Blogging

Party Like a Blog Star!

Best group photo ever!
Best group photo ever!

Thursday I had a bad day.

Actually, I’d been having a bad week.

Planning for the Bloganista Mini-Con presented by Laura Vincent Printing & Design had been stressing me out! In fact, I’d been so stressed I was started to doubt myself and everything I do.

Who am I to think I can empower women with See Jane Write, I asked myself.

Then Thursday night happened.

On Thursday, July 23 See Jane Write held the 2015 Bloganista Mixer presented by Collage Designer Consignment and it was fabulous!

How amazing it was to see so many bright and beautiful women gathered in one place all because they believe in self-expression through blogging and writing.

What I loved most was how all the women in attendance treated one another like family. Even if you were “blogless,” as a few women described themselves, you were welcomed with open arms.

I loved learning about the blogs these women were building or the ones they wanted to created. Women shared with me their writing hopes and dreams and the fears that are holding them back from pursuing them.

We chatted about fashion, food, fitness, and so much more.

Only with a group a lady bloggers and bloganistas can you have a serious conversation about aging and a silly conversation about barbecued pig ears in the same night!

Of course, some ladies did some shopping and they were quite impressed by Collage’s wide array of sizes and styles.

Thursday’s mixer wouldn’t have been possible without the support of Collage Designer Consignment. I can’t thank Collage owner Tracy True Dismukes enough for opening up her Vestavia store to us. The ladies of the Collage team were the most gracious of hostesses, treating us to delicious hors d’oeuvres and even giving each of us a free Collage tote bag!

Check out pictures from the event below and be sure to head to the See Jane Write Facebook page to tag yourself in the photos!

*Photos by Deidre Clark

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Meet the Bloganistas!

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The theme for this year’s Bloganista Mini-Con presented by Laura Vincent Printing & Design, set for August 1, 2015 at Vestavia Hills Library, is BLOG LIKE A BOSS!

Here are the conference speakers and panelists who are going to help you do just that:

Eunice Elliott

TV and radio personality Eunice Elliott will be our special guest at the conference and MC for the morning half of the event.

Eunice joined Alabama’s 13 in August 2013 as the traffic reporter. A native of Bessemer, Eunice is a proud graduate of The University of Alabama, where she earned a Journalism/Theatre degree in 1997. She has enjoyed working in sports/entertainment over the years including stints at ESPN in Connecticut, The Tennessee Titans, The FedEx Orange Bowl Committee and helmed her own public relations firm for many years representing professional athletes. Eunice performs weekly as a stand-up comedian at the Stardome Comedy Club, and also enjoys acting, radio broadcasting and writing/producing new television shows. Follow Eunice on Facebook and Twitter to see where she’s performing next!

jeniese

Jeniese Hosey will be our afternoon keynote speaker.

Jeniese Hosey is a 30-something woman from Birmingham, Alabama who loves all things fashion! In 2010 she started her blog The Jenesaisquoi, to show women that style has no relevance to size or age.  Jeniese has appeared in Ebony.com, Essence.com, Plus Model Magazine, Centric TV.com and DARE Magazine. Her blog has been showcased by several of her favorite fellow plus-size bloggers. She is a monthly contributor to the Plus Model Magazine Blog and she has collaborated with several of her favorite brands. By day Jeniese works as a PR/Marketing professional.  Along with fashion Jeniese loves football, traveling and food. She received her BA in Public Relations from The University of Alabama and an MBA in Marketing from Capella University.

During her afternoon keynote address Jeniese will discuss how she landed the many opportunities she’s enjoyed to work with brands and big names and will also reveal how she deals with the not-so-glamorous side of fashion blogging. 

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Chanda Temple will be our morning keynote speaker and during the Morning Mingle will be on hand to critique your business card.

Chanda worked as a journalist for nearly 20 years before switching gears to public relations in 2012. For the past three years Temple has crafted numerous public relations campaigns that the public and media noticed. Her latest success was coauthoring the Birmingham’s Best Bites cookbook. The self-published paperback book sold out three times in late 2014 and earned an international gold medal award in 2015. Also in 2015, her public relations campaign for the book, and the Birmingham food festival it was connected to, won a first place state award in public relations. Follow her blog at chandatemplewrites.com.

