During the BlissDom 2012 conference, I had a chance to spend time with Tawanna Smith (a/k/a @WorldTravelMom on Twitter), founder of MomsGuideToTravel.com. We talked a lot about what it means to tap into the power of fierce living from your creative heart (the topic of my February 24th conference session), writing, intentions, and setting boundaries when completing goals. She and Lucrecer Braxton, founder of Art Slam, also stopped by my BlissDom book signing and purchased a copy of my memoir, That Which Awakens Me. We had a great time discussing creativity. After I signed Tawanna’s book, she invited me to do an interview on her Spreecast video show.Now that’s Digital Sisterhood in real time!
Lucrecer Braxton (red), Ananda & Tawanna Smith
FYI: Tawanna will be interviewing me about “Fierce Living from Your Creative Heart” (includes a discussion about my book, That Which Awakens Me) on March 12 at 8:30 pm ET. Click here to watch the live interview. If you miss it, you will be able to watch the recording.
While I was at the BlissDom 2012 Conference, I had a chance to learn about the Child Hunger Ends Here campaign sponsored by Feeding America and ConAgra. After speaking with the campaign representatives, I decided to record a video to support their efforts. Click here to watch the video.
FYI – Here are several key statistices about child hunger in the United States.
1) More than 1 in 5 children in the U.S. don’t know where their next meal is coming from.
2) More than 16 million children in the U.S. face hunger
3) The face of child hunger is different than you might think. It’s not just starving or homeless children. Often, it’s a one- or two-income family that has suffered from the economy and have depleted their savings.
Today is International Women’s Day (IWD)! In honor of IWD, I created a Pinterest board that features women’s empowerment and rights campaigns, issues, photos, and videos. Click here to see it.
It’s been a week since I attended BlissDom 2012 at the Opryland Hotel in Nashville, Tennessee. Since then I have been marinating in the beauty and memories of the amazing conference and community. In the midst of all of this marinating, I was able to:
ease back into my daily life with insights gained from Jeannette Kaplun’s session on Living (and Embracing) the Best of the Life You Have Created for Yourself (thank you Jeannette for reminding me to choose joy, grace, gratitude, ease, acceptance, forgiveness, and peace!),
go grocery shopping and pay the monthly bills,
wash my clothes and watch Young and the Restless, Private Practice, Grey’s Anatomy, and Revenge (yep I am a soap opera lover),
drink water out of my BlissDom swag cup from the Croc company,
re-gift some of the BlissDom swag,
share conference highlights with family and friends,
do a mental check-in with myself about my 2012 vision and mission statement as it relates to my personal brand based on the work I did during Tami Heim’s session on Branding You: The Merger Between Their Perception and Your Reality (thanks Tami for preparing me for this amazing work I am called to do this year!),
review my conference session notes and aha moments in my journal and determine what parts I will include in the last chapter of my upcoming Digital Sisterhood book,
embrace my visual voice by visiting a new video web site and creating a short video with music (thanks Diane Cu for your amazing conference session on Storytelling and Embracing Imperfection: Empower Your Visual Voice with Photography and Video), and
write this blog (which is part one of my BlissDom 2012 Conference Recap series).
What fun I have had! And there’s more blog posts with photos and audio blogs to come in the next days and weeks. In the meantime, check out the links to my Flickr photos and audio blog recaps on Cinchcast below. Enjoy!
Me sitting on the floor with the BlissDom conference arrow for the Girls Night In Event with Oprah and the OWN Network
5) Cinchcast Audio Blog Recap #4 discusses the takeaways I received from Diane Cu’s session on Storytelling and Embracing Imperfection: Empower Your Visual Voice with Photography and Video.
Great news! I will be speaking about “New Media Marketing: Understanding Pinterest” at the SistaSense Power Circle Telesummit for Web Entrepreneurs on March 1 from 8:00 pm to 9:00 pm ET. The Telesummit features 12 sessions with amazing speakers. Check out the fantastic video. Click here to learn more about the all-day event. You will also need to register and pay $45 (early registration fee) for the event. It is a great investment! Many thanks to LaShanda Henry for including me in her SistaSense Telesummit series.
2/29 Update: Here’s a link for my Pinterest resource board for my talk on understanding Pinterest. Enjoy!
The #BlissDom12 Conference is two days away. I AM SO EXCITED!!! It’s my first BlissDom experience! I am gonna have big fun meeting new people, seeing old blogging friends, networking with brands, hanging out at the great events, listening to the keynote speakers, and learning a lot about video and photography from some amazing speakers. I am also facilitating a workshop session on “Fierce Living from Your Creative Heart” on February 24 from 2:30 pm to 4:00 pm.
