Thriving Mindfully as the Real You!
Today BeBlogalicious.com posted an excerpt from my forthcoming memoir, Digital Sisterhood: Fierce Living Online for 25 Years (late fall 2012). My excerpt discusses how Blogalicious gave birth to my Digital Sisterhood bond with PR and communications professional Xina Eiland. Click here to read it. Let me know what you think in the comment section below.
Calling all DC, Maryland, and Virginia folks!
Join me and my Kind and Gentle Yoga Meet Up Group for Sunday morning yoga from 9:00 a.m. to 9:30 a.m on June 24, July 29, August 26, September 9, October 14, and November 4 in Malcolm X/Meridian Hill Park located at 16th Street and Florida Avenue, NW Streets in Washington, DC. The U Street Metro on the Green Line is the closest subway stop. To stay updated on the class schedule, please click here to join the Meet Up Group (free to join). You can also find information about the classes on BarackObama.com’s event listiings.
The yoga class will take place by the reflecting pool (with ducks and flowers) and waterfall located near the Malcolm X/Meridian Hill Park entrance at 16th Street and Florida Avenue (at the bottom of the hill).
The yoga class is offered free of charge with an invitation for class members to make a donation to President Barack H. Obama’s successful 2012 re-election campaign online through the donation button on BarackObama.com: https://contribute.barackobama.com/donation/index.html. You can also make a donation offline by giving me your donation before or after the class. I will submit all yoga class donations online as a part of my OBAMA 2012 campaign fundraising efforts.
IMPORTANT NOTES:
Today is #DigitalSisterhood Wednesday on Twitter. It’s a weekly celebration that I host to honor women in social media. It always energizes me and leaves me feeling proud to be a woman who uses her digital voice to honor, connect with, and build community with a diverse group of social media women. Many of these women keep me informed, inspired, and encouraged.
Last week was a hard one. I had difficulty watching and reading the attacks against President Barack H. Obama. I took it personal. I let it all get to me. I started doubting my power to affirm and support the successful 2012 re-election of President Obama. My attitude shifted when I started reading the Twitterstream of Dr. Goddess and Zerlinda Maxwell on Saturday, June 9. They were live tweeting from the Netroots Nation annual conference. One of Zerlinda’s tweets included a link to President Obama’s video message to the Netroots Nation attendees. Click here to watch it.
After watching President Obama, I started to feel hopeful. My day got better when I went to run errands in my neighborhood and met two sistafriends who gave me a mouthful of reasons why they were stepping up their support for President Obama. I came home and wrote my mission statement and a list of the ways I will support President Obama’s successful re-election campaign. See below.
My Mission Statement
As a supporter of President Barack Obama, I choose to express my support by:
Ways I Will Support President Obama
Check out my first week’s post about some of the great things President Obama and his team have done to improve the lives of women and girls. Most of my posts will focus on women and girls (so get ready!).
FYI — I read about the efforts on the WhiteHouse.gov’s Council on Women and Girls’ page. I also subscribed to the email updates. It makes it easier to stay updated (have been receiving them since the Council was created).
If you are on TEAM OBAMA, how are you supporting President Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign? Share your comments below.
Happy June and Happy Tuesday!
Untitled, originally uploaded by anandaleeke.How was your Memorial Day Weekend? What did you do?
Memorial Day Weekend gave me an opportunity to relax, rest, and hang out in my U Street/Dupont Circle/Adams Morgan neighborhoods in Washington, DC.
I led a social media 101 workshop for my Mastermind group on Saturday morning.
On Sunday, I took several walks in my neighborhood and captured some of my favorite flowers with my smartphone.
I also met up with my stylist Sharon Malachi (a/k/a Butterfly LP) and obtained summer styling tips at Blackbird, a cool spot for drinks and lite fare on 14th Street, NW.
I gave Sharon a business and social media coaching while eating a tasty brunch at L’Enfant on Monday.
To stay updated on social media, I joined Instagram and created photos with my smartphone. Instagram has become one of my favorite apps. I also wrote, decluttered, and organized my home (year long process).