During her morning keynote address, Chanda will offer tips on how bloggers can build a personal brand and get that brand noticed by media and more. 

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Our afternoon panel discussion MAGAZINE DREAMS will offer tips on how you and your blog can be featured in your favorite magazine, how you can write for your favorite magazine and how you can start a magazine of your own. Our panelists are Maacah Davis of belladonna magazine, Annie DeVries of Hoffman Media and Kaneshia Sims of Red PaSH Magazine.

Maacah

Maacah Davis is the founding editor and creator of belladonna magazine, which she started to provide an outlet for some of Birmingham’s fashion and art-minded creatives. A former biology major at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, she is currently taking a gap year to figure out her future. In the meantime, in addition to being the creative director of Birmingham’s first fashion magazine, her work as a stylist has been published in B-Metro’s recurring feature segment, Birmingfamous. She has directed photoshoots for independent local makeup brand Fancy is Flawless, and she is excited to be at the helm of her first ad campaign with local cosmetics company, Hayah Beauty. As someone who has called Birmingham home for ten years now, she revels in making her twenties all about further exploring and presenting her, and her teams’, creative capacities.

ADeVries-headshot

Annie DeVries is the online editor at Hoffman Media, where she oversees web and social media content for the company’s eight magazines. After freelance writing and styling for several years, she began working as the assistant editor of fresh style magazine, and then became Southern Lady‘s associate editor before starting her current position. Working in magazine publishing was a somewhat unexpected career path. Annie holds a PhD in history from Rutgers University, and previously taught at Birmingham Southern College and the University of Alabama. The research, problem-solving, and writing skills she gained during graduate school and while teaching have proved invaluable in her work as an editor.

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Kaneshia Sims has a deep passion for Birmingham, all of its small businesses and local charities. Using her background in public relations and mass communications, Kaneshia took her passion and turned it into a business.  Kaneshia now serves as editor of  Red PaSH Magazine and head public relations coordinator of Southern PaSH.

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Bloganista defined

Our morning panel discussion BLOG LIKE A BOSS will cover best blogging practices, how to grow your blog’s audience, and how to build your blog into a business. Our panelists are Heather Brown of My Life Well Loved, Jennifer Dome King of Stellar Fashion and Fitness and yours truly!

View More: http://jettwalkerphotography.pass.us/my-life-well-loved-may

Heather Brown has been blogging for 6 years and has worked in social media since graduating from Samford University. She married her college sweetheart and they are expecting their first baby this month! Heather built her initial blog’s social media following to over 27,000 members, helped grow her employer’s Facebook page to over 150,000 followers, and currently has over 50,000 social media/newsletter subscribers to her current blog, MyLifeWellLoved.com. Heather’s passion is helping others grow their blog, brand, and social media as well as empowering women to be their best in healthy living, southern style, recipes, faith, beauty and finding balance.

Jennifer Dome3

Jennifer Dome King is the assistant editor of Bassmaster Magazine and also works as a freelance writer and copy editor. She blogs about fashion, health and fitness and body positivity at StellarFashionandFitness.com where she hopes to encourage women to lead a stellar life. Originally from New Jersey, she has adopted Birmingham has her new home for the past 8 years and loves exploring it with her husband of one year, Jermaine.

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Javacia Harris Bowser is the founder and CEO of See Jane Write LLC, a membership organization and website designed to empower and enrich women who write and blog. Before returning to her hometown of Birmingham, Alabama in 2009 to teach at the Alabama School of Fine Arts, Javacia worked as a features reporter in Louisville, Kentucky. Today she continues her journalism career as a freelance writer for a number of media outlets including USA Today, Birmingham magazine and WBHM90.3 FM, Birmingham’s NPR affiliate. Javacia also writes a monthly column for B-Metro magazine on women’s issues. Javacia holds a master’s degree in journalism from UC Berkeley and is a proud graduate of the University of Alabama. Follow her blogs at WriteousBabe.com and Javacia.com.

 

Get your tickets to this year’s Bloganista Mini-Con at bloganista2015.eventbrite.com now! Ticket sales end July 30 and no tickets will be sold the day of the event. 

 

Could you be the next NPR star? (or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love My Southern Accent)

 

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Disclosure: This post is made possible by WBHM 90.3 FM, our media partner for the Bloganista Mini-Con presented by Laura Vincent Printing & Design, but all opinions are my own. 

