That Which Awakens Me – Ananda Leeke

Happy #CreativityThursday: Becoming a VIDA Voices Designer

Posted by Ananda Leekeon May 21, 2015May 26, 2015in VIDALeave a comment

Photo Credit: ShopVida.com

Happy #CreativityThursday! Guess what my vision board book has? An image and affirmation about being a designer of a product line. They manifested in real time on Saturday afternoon when I accepted an email invitation to become a designer with VIDA, a San Francisco-based socially-responsible e-commerce platform that collaborates with artists around the world to create original and inspiring apparel and accessories. Artists participate in the platform at no cost, then receive a 10% revenue share on products sold.

VIDA CEO Umaimah Mendhro, a native of Pakistan, launched the e-commerce platform in November 2014. As a child, Mendhro wanted to become an artist, but knew it would be difficult to pursue her career dream. While she was attending Harvard Business School, she tapped into her childhood dream and knowledge that textiles are a major contributor to Pakistan’s GNP to build VIDA’s business model that pays its producers a liveable wage and offers a literacy program to factory workers. As a result, factory workers are able to build a better life for themselves and their families. Isn’t that a great business model? It’s one of the reasons I became a VIDA designer!

This week, I searched my collages, graphic designs, and paintings to find several pieces that invite people to welcome art into their lives as a gateway for self-discovery and healing. After I selected the images that decorate the covers of my three books, I worked with VIDA to transform them into my VIDA Voices collection . Drum roll please. Today, I’m proud to introduce my VIDA VOICES collection of scarves that bring ART TO LIFE! My scarf collection helps people do three things:

Create an affordable Signature Style ($40 for each scarf).
Express Social Responsibility (portion of proceeds funds literacy program for factory workers who make scarves in Pakistan).
Tell Stories that celebrate the power of creativity, self-discovery, self-love, and women in social media and technology (the designs were created from artwork that decorates the covers of my books which discuss these themes).

It features four designs you can choose from. Each scarf measures 80 inches by 26 inches and is made of 100% MicroModal, a soft, luxurious fabric that will add a bold, modern statement to any wardrobe. See a description of each scarf below. FYI: VIDA will produce and ship my scarf designs within 60 days if there are 3 or more pre-orders. Here’s how you can help me succeed at being a VIDA designer in the next 14 days.

Pre-order a scarf ($40) for yourself and someone special in your life, and use the 20% discount code VIDAVOICES.
Share this blog post with folks in your network via social media and email, and encourage them to buy a scarf and share the news with their network.
Take a photo of yourself wearing the scarf and post it on your blog or social media with the hashtags #ShopVIDA and #ShopVIDAwithAL. Send it in an email to your network. Be sure to send the email to me too: ananda@anandaleeke.com. I will post your photos on my blog and social media.

Digital Sisterhood scarf -- Photo Credit: ShopVida.com — Digital Sisterhood scarf — Photo Credit: ShopVida.com

The Digital Sisterhood scarf ($40) celebrates the power of women in social media and technology. It is the perfect multipurpose accessory for women who are attending blogging, social media, and technology conferences because it celebrates their inner geek with style and keeps their warm and cozy during sessions held in chilly rooms. Its bold colors also make it a lovely summer scarf. The design theme of sisterhood gives women permission to rock it all year long! Click here to purchase it. Here’s one more thing you should know.The design is based on a logo featured on my book, Digital Sisterhood: A Memoir of Fierce Living Online (available on Amazon).

“Kreative Grooviness” painting by Ananda Leeke

The Kreative Grooviness scarf ($40) celebrates the positive energy that awakens individuals when they embrace and express their creativity. Spring is a great time to wear this scarf to spark new creative beginnings. It can also be worn all year as a stylish reminder to honor your creative spirit. Click here to purchase it. Oh yeah, I’ve got one last thing to share about this design. It is based on my Kreative Grooviness painting that decorates the cover of my book, That Which Awakens Me: A Creative Woman’s Poetical Memoir of Self-Discovery (available on Amazon).

