator-Content and Community Building (Beginning)-Your Social Media Solar System

Erica is an engineer, arts lover, and web nerd based in Minneapolis. She has been blogging since 2002 and has been a leader in the Twin Cities blogging community since 2005. In addition to her personal blog swirlspice.com, she has published sites on the topics of Twin Cities life, minority experiences in Minnesota, and items of interest to queer women of color. She serves on the boards of the Twin Cities Women’s Choir and the Minnesota Fringe Festival. She works in validation at a pharmaceutical company. 

Contact:
Web: http://www.swirlspice.com
Twitter: @swirlspice

BlogHer Panelist-Growing Your Reach (Beginning)-Using Content and Community to Grow Your Reach

Becky Jorgensen currently designs and produces online sewing workshops on her site www.patchworkposse.com, blabs about all things crafty on her blog www.patchworkposse.com/blog, and sells one-of-a-kind patterns in her shop www.whosiesandwhatnots.etsy.com. While serving as an area rep for the Utah Quilt Guild for three years, and as president of a local quilt group she founded in 2010, Becky created www.patchworkposse.com. This helpful website hosts online sewing workshops, features patterns designed by top sewers and crafters, and includes a monthly e-zine. Becky loves to provide a place for sewers to learn something new, share tips with others, and connect to a worldwide community. Blogging for over four years, Becky has learned the “tricks” on building a community using her crafty enthusiasm. Through those efforts, she has successfully sold her unique quilt and doll patterns, and new patterns seem to jump out of her sketch book every month! Becky has been sewing since she was eight years old, and claims she’s never been able to follow the instructions properly. This led her to design a quilt series called “Cranky,” which lets go of the standard rules of quilting. Her latest project has been converting a cold storage building in the backyard into her own personal sewing cottage, where she will continue to develop new workshops, design new patterns, and quilt for others.