“OH-EM-GEE! Mrs. Bowser, I just heard you on the radio!”

I have to admit that there’s nothing quite like the feeling I get when my students (I’m a teacher by day/ blogger by night) run into my classroom squealing because they’ve just heard me on  WBHM 90.3 FM, Birmingham’s NPR affiliate.

I started blogging for WBHM.org about two years ago on race and gender issues.  The gig evolved and eventually the folks in charge decided to occasionally put me on air to discuss my essays. At first hearing my own voice made me cringe. “I sound so country!” I’d exclaim. “I sound like I have the I.Q. of a sweet potato,” I once told my husband. Then I realized I wasn’t practicing what I preach. I often tell my students to embrace and adore their Southern accents and to not be ashamed of them. It’s the same philosophy I followed when I went to grad school in California at UC Berkeley. I refused to try to conceal my accent. I refused to stop saying “Y’all” and I boasted about my ability to stretch a one-syllable word into three. Because I was so proud of my accent and of my home the notion to ridicule the way I talked or where I was from seemed silly and so no one did. In fact, instead my classmates were all eager to visit the South.

Hearing my voice on WBHM helped me love my accent again and reminded me that what I was saying was much more important than how I sounded saying it. When people mentioned my WBHM segments to me they weren’t talking about my voice, they were talking about my ideas. My pieces broached topics like feminism, colorism, and my love for Birmingham. I even confessed on air that I hate Christmas! Those are the things people wanted to discuss with me, not my accent.

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If you’ve ever thought about pitching a story idea to WBHM, now is your chance!

Currently the bosses at WBHM are seeking to include more listener commentary in the station’s programming. Check out this piece by John Houser on biking in Birmingham for an example of the kinds of pieces they’d like to publish and read the commentary guidelines for more details.

Pieces should present opinion or personal experience but can also be connected to the news or public affairs if they provide food for thought on the issue. Obviously, the pieces should be well-written and should show that you’re a keen observer who can read meaning into the small details of everyday life.

If you’re interested in submitting a piece email Rachel Osier Lindley at rachel@wbhm.org or Michael Krall at michael@wbhm.org for more information.

Be sure to tune in to WBHM 90.3 FM daily. For the next 10 days you could hear a spot announcing the Bloganista Mini-Con presented by Laura Vincent Printing & Design as WBHM is our media partner for the event!

And please remember that WBHM is a listener-supported station.  Click here to learn how you can help this station continue the great work it does for our community.

The Bloganista Mixer presented by Collage Designer Consignment

Disclosure: This post is brought to you by Collage Designer Consignment, sponsor of this year’s Bloganista Mixer, but all opinions are my own.

mixer graphic

If you feel as if you just can’t wait until the See Jane Write Bloganista Mini-Con presented by Laura Vincent Printing & Design to meet other Birmingham-area bloggers, then I have good news: you don’t have to!

Join us for the Bloganista Mixer presented by Collage Designer Consignment. Mingle with local bloggers while noshing on delicious hors d’oeuvres. Chat with some of this year’s conference speakers. And, of course, while you’re at Collage you can shop for your conference outfit!

Collage is celebrating its 23rd birthday this month, so you can get 23% off summer apparel and if you spend more than $75 you’ll receive a free gift!

July Anniversary Sale 2015 copy

Collage Designer Consignment was a vendor at last year’s Bloganista Mini-Con and I am so proud to partner with Collage again for this year’s Bloganista Mixer. In fact, I think there’s a lot we bloggers can learn from Collage owner Tracy True Dismukes.

Tracy_Black 2009

Tracy teaches us to be selective. Collage is known for being exceptionally selective in the items accepted to sell on consignment. Clients include news anchors, government officials, pageant winners, actresses, professionals and soccer moms who all know they can find anything from boutique brands to high-end designer labels, from GAP to Gucci, with all the benefits of a cozy and friendly full-service boutique – all at prices less than wholesale.

Likewise, we must be selective when blogging. We can’t post simply to post and we shouldn’t accept posts from guest bloggers who aren’t in line with the voice and vision for our blogs. We must give our readers high-quality content with a relatable and friendly tone. That’s what makes for good customer service in the blogosphere!

