My October started with a blast of women in social media events. On October 3, I moderated Sisterhood the Blog’s focus group on how women marry their social justice, social entrepreneurial, and/or nonprofit work to do good with social media on October 3, 2010, at Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Library in Washington, DC. Guest panelists included:
•Megan Pagado, Marketing and events manager for the Arts and Humanities County of Montgomery County, arts advocate, and graphic design “dabbler” – www.creativemoco.com and http://meganpagado.magntize.com;
We had a great time chatting about so many aspects of our work! I learned so many things from these dynamic digital divas. Look for video clips from the focus group in a few weeks. In the meantime, check out the Flickr photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/anandaleeke/sets/72157624964368519.
Yesterday I hosted the first Sisterhood the Blog #STB10 Twitter chat on digital sisterhood. It was held from 9:00 pm EST to 10:00 pm EST. What fun! Several women showed up and showed out in a great way. We exchanged our ideas and experiences. Wonderful sharing! Check out the Twitter feed from the chat below.
The Twitter chat was so juicy I decided to host five more chats as a way to collect data for my Sisterhood the Blog book project: http://kck.st/avHVlu. The next #STB10 Twitter chats will be held on November 3, December 1, January 5, February 2, and March 2 from 9:00 pm EST to 10:00 pm EST. Please plan to join me for some digital sisterhood sharing!
deegospel Digital Sisterhood is the kinship between women who share a common interest in how to use technology wisely to advance our world #stb10 about 15 hours ago via web
Cinchcast is an amazing audio blog tool that helps me communicate, connect, and craft my niche as a lawyer-turned author, artist, coach, yoga teacher, and innerpreneur. I started using Cinchcast after hearing Bill Cosby’s Cinch blogs. I figured if Mr. Cosby could use Cinchcast to share his thoughts, wisdom, humor, and good works, I could too. After using Cinchcast for a week, I realized how natural, fun, and easy it was to pick up my smart phone and share my thoughts. I became really excited about the tool when I saw how quickly my Cinchs posted to my Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn pages. That’s when I became an unofficial Cinchcast ambassador and evangelist. In the past year, I have used Cinchcast to:
Provide updates about my creative adventures as an author, artist, coach, yoga teacher, and innerpreneur;
Share my weekly lessons learned and insights from running and practicing yoga, meditation, and Reiki;
Promote my books That Which Awakens Me: A Creative Woman’s Poetic Memoir of Self-Discovery and Love’s Troubadours – Book One: Karma by reading excerpts that celebrate Black History Month in February, Women’s History Month in March, National Poetry/Jazz Appreciation Month in April, National Black Music Month in June, National Yoga Month in September, and National Arts and Humanities Month in October;
Share information and yoga tips that support health awareness campaigns including Heart Healthy Month in February, National Women’s Health Week in May, National Yoga Month in September, and Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October;
Live blog with the Blogalicious B-Link DC area bloggers at President Obama’s education reform speech during the National Urban League’s Centennial Conference;
Document my BlogHer 2010 conference experiences and conversations with fellow women bloggers;
Conduct interviews with women in social media at conferences such as Nonprofit 2.0, Blogging While Brown, BlogHer, and local meet ups in the Washington, DC area as research for my book project Sisterhood the Blog: Soundbytes from the 21st Century Women’s Online Revolution (December 2011);
Teach my coaching clients how to use the tool to blog on the go, connect with and thank their audience and customers regularly, seek feedback, share information, and highlight peers and industry leaders at meetings and conferences.
I am headed to the Blogalicious 2010 conference in Miami next weekend and plan to live blog with Cinchcast. So look for more Cinchs from me in the coming days!
Calling all women in social media! Join me for my first Sisterhood the Blog Twitter chat about digital sisterhood on October 6 at 9:00 pm EST. To access the chat log onto Twitter and use the #STB10 hashtag. During the chat, we will discuss our personal definitions of sisterhood, digital sisterhood connections – how/why we create and sustain them, and lessons learned from our digital sisterhood connections.
Our Twitter chat stream will be used as research for my book project Sisterhood the Blog: Soundbytes from the 21st Century Women’s Online Revolution (December 2011 – click here to donate to my Kickstarter.com fundraiser for my book project. TY in advance for your support!).
