Instructors
Each session will be hosted and led by Kirtsy editors, Kirtsy founders and Kirtsy friends, who just want to get together to show you some new (and maybe not so new) cool things that will help make your online life easier, smarter and definitely more interesting.
Atlanta
Tessa Horehled
Tessa Horehled, Strategic Marketer at Drive A Faster Car LLC, specializes in educating companies on how to integrate social media into existing marketing strategies and advises on how to measure, optimize and build current social media efforts to increase value and develop strong relationships. Managing digital marketing and online communities since 2001, Tessa has worked with both large and small entertainment, retail, technology and non-profit clients and corporations. Tessa manages a number of Atlanta tech meetups and communities including her role as Programming Director of Social Media Club Atlanta, co-organizer of ATL Tweeters, and frequent host of Jelly casual co-working events. She is a Founding Organizer, Communications Director and Web Evangelist for Atlantans Together Against Crime (ATAC) and a contributor to Blog For Food. Tessa is also a Brand Enthusiast for Nintendo’s DS Lite and the Palm Pre, has written an Atlanta-based culture and entertainment blog, Drive A Faster Car, for eight years, and is a Contributing Photographer for Vice Magazine’s DOs & DON’Ts and Metromix Atlanta.
Austin
Betsy Archbold
After stops in New York, Akron, Dallas, Boca Raton, and Waco, Betsy has settled in Austin, Texas, where she is a site recruiter for an educational publishing company. While her love of fashion is unabating, she had to abandon fashion PR to live in what she calls, “the best, coolest, weirdest, and most tattooed city in the world.” She is on the brink of marriage to her favorite person and finds herself currently (and surprisingly) obsessed with home decorating, china patterns, and space organizing. Aside from shopping, yoga, reading, champagne, and baking cakes she hates to eat, Betsy loves Twittering (SO instant gratification) and commenting on other people’s blogs.
Boston
Angela Tseng
Angela Tseng started life on the fast track, graduating from MIT at the age of 20, only to find herself a mommyblogger some 20 years later. By day, she maintains her professional life as a software engineer and manager in the biotech field. By night, Angela is wife, mom of two young children and blogger at mommy bytes. Angela deftly juggles these roles by obsessively maintaining the family calendar and not sleeping. Angela also is a contributing editor at BlogHer in Mommy & Family Cribsheet and kirtsy editor in Internet & Technology. You can also find her on Twitter @moonfever0. She lives with her family in the greater Boston area.
Christine Koh
Christine Koh is a music and brain scientist turned writer, editor, and designer. She spent a decade in academia and was about to become a professor when she decided to hang up her academic spurs in favor of more flexible and creative ventures. Christine is the founder and editor of Boston Mamas, a stylish resource portal for families in Boston and beyond, and is the self-taught designer behind Posh Peacock. Christine also is a freelance writer and editor and recently started a third blog – Pop Discourse – where she gives voice to her fascination with pop culture, the intellectually interesting or absurd, Boston life, and parenthood. She lives in the Boston area with her husband and 5-year-old daughter.
Charlotte
Crystal Dempsey
Writer/Editor. Social media advocate. Connector. Instigator. Raging extrovert. Rock-solid fan of the arts. Band-wagon fan of sports. Can see possibilities where most people can’t.
Katey Dietz
Katey is a NASCAR lovin’, Shakespeare quoting, creative writer & social media consultant living in Huntersville, NC. Equal parts snarky and Suzy Homemaker, this reformed Yankee spent ten years in the accounting industry before falling in love with social media. Nowadays, Katey is most often found assisting small businesses and not-for-profits in developing and implementing social media plans, organizing tweetups for Social Media Club — Charlotte , volunteering with various community organizations and hiking the Carolinas with her dog Buckshot.
Chicago
MJ Tam
MJ Tam is the Editor of Chicagonista and the Creator of City Connect Media, Inc. that owns and operates Chicagonista.com, NYMetropolista.com and the upcoming San Franista, SoCalista, and Miaminista. MJ is a true Social Media Diva that speaks and hosts citywide events for small start-up businesses to big corporate consumer brands. Recently, MJ announced that she is partnering with Nancy Loo (Chicago Fox News Anchor) to launch “Young Chicagonista” that will mentor girls (11-17 years old) on the arts of writing and technology. MJ is also expanding Chicagonista by making room for the successful-minded 20 something called “Next Gen Chicagonista.” Besides writing in her personal blog; SugarMyBowl.com, (started in 2000) she also finds time to write for the ChicagoMomsBlog.com, Centerd.com, and is one of the Yahoo Mother Board members who are tech-savvy moms that write on a gamut of parenting issues with Yahoo.