Tracy’s strategies have worked. Collage has been voted Best Consignment Shop and Best Women’s Boutique in Birmingham Magazine and the Birmingham News and was awarded Retailer of the Year by the Alabama Retail Association.  Collage has been featured nationally on FOX Business, Entrepreneur Magazine, Southern Living and in the national publication of AARP Bulletin. Tracy has appeared numerous times on NBC13, CBS42, FOX6 and ABC 33/40 as well as CBS Atlanta and has been quoted in the Wall Street Journal, Philadelphia Enquirer, Entrepreneur.com, Birmingham Business Journal and Birmingham News.

Tracy teaches us to give back. In the past Collage has partnered with My Sister’s Closet of the YWCA and to give prom gowns to teen girls who otherwise wouldn’t have been able to afford one. And she’s worked with WellHouse Ministries to host events to bring greater awareness of human trafficking to the Birmingham area.

We should all consider how we can use our blogs to spread awareness for the causes we believe in.

I hope to see you Thursday at the Bloganista Mixer presented by Collage Designer Consignment. This is a free event but registration is required. Register at bloganistamixer2015.eventbrite.com.

Tips for Your First TV Appearance

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Today I was on Talk of Alabama discussing our upcoming events The Bloganista Mixer presented by Collage Designer Consignment and The Bloganista Mini-Con presented by Laura Vincent Printing & Design.

I always encourage the writers and bloggers I coach to pitch a segment idea to local TV media. And, not to brag or anything but… after using the tips I give them on how to pitch their idea they usually email me saying “I’M GOING TO BE ON TV!” (Click here to check out those tips.)

But about five minutes after sending that email they send another that reads something like this: “OMG! I’M GOING TO BE ON TV! WHAT WAS I THINKING?!?! I CAN’T DO THIS! I’M FREAKING OUT!”

If you’re a few days away from your first TV appearance and you’re having similar anxious thoughts, here are a few tips to help things go smoothly:

Practice, but not too much. Write down five questions you think a reporter might ask based on the topics you presented in your pitch. Now write down your answers to these questions. (Some TV stations will actually request that you do this and ask that you send your questions and answers to their producers.) Read over what you wrote a few times. Now get your spouse, significant other, best friend or blogging or business buddy to interview you using the questions you wrote, but also get them to throw in a few questions that aren’t on your list so you’ll have practice responding to questions off the cuff. WARNING: Don’t try to memorize every word you’ll say. If you do that you’ll sound too rehearsed and come off as inauthentic.

Choose your outfit the night before. You don’t want to feel rushed and frazzled the morning of your big television debut because you couldn’t figure out what to wear. So be sure you have your entire outfit prepped and ready to go the night before your segment. Not sure what to wear? Bright colors are best, but avoid white. Wear something that makes you feel both comfortable and confident. And remember — you have to look the part to get the role. So if you’re going on TV to give tips to aspiring entrepreneurs because you want to be a business coach, you need to look like you run something! If you’re giving fashion tips, that should be obvious the moment you walk on set and you better be the most stylish person in the room.

Arrive early, but not too early. Leave your home and head to the station early enough that you will be on time even if there’s a wreck on the road and you get stuck in traffic. But don’t get there so early that you have 90 minutes to stew in your nervousness before your segment begins.

Make small talk… or not. I’m an extrovert so talking to other people at the station — whether folks who work there or other people waiting to be interviewed — calms me. But the idea of talking to even more strangers may make you want to puke. If that’s the case, head to the restroom for some alone time before your segment. Figure out what works best for you based on your personality. And if you’re a spiritual person be sure to wake up early enough that you can get in your daily spiritual practice. This will also help you feel more centered and calm.

Forget about the cameras. OK, stop laughing. I know this sounds impossible. But try your best to just pretend you’re having a conversation with the person interviewing you and forget that you’re on TV. Most likely your segment is on something that you’re very passionate about, something you probably talk to people about all the time. Just pretend this is another one of those times when someone has shown interest in this passion of yours and wants to know more because actually that’s exactly what this is!

What tips would you offer to folks preparing for their first TV appearance? 

PS – If you’d like to see my segment on today’s Talk of Alabama, the video will be available here for a limited time.