Entering the World of Mom Bloggers at the Mom 2.0 Summit

This past weekend I attended the Mom 2.0 Summit at The Ritz Carlton in Laguna Niguel where hundreds of women bloggers were looking to connect with other women as well as with the sponsors and partners of the event such as Honda, Whirlpool, and Dove.  It was pretty amazing to be in a room full of women (and a handful of men) who were so interested to learn some tricks of the trade about how to turn their hobbies or  businesses into a more successful one.  This was my first Mom Blogger event and I really didn’t know what to expect.  Wow – was I impressed!   From the quality of key-note speakers to the caliber of women in the room, I was really happy I attended, minus the cold I caught from my daughter’s kindergarten class the day before.  But of course, that always happens doesn’t it?  Moms are use to functioning with colds, sore throats, lack of sleep, etc.!

Mom 2.0 Tips, Tricks & Topics:

The morning started out with several tips, tricks and topics from women who have been successfully blogging for many years. One of the speakers was the founder of Handmade Charlotte and she had some pretty awesome things to say about the art of blogging. Plus, her personal story of going from being a professional tennis player who traveled the world, to getting married to a country boy within an hour of meeting him, and living on a farm, raising five kids, and running her popular site was pretty fascinating!  What interesting journeys we make in life!  I took away from her talk to stick to things that you love and write about them.  I also enjoyed Lourdes Balepogi whose title of her speech was Balance is Bull$h!t.  Yes, that’s right – her whole talk was about the concept that moms try to achieve more balance in their lives, and instead, she suggests, they really should just focus on doing their best. It was kind of refreshing to hear her speak about this topic as I think many moms feel like they don’t balance their work life, home life, social life well.  To hear that balance shouldn’t be the end goal (because it unrealistic according to Lourdes), but rather do your best and to know that sometimes things won’t be done well or you will miss out on your kids functions from time to time due to work or other responsibilities.  To forgive yourself, and move past the overwhelming feeling of having to do everything perfectly, is quite liberating and one that I constantly have to remind myself of.

The keynote speakers were Jess Weiner, an advocate for empowering our girls and the spokesperson for the Dove Girls Unstoppable movement and Lisa Ling, host of Our America with Lisa Ling on OWN.  They talked about the important role moms have in raising girls to be self-accepting and empowered.  I had a chance to speak to Jess about the Dove campaign and I will write more about it in another post.  Nia Vardalos, actress and writer (she is the writer and star in My Big Fat Greek Wedding) spoke about her journey of becoming an instant mom.  Her journey of becoming a mom was a long one that was filled with infertility issues and self-hatred of not being able to do what she felt was every woman’s right – to procreate.  She shared with us how she and her husband decided on going the adoption route and how she became an instant mom when she got a call from the adoption service saying they found a match for her.  When she asked them when she will be able to see and take home her new daughter – they said the next day!  She became an instant mom overnight and her description of what she and her husband did to get ready was pretty funny and sweet.  It reminded me of how each of us has their own story of how we became mothers – there is no right or wrong way – but that we all have a story to tell.

All in all, the whole event was very inspiring and reminded me of why I created dandelion moms – for women to share in their journey and to inspire and empower each other.  And to look at the world with the wonder of a child – because it is truly amazing to see all the magical moments that can happen at any time –  if only we would slow down and enjoy it. I feel that I have found what I should be doing and have so enjoyed meeting such great women along the way!