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More Ballet, Less Bullying
UPDATE: The day Lara Spencer apologized on Good Morning America for making fun of a young prince and his study of ballet, an amazing thing happened outside their New York studios. Watch here: By Friday morning, the ballet pages I manage were abuzz with activity and outrage. I found out it was because on the TV program “Good Morning America,” host Lara Spencer seemingly mocked a little boy who was interested in ballet. To me, it definitely looked like Lara and the others on the show laughed when they found out that young Prince George (yes, Future King of England!) was going to take ballet lessons. It was ignorant, insulting…
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What does it mean to have influence?
Not 5 years ago, the influencer landscape was different, it was when moms ruled the blogosphere and back then I had “klout.” The influence sort of just came along with blogging territory. Obviously, if people read, interacted and commented on your blog, surely you carried some influence with them. Right? To further the perception of influence, mom bloggers were all early adopters of social platforms – so they (we!) were the first to be on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and much later, Instagram! The smart PR people realized this and built relationships, offered swag, goods, services in exchange for our “influence.” But unlike the way it is now, when a company…
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What does it mean when someone DOES SOCIAL?
Oh yeah we have someone doing social for us, a potential client tells me. Is she your marketing person I ask. “Ah well, she’s an office girl here and does a bit of everything,” comes the reply. “And she really understands our business,” he adds. Yes, but does she understand social media marketing? He changes topic – “I have someone who does our website too, and someone else that does SEO…. And then well like I said,” this girl does social, he reiterates. At this point, I am confused as to why I’ve been called in, to be honest. I am a marketing consultant, specializing in social media, after all.…
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Social Media Best Practices for the New Year and Beyond
As a social media consultant, I have often been asked about best practices. I do hesitate to just give out advice about specific strategies because in this ever-changing world of social media, a strategy or practice that was effective for one brand, may not work on another. Furthermore, a social media tactic that works today may not work tomorrow, due to changing algorithms and platforms. So when asked about best practices, I go back even further, looking at core practices that will work regardless of platform or medium. Below are THREE CORE PRACTICES that you could implement on your brand, no matter what social media platform you are using. To…
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Pinay Uprising: Getting Woke
I stumbled upon what I thought was just a nice afternoon show celebrating Filipina women artists but ended up in the what turned out to be an activists’ meeting. I should’ve gotten a hint from the title of the show, of course – “Pinay Uprising.” But it wasn’t just some generic feminist gathering, in fact, it honed in on something super specific – the Philippines. The event was meant to foster “empowerment in the Filipino community and advocate for women’s rights.” The organizers of the event were Malaya: a US Movement Against Killings and Dictatorship and for Democracy in the Philippines. According to the organizers, the name “MALAYA” (Filipino for…
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Craving Connection: New events, new website, my new creative agency
Have you noticed a wave of creative breakfast meetings, retreats and conferences? It’s like the bigger, more expensive trade show-type conferences have given way to more intimate, often free to attend, gatherings. It is almost as if, in this plugged in, digital world of ours, people are craving a more personal, IRL connection. Can you feel it? Recently, I attended a Connecting Things event in Irvine, which was a screening of the documentary “Love and Bananas.” I had attended another event of theirs over a year ago, when the guest speaker was filmmaker Bayan Joonam from Soul Pancake. There was not much interaction at that one. There was a big…
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Miramonte Resort and Spa : Desert Escape
“I have always loved the desert. One sits down on a desert sand dune, sees nothing, hears nothing. Yet through the silence, something throbs, and gleams…” ― Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince We headed out to Indian Wells on a Saturday afternoon. It had been a hectic morning, and the sun was blazing, the traffic, late star, hectic morning made for a grumpy crew. The short 2-hour ride from OC felt longer. When we arrived at Miramonte Indian Wells Resort and Spa, bathed in the familiar desert heat, we switched to vacation mode. Lying at the foothills of the Santa Rosa Mountains, Miramonte immediately puts one in a relaxed…
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Entrepreneur Series: Davion Tran from Paderia Bakehouse
First off, let me tell you that I love baked goods! So a year ago when someone asked if I’d be interested in crafting a media release about a brand new bakery in town, I was all over it. I was dying to try out their malasadas and ensaymadas, the latter which has a special place in my heart being a Filipino confection. Turns out, I knew one of the founders, Davion Tran, through our close-knit Orange County social media circles. But wait, wasn’t he a personal trainer? This made the store even more intriguing. A month before Paderia Bakehouse’s opening, the buzz was already building and Instagram foodies all…
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Can’t Miss Summer Events in Orange County
When you are fortunate enough to live in a beach town with an endless summer, actually going to the beach is not the high point of the season. At least not for me. Since we can go to the beach any time of the year, even daily, there are other things we most look forward to during the summer months. Summer in Orange County means longer days, fun in the sun and special annual events that make living here extra special. I personally look forward to the following every year: the Festival of Arts in Laguna Beach, Hotel Irvine’s Backyard Movie Nights, the OC Fair and the VANS U.S. Open…
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Having a Moment with Miramonte at Roger’s Garden
When I received the invitation to learn more about the renovated Miramonte Resort in Indian Wells at the Farmhouse Restaurant in Roger’s Gardens, I was all over it. First, because I was familiar with Indian Wells from past visits to Palm Springs and the desert and second because I had heard so many good things about Farmhouse. So imagine my delight when, in addition, to the fabulous setup, I found myself in the company of some of my favorite bloggers. The Farmhouse restaurant is set in the magical Roger’s Gardens in the heart of Newport Beach. Technically, Corona del Mar. The restaurant boasts a farm-to-table, field-to-fork dining experience with super…