My Kickstarter.com fundraiser for my Sisterhood the Blog book project is really taking off. I am blown away by the generosity of folks in my network. So far I have received $106 in donations from Tanya Fields, Johanna Vondeling, Richael Faithful, Jill Foster, Sariane Leigh, Aiesha Turman, and Kiratiana Freelon (the first supporter!). Many thanks everyone for your positive energy and support!
My goal for this first round of fundraising is $500 by December 23. My overall goal is to raise $1,600 by August 31, 2011. Click here to learn how you can make a $1-$25 donation to my Kickstarter.com fundraiser. Thanks in advance for your support!
September and August were great months for receiving positive press about my work as an author, artist, coach, yoga teacher, and innerpreneur. Check out the audio and blog interviews below. Let me know what you think. If you would like to interview me, send me an email – kiamshaleeke@yahoo.com.
Last Friday I launched my Kickstarter.com fundraising campaign to raise $500 for my book project Sisterhood the Blog: Soundbytes from the 21st Century Women’s Online Revolution (December 2011). To learn more and make a $1-$25 donation, click here and watch the video above. Also, read the Kickstarter.com fundraisier description below. Thank you for your support and positive energy!
Kickstarter.com Fundraiser Description for Sisterhood the Blog Book:
Author Ananda Leeke is using Kickstarter.com – http://kck.st/avHVlu – to raise money for her next book Sisterhood the Blog: Soundbytes from the 21st Century Women’s Online Revolution, a memoir that discusses her Internet adventures, digital sisterhood experiences, and reflections about women and the Internet. Her overall goal is to raise $1,600 to cover the cost of her self-publishing fees by August 31, 2011. She is using Kickstarter.com as her first phase of fundraising. Her Kickstarter.com goal is to raise $500 by December 23, 2010. Click on the link to support her fundraising campaign: http://kck.st/avHVlu.
Ananda ‘s memoir covers the period of 1986 to 2011. It begins with her first Internet experience as a law student using the LexisNexis research service at Howard University School of Law in 1986. It also discusses the first time she witnessed the power of women and the Internet at the U.N. Fourth World Conference on Women held in Beijing, China in 1995. The memoir digs deep into the world of women in social media and celebrates the impact of “digital diva” sheroes on Ananda’s life.
Ananda started conducting research for her memoir in 2008. She used her WordPress blog, Ning.com social networking site for women of African descent, Facebook groups, Twitter accounts, and Talkshoe.com radio shows. Since then, she has created a logo for the book and used her DC Social Media Examiner column, Flickr photo-sharing account, YouTube and Vimeo channels, and Cinchcast audio blog to document her interviews with women at meet ups and conferences such as Blogging While Brown, She’s Geeky, Nonprofit 2.0, Social Justice Camp, Crisis Camp DC, Social Commerce Camp DC, DC Media Makers, Social Media Club of DC, Latinos in Social Media, BlogHer, and Blogalicious.
In 2010, Ananda began using Survey Monkey to collect data on women’s Internet experiences (http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/PLWQ72K), interviewing women on Blogatique with Ananda Leeke on BlogTalkRadio (http://www.blogtalkradio.com/anandaleeke), and organizing monthly focus groups on women in social media via Eventbrite (http://www.eventbrite.com/org/505029633…). She uses Sisterhood the Blog Radio on Talkshoe.com to host the online focus groups: http://www.talkshoe.com/tc/42015. She facilitates the DC groups at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Library in Washington, DC. She is co-leading a community discussion about digital sisterhood at the Blogalicious conference in Miami in October: http://blogaliciousweekend.com/2010/0… Her research efforts will end in March 2011. She plans to finalize the book draft, create the artwork for the book cover, and complete her Kickstarter fundraising campaign by Summer 2011. The book will be published by iUniverse, Inc. by December 2011.
September 11th was a pretty special day for me this year. I spent the entire day at a wellness workshop sponsored by Smith Farm Center for Healing and the Arts at Allen AME Church in Washington, DC. During the workshop, I taught a short kind and gentle yoga class for African American DC residents. I also had a chance to connect with Howard University Hospital’s Cancer Center representative. We had a great time talking about the work of Smith Farm artists-in-residence at Howard University Hospital. By the way, I worked as artist-in-residence at Howard Hospital from 2003 to 2009. Great times! Click here to see more photos from my adventures at the wellness workshop.
Ananda Leeke 