Karma: One of Love's Troubadours painting by Ananda Leeke — Karma: One of Love’s Troubadours painting by Ananda Leeke

The Karma scarf ($40) celebrates a woman’s self-discovery process which I believe is a lifelong path and commitment to Fierce Living. It can be worn as a sacred style touchstone that helps one begin to explore, deepen, understand, and honor the beauty that lies within. The striking colors make it a great autumn accessory. This scarf also represents Karma, a woman on a journey of self-discovery and the main character in my novel, Love’s Troubadours – Karma: Book One. Click here to purchase it. Guess what? The design is based on my painting, Karma: One of Love’s Troubadours that is featured on the cover of Love’s Troubadours (available on Amazon)

Karma: Aham Prema painting by Ananda Leeke

The Karma: Aham Prema scarf ($40) celebrates a woman’s self-love journey which I believe is a daily Fierce Living practice and process. That means it can be worn 24/7 every single day of the week, month, year, and decade. Let’s just call it what it is. A lifetime signature style piece! How cool is that? What’s more, its colors evoke a sense of royalty that is perfect to flaunt during the winter months and holiday celebrations. Here’s what also makes it even more special. It represents Karma, a woman on a journey of healing and the main character in my novel, Love’s Troubadaours. Click here to purchase it. The design is based on my painting, Karma: Aham Prema (I am love) that is featured on the cover of Love’s Troubadours (available on Amazon).

Ananda’s speaking adventures at Ignite DC #4 on June 16, 2010

Posted by Ananda Leekeon June 17, 2010June 17, 2010in UncategorizedLeave a comment

039, originally uploaded by anandaleeke.

Happy Thursday!

Last night I spoke at Ignite DC #4. “Who lives inside of me?” was the title of my five-minute talk. Visit www.ignite-dc.com to learn more about this amazing event. Click here to read a summary of my talk: http://www.ignite-dc.com/speakers/369.

My talk was based on my eight archetypes discussed in my new book That Which Awakens Me: A Creative Woman’s Poetic Memoir of Self-Discovery (November 2009, Amazon.com). Six-word memoirs, yoga, poetry, and my creative process were mentioned during my talk.

My dad “J” videotaped my talk. See the video below. The Ignite DC organizers will post the 16 speakers’ talks on Blip.tv in a few weeks. I’ll be sure to post the link when it goes live.

Ignite DC #4 was a great event. I saw so many friends and met many new people. I also took a lot of photos. Click here to see my Flickr photo set: http://www.flickr.com/photos/anandaleeke/sets/72157624167809241.

Many thanks to the Ignite DC organizers, sponsors, attendees, and speakers (amazing group of folks — I learned so much from them and laughed too!!!). A big thanks to everyone on Twitter and Facebook who mentioned my talk, took photos, and shared my links.

Enjoy your day and weekend!

PS: Blogging While Brown is my next social media event! Visit www.bloggingwhilebrown.com or http://twitter.com/bwbconference. Blogging While Brown begins on June 18 at the Washington Convention Center in DC. I will teach a yoga class for social media users from 8:15 am to 8:30 am on June 19. I am so excited about attending the conference. It will be my third Blogging While Brown conference! I am also excited about going to the Blogalicious/Red Pump Project meet up at Tabaq on June 19. So get ready for lots more videos, photos, and Facebook/Twitter posts!!!!

My promotion tips for authors who are planning book talks and signings

Posted by Ananda Leekeon June 10, 2010June 11, 2010in Author Tips2 Comments

Here are some of my promotion tips for authors who are planning book talks and signings. If you have tips, please share them. Thank you in advance!

1) If you use Facebook and LinkedIn, create an event for your book talk and signing. Post it on your personal profile, book page, and/or Fan page. Also post it on any group pages that serve as your audience. Make sure you invite all of your friends to the event. Ask them to share the event on their pages. They can be your ambassadors of goodwill and PR!

For LinkedIn Users: Once you post your event, you can share it with members of groups you belong to. That helps to promote your event to a wider audience.

2) Create and send an Eventbrite invitation to your email list on Yahoo, Gmail, or AOL. I used Eventbrite a few days ago and plan to use it again for my July and September events. Here is my invite: http://anandaleekebookreading.eventbrite.com.

3) Hold a Twitter chat (haven’t done this one yet, but have watched some friends do it) or UStream.tv live chat before the event (have used this before; it gives folks a chance to see you and ask questions).

4) Talk about your event on Twitter and get a group of your followers to retweet your event notices. Let your peeps help you. They love it. It feels good to be able to ask for help and then show appreciation.

5) Post your event on your blog and social networking sites where you have blogs. Ask folks to spread the word.

6) Ask your fellow bloggers to post notices about your event and book on their sites. You may need to swap some guest posts or event promotions, but it is worth it. Sometimes folks post your events without a request. That’s a true blessing too. It happened to me recently when the Hell in a Hand Bag blog posted about my event. Many thanks to blogger extraordinaire Original Najeema for the post and tweets on Twitter.

