Happy New Year! As 2011 is in the books, it’s almost hard to believe it. Almost. The year was packed with travel, both personal and business along with plenty of conferences, expos, trade shows, etc. We’ve had a good year filled with new opportunities and growth, and I have many of my friends and fans to thank for it. To avoid offending anyone, I have to stick with general thank-you’s to my colleagues whom I am lucky enough to call friends – you know who you are.
In no particular order, I am listing a few of the highlights of 2011 and what’s on the books for 2012.
- All those trips for business meetings paid off as I surpassed the million-mile mark with my airline of choice. My points enabled my family to travel to South Africa using mainly frequent flyer points. It was an amazing trip.
- Moms across the country and the globe celebrated another successful National Mom’s Nite Out. Our fantastic network of bloggers and respective corporate sponsors helped make this another successful event where moms mingled, shared and spent time enjoying much-deserved pampering! Join us on May 10, 2012 for another series of amazing online and local events. Keep up with the latest info at http://www.facebook.com/momsniteout and athttp://momsniteout.com/.
- Midway through the year, my fourth book was published. Power Moms: The New Rules for Engaging Mom Influencers Who Drive Brand Choice, offers a guide to engaging with Power Moms— a new breed of influential mothers who help spread the word about products and services. I also point to celebrity and political moms who use their “star” power to affect purchase decisions.
- My team and I launched a new conference in New York in September called SheStreams Conference. We hatched the idea in the first quarter of the year as a conference designed to look beyond blogging and stay ahead of the curve in all things video, podcasting and branding. The conference featured an all-star lineup of guest speakers and sessions and was truly a labor of professional love. This year’s conference will be in my hometown – Fort Lauderdale – on March 30 and 31. Who wouldn’t want to visit sunny Florida during Spring Break? For info, go to http://shestreamsconference.com/
- MomSelect and MomTV are two channels that continue to grow and offer opportunities for moms to connect with each other and companies. Many thanks to the moms (and dads) on both fronts for being conscientious, supportive and dedicated to growing their own brands through these channels; a win-win for everyone!
On another personal note, I will watch two of my four children head off to college in the Fall. We are still making the final decisions, but it has been quite a senior year for them (and the entire family) as we filled out dozens of applications and wrote essays that could fill volumes. I am so proud of them, and even though I consider myself a strong person, there just won’t be enough Kleenex.
Best wishes for a Happy New Year. I look forward to a fantastic 2012 and hope you do, too!