Happy Thursday!
Greetings All!
Last week was filled with Georgia peach sweet adventures during my trip to Spelman College’s Leadership and Women of Color Conference, a professional development opportunity for women aspiring to be leaders as well as those who are in leadership positions. The conference theme was “Leading with Purpose.” It was organized under the leadership of Dr. Jane E. Smith, Executive Director, Center for Leadership and Civic Engagement at Spelman. Click here to learn more about the conference.
My favorite moments from the conference included:
On day two of the conference, I served as a panelist for the Social Media Panel – Purposeful Posts: How Social Media Can Shape Your Leadership Brand. Click here to learn more about the panel discussion. Journalist Roland Martin moderated the panel. Patricia Cesaire, Director of Social Media at Black Enterprise, and James Andrews, Founder of SocialPeople.TV, served as panelists. During the panel discussion, I shared my experiences as a blogger and the Digital Sisterhood Network founder, insights on taking care of yourself online with a digital diet, tips on how to use social media tools, and the power of women online.
Check out several tweets about my comments below.
#anandaleeke it’s about the quality of the social media conversation
.@anandaleeke advises us to take good care of ourselves. You can overdose on social media. Go on a social diet. #SpelmanWOCC #fb
“@heyheylbj: My #instagram of @rolandsmartin @anandaleeke and @keyinfluencer #spelmanwocc http://instagr.am/p/Ku8ud5K80t/”
@TastemakerMag RT! @anandaleeke says sometimes you have to be on digital diet #SpelmanWOCC
@anandaleeke scheds tweets & says shes #radioshack girl likes real cameras > #instagram, sold 4 $1B-@jamesandrews #SpelmanWOCC #SocialMedia
@awarriorssoul: @anandaleeke determines her tools based on where she is, how much time available, quality of convo #SpelmanWOCC #socialmedia
RT @JSmithSpelman: @anandaleeke says she has suffered from #tech schizophrenia but also goes on digital diets #socialmedia #SpelmanWOCC
@anandaleeke says writing her first book led her to blog. #SpelmanWOCC
#digitalsisterhood is the brand @anandaleeke has developed via her #digitalsisterhood network. #SpelmanWOCChttp://via.me/-17jmtak
#spelmanwocc woman are a powerful presence in the digital world #anandaleeke digital sisterhood! 69million strong
#AnandaLeeke says take time away from social media as not to become ‘a social media schizophrenic’ it’s ok to back away #SpelmanWOCC
Women view the Internet like its ‘social tv’ we use it as a mean of community and connectivity says #AnandaLeeke #SpelmanWOCC
Here are more photos from the conference. Enjoy!
May 7 007, originally uploaded by anandaleeke.
Happy Monday!
I hope you had a great weekend! How did you spend it? What were the highlights?
My weekend highlights included attending my Mastermind meditation group meeting, working at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center as an artist-in-residence with a retired Army airman who told me some great stories as we created two collages with poems and six word memoirs, hanging out/dancing/sipping on cocktails with my cousin Sharon and her friends at a really cool lounge called Cities, running the Race for Hope DC 5K, spending time with my creative accountability sister Jess at Cafe Collage, writing, going to church, napping, taking some nice long walks, and seeing the Restless City movie at the West End (wonderful movie).
The one thing that really stayed with me was meeting people impacted by brain tumor cancer during the Race for Hope DC 5K race. The conversations I had were deep and at times caused my eyes to water up. When I crossed the finished line, I bowed my head in deep gratitude and dedicated my run to everyone living with brain tumor cancer. Click here to listen to my audio blog that includes some of my Race Day reflections.
So what’s your week looking like?
Mine is all about getting my rest, writing, decluttering, fitness training at the gym, running 3 miles 3x this week in preparation for June 5K, yoga/Reiki/meditation, and finishing my homework from my financial advisor.
See you next week!
Ciao!