7) Consider doing audio blogs with excerpts from your book and posting them on your web site, blog, and social networking sites. You can use www.cinchcast.com or www.utterli.com. I use Cinchcast a lot these days. Check my page out: www.cinchcast.com/anandaleeke.

8) Create a short video commercial about your book events and post it on YouTube (used for my book release in November 2009 – did a 7 day countdown in December 2009), Vimeo, or Blip.tv. You can use your computer’s web cam, cell phone camera, digital camera, or a flip camera. Share a summary about the book and read an excerpt. Post the video on your web site, blog, and social media sites. Ask your friends to share it with their friends as posts on Twitter, Facebook, and other sites.

9) Connect your book and event to a national observance or local event. I tie a lot of my book events to national observances. For example, I am having a book reading during June which is Black Music Month. My novel Love’s Troubadours and memoir That Which Awakens Me discuss Black music. So I have been tweeting about the music in both books this week. I also mention my book web sites and book reading dates. In addition, my book reading is happening during DC Digital Week. So I am hosting a free yoga class to support the Week. During my class I will read a short excerpt from my memoir because it is yoga-inspired. I will also share that my novel is yoga-inspired too. I am teaching the yoga class in a park that I discuss in my book. So I will mention that too. My memoir includes insights about my social media journey. So that will be included too.

10) Share what you learn from the book promotion process with others. It helps you establish social capital and participate in the gift economy author Tara Hunt discusses in her book The Whuffie Factor (one of my favorite books). When we give and share, we will be blessed. That’s the universal law of give and take!

Join Ananda for her DC Book Reading on 3/14, Online Creativity Coaching Session for Women on 3/25, and Yoga in Malcolm X Park on 3/28

Posted by Ananda Leekeon March 13, 2010March 13, 2010in Creativity Coaching, That Which Awakens Me - A Creative Woman's Poetic MemoirLeave a comment

Dear All,

Mark your calendars for the following events:

An author talk and book signing for my new book That Which Awakens Me: A Creative Woman’s Poetic Memoir of Self-Discovery on March 14 from 2:30 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. at the Historical Society of Washington, DC, 801 K Street, NW at Mount Vernon Square metro. I will also discuss my debut novel Love’s Troubadours – Karma: Book One. Both of my books are available on Amazon.com. Visit www.historydc.org.

A free creative coaching session on March 25 from 9:00 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. EST that explores the nine blocks to women’s creativity. I will use creative coaching exercises in my new book That Which Awaken’s Me to guide the session. http://www.ustream.tv/channel/ananda-leeke-live

A free kind and gentle yoga Meetup on March 28 from 11:30 a.m. to 12 noon at Malcolm X-Meridian Hill Park in DC. The class will be dedicated to National Women’s History Month, National Women and Girls HIV/AID Day, and National Nutrition Month. http://yoga.meetup.com/584.

Hope to see you at these events!

Peace, Creativity, Compassion, and Gratitude,

Ananda

Ananda is teaching yoga at the Latinos in Social Media DC conference on Dec. 12

Posted by Ananda Leekeon December 9, 2009December 11, 2009in LatiSMDC, Liberated Muse, Uncategorized5 Comments

Happy Wednesday!

Many thanks to Kety Esquivel and the organizers of the Latinos in Social Media DC (LatiSMDC – http://latism.org/latism-dc) conference for inviting me to teach a kind and gentle yoga class for computer users at the Latinos in Social Media conference on Saturday, December 12 at the National Council of La Raza (www.nclr.org). LatiSMDC is a community building event that will bring together organizations focused on reaching Latinos and the seasoned social media veterans that can help them. Click here to read the agenda: http://latism.org/latism-dc/dc-agenda. Visit http://latism.org/latism-dc/dc-speakers to read a list of the amazing speakers.

Puerto Rico’s Flag

Cuba’s Flag

I am really excited about this opportunity because I have been in love with Latino communities, culture, cuisine, music, art, and spirituality since my first visit to Puerto Rico with my family in 1978 and Cuba with the Cuba AIDS Project in 2004. Throughout junior and senior high school, I took Spanish. I also minored in Spanish in college. I am most passionate about Afro-Latinos because of the connection we share to the continent of Africa. I discuss my passion for my adopted culture and trips to Puerto Rico and Cuba in my new book That Which Awakens Me: A Creative Woman’s Poetic Memoir of Self Discovery. See an excerpt below.