Happy to be going to BLISSDOM
In preparation for the session, I created a Pinterest board with 40 different pins that include photos, images, videos, and links to creative inspiration and information that I hope will encourage my workshop attendees to open their hearts and embrace fierce living. Each pin includes a question that invites reflection and comments. To learn more about what’s on my #BlissDom12 Fierce Living from Your Creative Heart Pinterest Board, click here to listen to my Cinchcast audio blog. Feel free to check out my board and leave a comment. If you are unable to attend my session and/or #BlissDom12, you can still use my Pinterest board as a source of inspiration in your creative life Enjoy!
Love's Troubadours by Ananda Leeke
PS: I will be signing copies of my novel, Love’s Troubadours – Karma: Book Oneon February 25 at 11:00 am at the Barnes & Nobles booth at BlissDom. If you are in Nashville, drop by. Click here to purchase the book on Amazon.com.
Have you joined the Pinterest movement? I have. It’s a lot of fun and very inspiring for my creative process. Check out my 13 boards when you have a chance: http://pinterest.com/anandaleeke.
Today marks the launch of the Social Media Week DC (the very first one), a week-long series of events featuring panels, workshops, Twitter chats, and parties. iStrategyLabs is the chief organizer of Social Media Week DC (#smwwdc – folks have also used #smwdc on Twitter).
When I looked at the schedule last week, I discovered so many amazing events. I decided to check out a few events that really spoke to my interests. Here’s what I plan to check out.
February 13 and February 15 – The Fashion Impact Report Launch – Working Together to Generate New Resources in DC (Two great #fashionpact Twitter chats with #dcfashion community that is sponsored by Svelte, LLC one of my favorite PR firms — I am big fan of the DC fashion community. I love to support DC fashion boutiques, bloggers, PR firms, etc. I call it my way of giving back as a geeky chic fashion lover!)
February 13 – Sex, Politics and Social Media (two of my favorite social media women Shireen Mitchell and Lisa Byrne are hosting the event featuring two social media women I admire: Shana Glickfield and City Girl Blogs founder Steph Woods)
February 17 – Another Social Network? How to Combat Social Media Fatigue in Your Business (I’m always interested in how people, businesses, and organizations are managing their social media lives. The concept of social media fatique is something I discuss in my blogger wellness workshops and yoga classes for social media/computer users at conferences.)
Are you planning to attend any Social Media Week DC events?
If you live outside of DC, are you going to any Social Media Week events in your local area (they are hosted in several big cities)?
Susan Niebur speaking @ Be Blogalicious, The Movie event, Jan. 2011
This morning I dedicated my yoga practice to Susan Niebur, an amazing digital sister and #dsfierceliving shero who inspires me tremendously. After yoga, I wrote in my journal and discovered I was writing the dedication page for my book, Digital Sisterhood. Susan’s name appeared. Here’s why.
I heard Susan share her breast cancer journey at BlogHer in New York City in August 2010. Click here to watch a video of her talk. Her words moved my spirit. They made me think of my two grandmothers who lived with breast cancer. When I returned home from BlogHer, I started following her blog, Toddler Planet and became inspired by her fierce living spirit, heart, and courage. She quickly became one of my digital sister sheros.
In January 2011, I met her in person at the Be Blogalicious movie event in Silver Spring, Maryland (photo above was taken of Susan at the event). That was a game changing moment because I had a chance to tell her how much I was inspired by her BlogHer talk and blog.
In October 2011, I listened to Susan share her journey at the Blogalicious Conference held at the National Harbor in Maryland. Later in the day, I was able to hug her and say how much I appreciated her story and work. Susan made her transition on February 6. Her hug is now a priceless gift I will always treasure.
Through Susan’s blog, I was able to witness the power of how one woman used social media to document and share her health journey, build community with like-minded people, give and receive support, and promote breast cancer awareness. She caused me to look for other women who were doing similar things with social media. I found plenty. These women along with Susan inspired me to dedicate Digital Sisterhood Month 2011 to women’s health.
I am so grateful for the presence of Susan in my social media life. Her fierce spirit, heart, and courage will always be remembered. Today I am sending love and light to her husband, sons, family, and friends. She will be deeply missed.
Visit her Toddler Planet blog to learn more about her amazing life and journey.
PS: Join Digital Sisterhood Network on February 8 for a special #DigitalSisterhood Wednesday Twitter tribute to Susan. Follow @digitalsisterhd and check out the #dsfierceliving Pinterest board.
January sure has been a quick month! It’s been filled with lots of rest, play, fun, and work for me …. writing, revising, dreaming, brainstorming. I call it the Dragon Year of Fierce Living. Dragon Year comes from Chinese New Year (started on 1/23). My family celebrates it on Sunday! I am also a dragon! Yep I was born the year of the dragon and nicknamed Puf the Magic Dragon as a child.
Check out the new look of AnandaLeeke.com. Let me know what you think.
Thanks in advance. Enjoy the rest of January and have a fabulous February!
PS: Check me out on #Digitalsisterhood Wednesdays via @digitalsisterhd on Twitter in February. Each Wednesday Digital Sisterhood Network is going to have a #DSFierceLiving discussion you don’t wanna miss!
Ananda Leeke 