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Wendy Goldman Scherer

@wendyscherer

Wendy founded Scherer Cybrarian in 1995. She knew from her years as a partner with Bozell Worldwide that there was a great need for knowledge synthesis and business research that was more than a mere information dump. The business has grown and expanded over the years to include primary research, GIS, news aggregation and monitoring, and much more. But what she loves the most is social media research. (Don’t laugh. Everyone should love their work as much as Wendy does!) Scherer has been working with clients for many years now on social media monitoring and reporting and, best of all, social focal reporting.

And that leads us to today. Social media research has become an integral part of the research process for brands. As the research methodologies got more complex and specialized, in 2008 Scherer Cybrarian decided to spin off this fast-moving, high energy part of the business into The Social Studies Group, a social media research firm that provides deep analyses of social media conversations and statistics to help companies better understand their customers, competitors, markets and industries.

Wendy loves research. And it shows.

Her latest blog posts:

• Stats are my Bliss.
• The History of Communities
• Bliss.

Ria Sharon

@riasharon

Ria Sharon, a.k.a. Practical Mommy, is a single “co-parent” and “student” to two very wise elementary-aged children. She is the co-creator of MyMommyManual.com and the online Yogi Parenting course. She has focused her professional career in marketing and communications, first in traditional media for consumer-focused companies like The Kellogg Company and Texas Instruments. More recently, she has devoted her expertise to the building of online communities. In this capacity, she has worked with WEGO Health and Wellsphere.

A friend once observed of her, “Ria, you love connecting people.” It’s true. Ria’s sense of fulfillment has always been tied to connecting the right people to the right information or more significantly, to other people from whom they can source answers. Now as Practical Mommy on MyMommyManual.com, she sources and publishes daily advice from experts in the field of parenting as well as children and women’s health.

Her latest blog posts:

• How to Get Your Boys to Do Chores
• 35 Weeks: Losing My Mind
• My Yoga Online

Danielle Smith

@DanielleSmithTV

Danielle Smith is the founder and primary author of ExtraordinaryMommy.com, a website designed to remind moms of the extraordinary work they do on a daily basis. With a background as an award-winning anchor and reporter, Smith has now turned her attention to Online TV and Radio hosting, as well as Social Media. She is thrilled to have joined the team at Bliss TV as both host and producer. As a result of her work on ExtraordinaryMommy.com, she has appeared on The CBS Early Show, CNN, Fox News, and NPR as well as on local St. Louis and Memphis new stations. Most recently, Smith could be seen sharing video segments from the Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver, on behalf of Procter & Gamble. She is a public speaker and has traveled to give talks on parenting, social media and ways to engage online. Smith is also the Editor of the Blogging Channel on BlissfullyDomestic.com, and is a contributing author to the book, The Internet Mommy, as well as to additional blogs and websites. Smith is, most importantly, Mommy to two sweet and sassy small people and wife to a wonderful (and hilarious) guy.

Her latest blog posts:

• What did you Take Home From BlogHer?
• Wordless Wednesday – My Days of BabyWearing
• Capital One Mascot Challenge Blogger Contest

Laurie Smithwick

@upsideup

Laurie is a co-founder of Kirtsy who blogs at UpsideUp and runs LEAP, an award-winning, can-do graphic + web design studio in North Carolina. One time, she was nominated for a Grammy award for cd package design. She didn’t win, but she got to wear an awesome purple velvet dress that made her feel real girly. When she’s not being held captive by her computer, she can be found laughing with her redhead husband and 7-yr-old twins, building stars out of old palette wood, or wishing she was eating french fries.

Her latest blog posts:

• A Hat for Your Vampire Weekend
• Zoku Pops!
• Paper Town Friends

Heather Spohr

@mamaspohr

Named “Best Mommy Blogger of 2009″ by thebump.com, Heather Spohr is a writer and philanthropist whose blog, “The Spohrs Are Multiplying,” initially became popular as she detailed her family’s experiences dealing with a high risk pregnancy, an extended NICU stay, and the difficulties of caring for a premature baby. Following the unexpected passing of her seventeen-month-old daughter, Madeline, Heather has continued to chronicle her family’s story as they journey through grief, and has given a voice to families who have suffered the devastation of losing a child.

A fervent supporter of the March of Dimes, Heather spoke before over ten thousand people at last year’s March for Babies event in Los Angeles after her family team collected more donations than any other in the nation ($100,000+). She is also
the co-founder of “Friends Of Maddie,” a charitable organization that supports the families of critically ill babies in Neonatal Intensive Care Units. She has spoken at numerous conferences, on CNN, and before members of Congress. When she’s not writing on her own site, you can find her at AimingLow.com or Momversation.com. She currently lives in Los Angeles with her husband, Mike, and newborn daughter, Annabel.

