Whew! There is so much to say about Blogher. I won a scholarship from Latism.org because of my Spanish blog called Mi Caminar. In English it means My Walk. I created this blog last year with a cousin in Colombia as a way to connect with my Colombian roots. After coming back from Blogher and listening to some speakers at the Latina panel, I decided to make Mi Caminar bilingual. Here is a recap with my first post in English and recap on Latism.org website.
I observed what big corporations were doing in their Social Media Campaigns. One that stood out was Yahoo Shines in their campaign called You Reinvented. They created a hashtag for this campaign, #reinvented, and their Twitter is Yahoo Shine. I got all doled up with a professional make up artist for my interview about how we have reinvented our lives.
Johnson & Johnson had professional videographers interviewing us on “How You Care”. I will post the videos I did for Yahoo and Johnson and Johnson as soon as I get them.
Besides that there was the American Heart Association with Go Red and Stouffers in partnership with Todd Parr, an award winning children’s book writer. A separate video post will be uploaded next and I will elaborate more on this campaign. (UPDATE: Link to post about Stouffer’s and Todd Parr)
There was so much activity and so many people at Blogher, that it was hard to get it all in two short days. 2400 women is a huge conference!
The preconference guide alone was 53 pages. Take a look at the 80 or so sponsors for Blogher in the guide.
The international activist panel really inspired me. Four amazing women bloggers and change agents are:
- Marie Trigona from Argentina , Blog: Mujeres Libres
- Dushi Pillai from Sri Lanka, Blog: Humanity Ashore
- Esra Al Shafei, from Bahrain, Blog: Mideast Youth . This blog is now a group blog comprising almost 1000 contributors.
- Freshta Basij-Rasikh from Afghanistan, Blog: Afghan Women’s Writing Project , created by an American woman.
We were asked not to take pictures or video for security of the women (except for Maria from Argentina.) I was able to spend some time with these young women during lunch. They are all in their 20′s and 30′s. The demeanor of all of them is humble, simple, sweet and fun, and most importantly, independent women who have a need to express their voice.
Just being able to know about their lives a bit was worth the entire trip, besides taking Freshta to Central Park and the observation deck at Rockefeller Center. She was more curious about the tall buildings in New York. Also, being able to find someone so Esra could hold an Ipad for the very first time was really cool. She said she dreamed of it in her sleep.
So thanks again Latism for the wonderful opportunity and my chance to blab to everyone how great an organization you are. And thanks Blogher for getting all these women together!
Blogher - August 2010 New York
