Johanna Torres, Andrea Zimmerman, Lorraine C. Ladish & Maura Hernandez
This year, Mamiverse was a proud community partner of the multicultural social media and blogging conference, Blogalicious5. It took place in the Hyatt Regency of Atlanta, Georgia from October 3-5. It was jam-packed with informational panels and keynote speeches, which would require several pages to describe! So, to keep it simple and informative, I’ll detail just 4 highlights of this superb event!
1. LATINA BLOGGERS CONNECT TRACKS
Led by the unstoppable Ana L. Flores of Latina Bloggers Connect, this track included several panels such as: Pitching Latina Online and On-Air Media which I was honored to be a part of, next to Andrea Zimmerman, of Babble.com, Maura Hernandez of Latina.mom.me and Johanna Torres of MamasLatinas.com. Some of the takeaways of our panel:
- Be the writer you’d like to hire.
- Pitch editors by e-mail, not on social media.
- Study the online magazine you want to write for, before you pitch.
- Be a sport when it comes to getting editors’ feedback!
Read Related: Must-Haves for Blogging & Social Media Conferences
2. SUCCESSFUL BLUEPRINT ROUNDTABLE CONVERSATIONS
I thoroughly enjoyed the conversation at my table, which focused on being a successful freelancer. Some of the tips I gave, based on my 32 years of experience were:
- Remember freelancing is a marathon, not a sprint.
- Treat freelancing as a business, set goals and follow a calendar.
- Freelancers with a strong social media presence tend to get more work!
- Be ready for income fluctuations and plan accordingly.
3. BLOGALICIOUS SOCIAL SUITE
Most of Blogalicious5 sponsors had a booth at the social suite. I especially enjoyed @BoironUSA table, which gave away great health and wellness products such as their Arnicare line, which helps alleviate pain—great for those of us toting around our electronics during a social media conference—and products to alleviate stress. Heart of Haiti’s booth was another of my favorites. I purchased two bracelets made by Haitian women, the proceeds of which go to helping them make their dreams come true—dreams such as being able to feed their children…
4. BLOGHER’S ELISA CAMAHORT’s CLOSING KEYNOTE
There are few things more empowering than listening to a successful woman speak, and share all the challenges she faced before making it happen! Elisa Camahort had a lot of quotable wisdom packed in her closing keynote on pursuing your dream career or setting up your own biz:
- Money doesn’t buy happiness but it does buy freedom to try your crazy idea and take risks.
- If you have a fire in your belly, start saving for it now.
- Prioritize people, then terms, then valuation, in that order.
- Ask yourself: What is the worst that could happen if you try this and you fail?
As usual in social media conferences, friendships were forged or strengthened, goals were set and information was shared. There were so many opportunities for bonding while learning and having fun. So much more happened… if you were there would you please share your own highlights with us in the comments section?
Lorraine C. Ladish is Editor-in-Chief of Mamiverse. You may follow her @lorrainecladish and @mamiverse.