Columbus
Amy Turn Sharp
Amy Turn Sharp is a writer and free spirit from Ohio. She owns Little Alouette and can be found online at her blog Doobleh-Vay, on twitter @dooblehvay, and on Kirtsy. She is more than a little obsessed with creative nonfiction and a goal in life is to have an essay on NPR (and also hug David Sedaris). She is writing the great American novel between changing diapers and making wooden toys. She wants to teach the world how to write love letters.
Dallas
Jenn Satterwhite
Jennifer Satterwhite is an essayist, freelance writer and author who started her blog, Mommy Needs Coffee, in 2003 and cannot imagine what life was like before having the ability to put it all out there whenever the mood strikes. Her blog has translated into many columns in print for various parenting publications as well as bringing her the most amazing literary agent a writer could find. As the founder of Mommybloggers.com and a pioneer in the mommyblogging genre, she has been supporting and promoting moms who blog since 2005. Jennifer is an online columnist for Parenting Magazine and is currently working on a memoir with her literary agent. She also contributed to the award winning anthology, Sleep is for the Weak. In real life, she plays the role of an elementary school PTA president as well as a mom to two teenage sons and a third grade daughter and has been happily married over 19 years. In her “free” time you can find her on twitter as @javajenn.
Denver
Aimee Giese
Aimee grew up in Maryland but after 15 years, absolutely calls Denver home. She co-owns a web development company that builds health education sites and tries to find time for some sideline photography. She and her husband are raising a precocious and scary smart 6 year old who trips over his own feet just like his mom. Aimee writes for the Denver Post’s Mile High Mamas, Being Savvy Denver, and of course, her personal blog, Greeblemonkey.
Houston
Monica Danna
Monica Danna is a Marketing & Public Relations Consultant who specializes in New Media strategies for businesses. Monica has spent much of her career in the Energy industry as a software marketing specialist, most recently serving as the Social Media Manager for Halliburton and its various subsidiaries. Focusing her consultancy, co.lab, on Social Media and Public Relations Strategies , Monica uses tools such as blogging, Facebook, and Twitter to add new media tactics to traditional marketing methods to achieve the optimal marketing mix for a client. She enjoys playing an active role in the Houston arts community and is a freelance writer for various print and online publications. You can find her blogging at www.cosmopolitician.net or Twittering away as @cosmopolitician.
Maggie McDonald
Maggie McDonald is a Public Relations and Operations Gal at Schipul – The Web Marketing Company and loves nothing more than helping and teaching others. She is a graduate from the University of Houston and rocks a crazy combination of event planning, public relations and technology skills. The thing she loves most about her job is planning events and executing strategies online geared towards pushing amazing people and their projects into the spotlight. Maggie’s favorite books are Twilight and PR 2.0. She loves playing on her computer with a cat on her lap and some loud music coming from her speakers. Check out her blog and friend her on Twitter for more from Maggie’s brain!
Little Rock
Kyran Pittman
Kyran Pittman is an essayist and poet who accidentally started a blog and can’t put it out. Her online musings about family life, identity and culture have translated to a career in print: she is a Contributing Editor to Good Housekeeping magazine, and is currently writing a memoir, Ring of Fire, to be published by Riverhead (Penguin). She remains a passionate citizen of social media. You can find her online at Notes to Self or as kyranp on twitter. And also on Kirtsy, where she is a Mind, Body, Spirit editor.
Susan Payton
Susan Payton is the Managing Partner of Egg Marketing & Public Relations, an internet marketing firm specializing in blogger outreach, social media, and PR. She is also the blogger behind The Marketing Eggspert Blog. She’s written two books: 101 Entrepreneur Tips and Internet Marketing Strategies for Entrepreneurs, as well as several ebooks on marketing. Follow her on Twitter @eggmarketing.