Her latest blog posts:

• Inertia
• Hula Girl
• World’s Worst Roller Coaster

Suzanne Tucker, P.T., C.E.I.M.

@zenmommy

In addition to mommy-ing to two magical girls born in 2000 and 2003 and boy/girl twins born in February of 2010, Suzanne Tucker owns Brentwood Center of Health, a holistic health center with her husband in St. Louis, Missouri where she practices as a physical therapist, Certified Educator of Infant Massage and health education teacher. She is the Co-creator of MyMommyManual.com and Yogi Parenting, an 8-week online positive parenting course. A Reiki I practitioner and certified in Dr. Michael Ryce’s forgiveness work, Suzanne offers inspiration and support to women under the pen name Zen Mommy on My Mommy Manual.

Suzanne shares her knowledge of the healing powers of touch as a guest speaker to both national and international child advocate organizations. Her life purpose is to inspire parents to connect in love to themselves, each other and their children.

Her latest blog posts:

• How to Get Your Boys to Do Chores
• 35 Weeks: Losing My Mind
• My Yoga Online

Hollee Temple

@holleeinbalance

Hollee Schwartz Temple is a journalist-turned-lawyer-turned-professor at West Virginia University College of Law. She and her partner in crime, Becky Beaupre Gillespie, blog about work/life issues, and they also write the work/life balance column for the ABA Journal, read by half of the nation’s one million lawyers.

Hollee’s biggest professional accomplishment to date is the forthcoming Good Enough is the New Perfect (Harlequin Nonfiction, Spring 2011), a nonfiction book that will chronicle how the mothers of her generation are redefining success and feminism by refusing to settle for lives they don’t want. Like so many of the women she and Becky have interviewed, Hollee forged a non-linear career path, taking detours in her quest to balance work and family.

After graduating at the top of her class with a bachelor’s and master’s degree from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, Hollee headed to Duke University School of Law. She graduated in 1999, and then began a four-year stint as a litigation associate at a large Pittsburgh law firm. After her first son was born in 2002, Temple returned to her firm on a part-time basis before joining the WVU faculty the next year.

In 2008, Hollee celebrated ten years of marriage with John Temple, a journalism professor and author of two narrative non-fiction books. She is constantly amused and amazed by her feisty redheaded sons, Gideon and Henry.

Her latest blog posts:

• Emotional Words: A Mother’s Effort to Share Her Mother Tongue
• Talk-Back Tuesday: How Do You Get You Kids Out the Door Quickly?
• Reining in the Chaos: Finding Balance as We Head Back to School

Aparna Vashisht-Rota

@Apsatparentella

Aparna is a mother of two and accomplished professional. She received an MBA from UCLA while managing a global media licensing organization and her family. Spurred by experiences with her children Aparna conceived of Parentella. Using the drive and tools she learned working in complex business scenarios, she built Parentella with both a personal touch and a global vision to bridge the gaps between parents, their children, and the people who nurture their children outside the home.

Her blog’s latest posts:

Alicia Ybarbo

@todaysmoms

Alicia Ybarbo (author, television producer, mom) is a two-time Emmy award-winning producer with the Today Show on NBC. She is also the co-author of “Today’s Moms: Essentials for Surviving Baby’s First Year” with Today colleague Mary Ann Zoellner. She’s worked at NBC Sports, ABC’s “The View” with Barbara Walters, and has been at Today for 10 years. Alicia has appeared on TODAY, MSNBC, WNBC and LXTV as well People, Redbook, Cookie, OK! and Parenting Magazine. She’s currently working on her next book. Alicia lives in New York with her husband, Mark Zimmerman, and their two children, Jack and Lucy.

Her blog’s latest posts:

• Justin Bieber Autographed Books
• Babies
• Blissdom 2010

Mary Ann Zoellner

@todaysmoms

Mary Ann Zoellner is an Emmy award winning producer who has traveled the world with her job. Turkey, Peru, Costa Rica, India, Qatar, Bahrain, Hong Kong, South Africa and Argentina are just a few of the countries in which she has worked. She grew up in Tulsa, Oklahoma with her seven brothers and one sister. She graduated from George Washington University in Washington, DC. While in college she worked for CNN’s Larry King Live, lived in Spain for a year, and then moved to New York for a job at MSNBC. She has been a producer at Today for 10 years, is the co-author of “Today’s Moms: Essentials for Surviving Baby’s First Year,” and is currently working on her next book with colleague Alicia Ybarbo. Mary Ann lives in New York City with her husband, Alexander, and their daughters Zurielle and Arabella.

Her blog’s latest posts:

• Justin Bieber Autographed Books
• Babies
• Blissdom 2010

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