Ananda
In her 2011 Digital Women: from geeks to mainstream presentation that was given at the WIFT International Women Conference for Digital Women, Dr. Taly Weiss, a social psychologist and CEO/Founder of Trendspotting, concluded that “women are dominant digital users – they breathe and live digital.” Dr. Weiss’ conclusion echoes BlogHer’s 2011 Social Media Matters Study findings:
These facts illustrate the power and presence women have in the digital space. When women marry their power and presence, they give birth to digital sisterhood, the feminine currency they use to create relationship wealth through the connections they make, conversations they have, communities they build, causes they support, collaborative partnerships they establish, and commerce they engage in with women they meet online and offline.
They also become Digital Sisterhood Leaders, ambassadors of social expression who share what they are passionate about online. In her upcoming book, Digital Sisterhood: Fierce Living Online for 25 Years (Fall 2012), Ananda Leeke, founder of the Digital Sisterhood Network, writes,
“Without even knowing it, women have become Digital Sisterhood Leaders as they use their social media platforms to advocate causes; to build communities; to create apps, art, books, businesses, products, publications, services, tools, and webisodes; to curate content; to educate and inform; to give voice to their thoughts as subject matter experts, thought leaders, and brand ambassadors; to share information and experiences; to explore and experiment with new technologies as early adopters and trendsetters; to engage in social good; to influence others with their lifestyles and personal interests; to inspire and motivate; to mentor; to network; to tell their personal stories; and to promote and celebrate the expertise, gifts, and talents of others. Based on my online and offline interactions, I have identified 12 key leadership roles they play: advocate, community builder, creator, curator, educator, influencer, mentor, motivator, promoter, social do gooder, storyteller, and thought leader.”
The Digital Sisterhood Leadership Project was established to explore, document, and celebrate the creative ways social media women express their leadership abilities and experiences online and offline. The Project will have a soft launch in May. Its official launch will occur in January 2013. The soft launch for the Digital Sisterhood Leadership Project began with a Digital Sisterhood Radio interview with Dana Theus, founder of InPower Women on May 1. The interview focused on the leadership roles social media women play and tips on how to establish a personal leadership brand with social media. Click here to listen the audio recording of the interview.
The launch also includes a series of #DSLead Twitter chats on May 2, 9, 23, and 30 from 9:00 pm to 10:00 pm ET. See the list of Twitter chat topics below. Make sure you follow @digitalsisterhd and use the hashtag #dslead to track the conversations on Hootsuite, Tweetdeck, Tweetchat or Tweetgrid.
In addition, the Project will feature a series of guest blogger interviews with Digital Sisterhood Leaders in May, June, July, August, September, October, and November. There will be more surprises especially during Digital Sisterhood Month in December. So stay tuned for more news in the coming months!
Happy May! Happy Tuesday! Bye Bye April!
It’s a brand new month. What are you looking forward to?
I am looking forward to warmer weather, pedicures with royal blue painted toes, taking photos when I walk in my neighborhood, hanging out with friends, going to the movies at the Landmark Theatre, practicing yoga outside, going to the gym to do my core and strength training exercises, writing my Digital Sisterhood book, the soft launch of the Digital Sisterhood Leadership Project (today and all month), running the Race for Hope DC 5K to raise awareness about brain tumors on May 6, watching Kerry Washington in Scandal on ABC.com, reading Marney K. Makridakis’ Creating Time book, taking my mother to dinner for Mother’s Day, traveling to Atlanta to speak at Spelman College’s Women of Color Leadership Conference on May 16-17, seeing my digital brothers and digital sisters while I am in Atlanta, meeting with my MasterMind Group each week, conducting a social media 101 training for my MasterMind group members, working at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center as an artist-in-residence for Smith Center for Healing and the Arts, attending my People of Color Buddhist Meditation Sangha’s monthly meeting, checking out new art exhibits at several local galleries, spending time at the Sunday Drummers’ Circle in Malcolm X Park , decluttering my home, finishing my homework from my financial advisor (finalizing my will, living will, healthcare power of attorney, and legal power of attorney), and visiting with family during Memorial Day Weekend.
April was a BUSY month! What were some of your highlights?
My April highlights are below (links to audio blogs are included).
Ananda Leeke 