Sometimes we keep prayers from childhood buried in the recesses of our minds. If we are lucky, we may rediscover them and allow them to breathe life into our adult world. Today I discovered one of mine. It was written in Spanish to honor the passion I hold in my heart for my adopted culture.

Yo creo que soy una Latina por que yo siento el afecto para la cultura Latina. Tengo una isla amiga se llama Puerto Rico. Yo quiero pensar y sonar en espanol. Yo quiero dansar y vivir en espanol. Querido Dios, me cambias una Latina, por favor.

I believe that I am a Latina because I feel affection for Latin culture. I have an island friend named Puerto Rico. I want to think and dream in Spanish. I want to dance and live in Spanish. Dear God, Please change me into a Latina.

The first time I conceived remnants of this prayer was during Mr. Candelaria’s Mexican Christmas at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Landover, Maryland. It was the early 1970s. I was in third grade. Jose Feliciano’s holiday song “Feliz Navidad” was popular. My religious education teacher was Mr. Candelaria, a Mexican man with an open heart, giving spirit, passion for folk music, and a commitment to teach his students about his Mexican heritage. Somehow he convinced Father Ward, our parish priest, to permit our class to decorate the outside of the church with brown paper bags that we normally used for school lunches or popcorn that we snuck into the movies. We filled the bags with sand and placed a white candle in the middle of the sand. For Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve, we lit the candles and watched their illuminating presence outline the architectural design of the church. It was a magical moment that taught me how we each have a light within us. That light is our spark of divinity. Our job is to keep it lit so that it shines for eternity.

My debut novel Love’s Troubadours – Karma: Book One (2007 – www.lovestrouabdours.com) pays tribute to the contributions made by Afro-Latinos to culture, history, music, and dance in the Americas. It features characters with Afro-Cuban, Afro-Mexican, and Afro-Peruvian roots. These characters offer rich dialogue peppered with references to Afro-Latino culture and history. They also work with and maintain positive relationships with African Americans that promote Black and Brown solidarity.

Love’s Troubadours educates readers about Yanga, an African who ran away from his slave master in 1609 and founded the first free African township near Veracruz, Mexico. The novel gives readers an interesting history lesson about American-born African slaves who fled to Mexico in the mid 1800s. Readers also visit museums such as El Museo del Barrio in New York City and National Museum of Mexican Art (formerly known as the Mexican Fine Arts Center Museum) in Chicago that exhibit Afro-Latino art. In addition, they have a chance to fall in love with the music of Afro-Cuban jazz musicians Mongo Santamaria and Omar Sosa, Afro-Puerto Rican jazz musician Willie Bobo, and Afro-Peruvian singer Susana Baca. By the end of Love’s Troubadours, readers may find themselves dancing Salsa just like the main character Karma Francois.

Enjoy your day and week!

Ananda

Week 3 of Wreck This Journal – Come Alive CD by The Roots Became My Creativity Playlist

Posted by Ananda Leekeon June 17, 2009June 17, 2009in Creativity, That Which Awakens Me - A Creative Woman's Poetic Memoir13 Comments

wreckjournal

rootscomealivecd

The_Roots_2007

Hi All,

It’s week 3 in the Wreck This Journal Book Blogging journey: http://tnc-wreckthisjournal.blogspot.com. This week I started wrecking my journal on June 15 while listening to the Come Alive CD by The Roots. My favorite songs for wrecking my journal were:

“All I Know”
“Y’all Know Who”
“What You Want”
“Love of My Life”

Do you have a Wreck This Journal playlist?

My favorite journal wrecking activities were:

p. 58 – Pretending to doodle on the back on an envelope with an orange magic marker (lots of hearts, scribbles, and square boxes).
p. 98 – The page of good thoughts was filled with reminder that God is love in pink magic marker.
p. 146 – The space for negative comments and what is your inner critic saying awakened my inner critic Broomhilda. Click here to learn more about her: http://kiamshacom.blogspot.com/search?q=broomhilda. Broomhilda criticized me for writing a book (my new poetic memoir – That Which Awakens me: A Creative Woman’s Poetic Memoir – Summer 2009) with too many pages that folks won’t read. She accused me of pretending to be more than I am. She also told me I wasn’t ready to shiine. She released her usual criticism about my muffin Buddha belly and told me my current work with my life coach Yael to tone my belly and improve my core and self-acceptance were worthless.