Los Angeles
Tracey Clark
With a passion for capturing the beauty of everyday life in pictures and an unbridled enthusiasm for sharing her musings with the masses, Tracey Clark keeps herself in constant creative motion. She’s found a way to blend her love for photography and writing with the precarious art of raising both a spirited first grader and a tireless tween, creating what she considers the perfect alchemy. Besides a photography business, two published Motherhood Journals, a mom blog and her latest creative endeavor Shutter Sisters (the collaborative photo blog for women who love to take pictures) Tracey claims she is merely scratching the surface. She’s a lives in a California coastal town with her husband, daughters and their beloved and ever-entertaining cat-dog.
Miami
Maria de los Angeles
Maria de los Angeles is best known for her 4 year-old, award-winning multimedia blog, Sex and the Beach. A freelance writer, blogger and online community connector, she is very active in the Miami social media scene and knows first hand how social media can transform lives and businesses for the better. Her regular clients include Miami Beach 411, where she works as a contributor and forum editor, reaching out to the local community and thousands across the world. Maria also covers tech and social media for the Miami New Times online edition, where she writes a column called Silicon Beach three times a week. Maria is one of 100 Ford Fiesta agents — skilled content producers and social media influencers across the country involved in a massive social media campaign. She has also worked as an Online Community Manager and blogger for Obopay, a mobile-to-mobile payments service based out of Silicon Valley. Most recently, Maria participated in “LaidOffCamp/FreelanceCamp” giving a lecture on blogging for newbies at the Miami Beach Convention Center. She has ample teaching experience, having worked as a teacher of record in writing, composition and literature during her post-graduate tenure at the University of Miami.
New York
Mariah Bruehl
Mariah Bruehl, MS is an educator, mother of two, and author of the website and blog Playful Learning. Last year, after years of working in the field of education, Mariah decided to take some time off to be with her two young daughters. Among the many benefits of their time together was the birth of Playful Learning, a website created to help parents support their children’s learning and development. Mariah is now utilizing her knowledge and experience to adapt what she knows about educational research and practice into simple, playful learning experiences that promote positive family interactions. Mariah is also currently writing a book based on Playful Learning for Shambhala Publications, which is due to come out in the spring of 2011.
Carol Cain
Carol Cain is native New Yorker, born in Brooklyn. She is a former publishing and public relations professional, with an MBA in International Relations. As a bilingual Travel and Lifestyle writer with a love for different cultures, languages, and customs, she enjoys a good adventure and trying something new, at least once, and will write about her experiences on her personal site, NYCityMama. Carol is the Managing Editor for NY Metropolista, an online magazine site on everything and anything New York. She also writes for Uptake.com, Lodging, and Attractions sites, and is a contributing writer for TravelingMom and NYC Moms Blog. Carol lives in Manhattan with her husband and their three boys.
Oklahoma City
Susan Wagner
Susan Wagner is a freelance writer and professional blogger. Online, her work has appeared at AOL’s ParentDish, BlogHer, and Cool Mom Picks; she also writes an occasional column for Oklahoma Magazine, and she contributed three pieces to the anthology Sleep is for the Weak. She lives in Oklahoma City with her husband and their two sons. You can find her on Twitter (SusanW) and at FridayPlaydate.com.
Portland
Katherine Gray
Katherine Gray, founder of marketing design company The New Civilization, has over ten years of experience in developing and producing interactive projects that help companies make meaningful connections with web visitors. She focuses on site design, content strategy and architecture and fostering community online. Katherine is a strong believer in measuring site activity, either with analytics tools or live user testing, and using findings to improve customer experience and site performance. When she’s not obsessively exploring the latest social networking application Katherine may be found on Twitter as @thiskat.
Salt Lake City
April Atwater
I am the founder of Sweet Living Media – Out & About with the Family, Living The Sweet Life, Sweet Life in The Valley & Cool Stuff 4 Us. I grew up all over the U.S. including Utah, Illinois, Texas, Maine, Colorado & Vermont. I feel like the whole country is my home. I am a freelance photographer, writer & set stylist. I collect vintage finds. I like to mix the old with the new. I love to celebrate and create new traditions as well as honor the old. I enjoy gardening. My favorite colors are light blue, pink, raspberry & butter yellow. I love to bake & cook. I am single mother of three tween-teens whom I home school. With Sweet Living Media I wanted to create sites/blogs that inspire each of us to live Our Sweet Life. In addition to my passions I am also the co-founder of the Social Media Club of Utah Valley, I teach small businesses how to use Social Media to market their products or services and I am a blogger relations consultant.