Archetypes-Broomhilda-innercritic

My inner critic Broomhilda

This week was full of insights. The inner critic exercise was the main source of the insights. I’m glad I am working with my life coach Yael to strengthen my self-acceptance. That’s why I am smiling right now about Broomhilda’s criticisms. They let me know I am on the right path to shining my beauty and sharing my gifts.

I will visit more Wreck This Journal sistalove blogs next week after I get back from Chicago and the Blogging While Brown conference (www.bloggingwhilebrown.com).

Thanks for stopping by.

Enjoy your day and weekend!

Peace and Creativity,

Ananda

Summer Creative Adventures – Museum Visit to see Mami Wata Water Spirit and Yoga Movie Treat – Enlighten Up!

Posted by Ananda Leekeon June 11, 2009June 11, 2009in Art, Creativity, Love's Troubadours - Karma: Book One, Uncategorized, Yoga4 Comments

MamiWata-ZoumanaSanesm

Mami Wata, circa 1987 by Zoumana Sane (dates unknown, Senegal)
Photo Credit: Don Cole

Happy Thursday!

Today I reflected on how I launched my annual summer museum adventures last weekend. I started with a visit to the National Museum of African Art. The goal of my trip was to soak up the beauty and splendor of the Mami Wata: Arts for Water Spirits in Africa and the African Atlantic World exhibit. http://africa.si.edu/exhibits/mamiwata/intro.html. It arrived at the Museum on April 1 and leaves on July 26.

Mami Wata (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mami_Wata) is a water spirit celebrated throughout most of Africa, Brazil, Cuba, Dominican Republic, and Haiti. I first learned about Mami Wata in 1991 when I discovered the West African Yoruba goddesses Oshun (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oshun) and Yemaya (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yemanya) who are her sister water spirits. I immediately embraced her image which is often portrayed as a brown-skinned mermaid. I love that fact because she reminds me of me. Her power as a nurturing mother, sensual woman, healer, and provider of riches also appealed to me. Mami Wata, Oshun, and Yemaya introduced me to Erzulie (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erzulie), the Haitian goddess of love. These water goddesses played a pivotal role in my early artwork and writing. They still do! Erzulie is a major force in the artwork and characters featured in my debut novel, Love’s Troubadours – Karma Book One (www.lovestroubadours.com— iUniverse, Inc. – 2007). Click here to see Erzulie’s veve which appears inside my novel and serves as the logo for the Love’s Troubadours novel series (scroll down to the second photo and look for the black and white drawing of a heart-shaped image): http://www.lovestroubadours.com/id26.html. It also appears in the painting featured on the back of my novel. Click here to see a photo (scroll down to the bottom of the page and look for the heart-shaped symbol in the center of painting): http://www.lovestroubadours.com/id7.html.

The Mami Wata exhibit was powerful because it explored the visual culture and histories of Mami Wata and her sister water spirits. It also taught me about several new water spirits such as Lasirèn from Haiti and Santa Marta la Dominadora from the Dominican Republic. At the end of the exhibit, I decided to participate in the creative exercise set up by the Museum. I never turn down an invitation to play! The exercise involved making drawings of Mami Wata-like mermaids, fish, and shells. Iloved the exhibit so much that I purchased the exhibition book as a keepsake. I plan to go back later this month to see the Mami Wata exhibit one more time before it closes. Yes it’s that good!

So do you have any summer museum adventures planned? If so, where are you going and what will you see when you get there?

After the museum, I stopped at Teaism in Penn Quarter for lunch (http://www.teaism.com/Restaurant/PennQuarter7.html). Teaism is one of my favorite places to drink tea, eat healthy food, meet friends, and write. I wrote several chapters of Love’s Troubadours – Karma: Book One (www.lovestroubadours.com) and my soon-to-be released poetic memoir, That Which Awakens Me: A Creative Woman’s Poetic Memoir of Self-Discoverywhile sipping tea at Teaism. I even wrote about my novel’s main character Karma Francois eating a salty oat cookie and drinking tea at Teaism on Dupont Circle! I treated myself to one of my favorite entrees, the salmon bento box. As always, it was delicious. Before I left, I purchased a chocolate salty oat cookie for my afternoon movie snack.

Enlighten Up! (http://enlightenupthefilm.com) is a new yoga documentary by filmmaker Kate Churchill. It tells the story of Nick Rosen, a twenty-something journalist from New York City, who explores the world of yoga in search of a practice that meets his needs. The film was yoga yummy and funny. The yogini/yoga teacher inside of me adored the Enlighten Up! because it gives everyday people an opportunity to witness Rosen’s down-to-earthsearch for a yoga practice with some of the most widely known and not so known yoga teachers in New York City, Los Angeles, Hawaii, and India. I highly recommend the film. If you go see Enlighten Up!, tell me what you think about it.

Do you practice yoga? If so, describe your practice.

Right now I am practicing yin yoga (www.yinyoga.com and http://www.yogajournal.com/practice/580?print=1) in the early morning before I get out of bed and before I go to sleep at night. My morning practice includes sun salutations, twists, cat-cows, cobras, and forward folds.

If you are in DC this weekend, please consider attending my free community yoga class on Sunday, June 14 at 9:00 a.m. in Malcolm X – Meridian Hill Park in Northwest, DC. For more information, visit http://yoga.meetup.com/584.

Thanks for stopping by!

Peace, Creativity, and Summer OMs,

Ananda

Summer Reading & Creative Inspiration from The Artist’s Way author Julia Cameron’s creative memoir Floor Sample

Posted by Ananda Leekeon June 9, 2009June 9, 2009in Uncategorized6 Comments

Happy Tuesday!

On Saturday evening I finished reading Floor Sample, a creative memoir by Julia Cameron (www.theartistsway.com), author of The Artist’s Way. The Artist’s Way is one of my favorite books. My sistalovefriend Toni Blackman (www.toniblackman.com) introduced me to the book in 1995. Together, we embarked on an accountability journey of morning pages, artist dates, and long walks. I know the work that I did during this period solidified my calling, commitment, and creative expression as an artist. It also laid the foundation for my current role as a creativity coach who midwifes the creative efforts of other creative folks.

Cameron’s Floor Sample was a powerful read. When I learned that she grew up Catholic and attended Georgetown University like me, I felt more connected to her story. Floor Sample helped me understand Cameron’s journey as a creative person, divorced mother, and sober, recovering alcoholic. I learned a great deal about her creative process and the importance of taking great care of yourself, claiming your creative life, and nurturing your creative gifts. I was inspired by the way Cameron has been able to work on multiple creative projects and produce a timeless body of work that serves others. Her creativity energized mine! I needed that boost of energy for the final round of my new book’s publication process. My favorite quotes from Floor Sample were:

“Stop trying to be a great writer … That’s your ego. Get your ego out of your writing. You should be writing from a spirit of service. You are just the vehicle, the channel. Let God write through you.”

“My story was one more story amid many. And that story wasn’t over. I wasn’t at an end. Instead, I was at a beginning. I could add my voice to a choir of voices. I could try. That’s all you need to do.”

Aren’t they? I’m going to write them on a piece of pink construction paper and keep them near my writing desk for inspiration.

Thanks for stopping by!

Peace and Creativity,

Ananda

PS: My copy of Colson Whitehead’s Sag Harbor hasn’t arrived yet. So I started reading a social media book, The New Influencers: A Marketer’s Guide to the New Social Media by Paul Gillin (http://paulgillin.com/newinfluencers). The BAP Living Radio (http://www.talkshoe.com/tc/18598) series on Black women in social media that I have been hosting this month inspired me to pick up the book. I am so glad I did. It is so yummy because I am gaining a big picture perspective of 21st century communications and how to use them in branding myself as an author/artist/creativity coach/blogger/innerpreneur/radio host/yoga teacher/Reiki Master practitioner/social media strategist. It also help me revise my social media marketing strategies for my author web site (www.anandaleeke.com – launch date at the end of June) and new book, That Which Awakens Me: A Creative Woman’s Poetic Memoir of Self-Discovery. After I finish The New Influencers, I am moving on to Gillin’s second book on social media, Secrets of Social Media Marketing: How to Use Online Conversations and Customer Communities to Turbo-Charge Your Business. I plan to finish both books before I head to Chicago for the Blogging While Brown Conference next week (www.bloggingwhilebrown.com).

I am trying to decide which books to take with me to Chicago. I really need to finish Toni Morrison’s A Mercy before I take on another book. However, Sandra Cisneros’ The House on Mango Street, a coming-of-age novella that tells the story of Esperanza Cordero, a young Latina growing up in Chicago.

So what are you reading this summer?