San Francisco
Liz Stanley
Born and raised a New Yorker, Liz met a Utahan in Manhattan and fell in love. After finishing her Master’s Degree at Columbia University, they spent three wonderful years in Hoboken, NJ while Liz was a school counselor at one of the country’s most prestigious high schools. Then ended up moving to Salt Lake City, Utah. Then on to stunning San Francisco. They have a beautiful boy named Henry (aka Baby Hank) who they love to pieces. Liz blogs about beautiful things and creations at Say Yes to Hoboken, and sells vintage baby clothes on etsy at Baby Hank Vintage. In their free time, her outdoors enthusiast husband and Liz love to travel and backpack through the West’s mountains and deserts.
Seattle
Mona Hickey
Mona Hickey is a mother and writer who grew up on the tropical island of Saipan and now lives in Seattle where she tries to stay out of the rain. She was the 1,000th person to sign up with Blogger (pre-Google) in 1999, a geeky fact she is quick to share at parties. When she isn’t pursuing freelance photography, she is documenting life on her blog, kirida dot com and Seattle Mom Blogs. She loves the internet, hugs, and high-fives. You can also find her on Twitter as @kirida
Leslie Doherty
Leslie holds a Masters Degree in Information Technology, proving she is geek through and through. Luckily, her passion for helping others and making things pretty keep her in the community of normal. Ish. She works full time as a web developer preferring if statements to graphics and uses her past teaching skills to help others love technology as much as she does. Almost. She can also be found online at her blog, Mrs. Flinger or on twitter as @mrsflinger.
Toronto
Katie York
Katie, aka motherbumper, was a developer/quality assurance person with one of those big IT companies before rebelling and joining the gang called parenthood. During those early sleepless nights, she discovered the bottomless world of blogs and social networking while trapped under an infant who defied slumber. Via her newfound online community, she filled her insatiable need for the latest in technology, socialization, and celebrity gossip (of course). Besides writing at her personal blog, she is an editor at Kirtsy, does graphic work at Sweet Blog, contributes to MamaPop and Aiming Low, is co-founder and contributor of Canada Moms Blog, plus the Toronto city editor for Being Savvy. She figures she’ll sleep when she’s dead.
Catherine Conners
Catherine Connors is a mother, writer and recovering academic who traded the lecture hall for the playroom and discovered that university students and preschoolers have much the same attention span. She is, among other things, the author of Her Bad Mother and Their Bad Mother, the moderator of Her Bad Mother’s Basement, the Managing Editor of MamaPop, the co-founder and co-editor of WeCovet, a contributing writer at BlogHer, and most recently (deep breath) founder of and contributor to Canada Moms Blog. And in her spare time… oh, wait. She doesn’t have spare time. But she’s okay with that.
Washington, DC
Amie Adams
With forty-eight hours notice and only nine months of marriage under their belts, Amie and her husband became parents to an incredible three and a half year old boy seven years ago. She’d like to believe that her parenting skills have improved since then having added two more crazy boys to their brood, but many days she’s not convinced. Nowadays, Amie is raising her baseball-loving boys with her husband in the same Northern Virginia suburb where he grew up. When not at the ball field, she’s working as a political involvement consultant, trying not to kill the plants in her garden, blogging at her personal site Mamma Loves (http://mammaloves.blogspot.com/) or at DC Metro Moms and trying to find time to get out to the family beach house on the Delaware shore.
Karey Mackin
Karey Mackin is a Midwestern girl living in the Middle East, with her busy husband and three lovely girlies, Lillie, Grae-Rose, and Esmé. She vaguely remembers a career in publishing and a few books she may have written, but is absolutely certain a previous lifetime was spent as a crow. Yes, she likes shiny things that much. A few other things you should know about Karey: she laughs at all the wrong moments, prefers recipes that only require two ingredients or less, and wears black pretty much all of the time. Except for that turquoise dress. See gobs of shiny objects mixed in with girlie fables from a not-so-far away land at her blog, mackin ink.
