In May it will be 3 years since I started blogging. That summer I discovered a phenomenal site for women. BlogHer. And it is like nothing else.
BlogHer celebrates women bloggers around the globe. It was created by 3 women who were intuitive, innovative thinkers at a time when women's voices were not being heard. Now they are.
Boy are they! Whether your blog has a small readership or gets hundreds of hits a day, you are welcome in the BlogHer community. In fact, there are no small blogs at BlogHer. Lisa, Elisa & Jory don't think like that. They believe if you have something to say, and you say it well, you should be heard. It's an equal playing field, and everyone is on the same team. They welcome controversy, thoughtfulness, and yes...a little raciness, too. They believe that women support each other, and don't buy into the stereotype that women are out to get each other.
BlogHer encourages, validates, and empowers women. Best of all they are responsive to any question or concern. (Special shout-out to Denise & Yvonne, who have helped this...er...technologically challenged gal...) In a world where automated messages abound, this stands out, and feels so respectful.
Yet the word that describes BlogHer best to me is ...approachable. I will never forget meeting Lisa Stone at BlogHer '08 in San Francisco. Gathering my courage, I walked up to her in a crowd, and waited. (She's a popular lady, you know!) As she turned to me with a bright smile and a hello, I immediately felt comfortable. She's the real deal...
In celebration of BlogHer's 5th Anniversary, my 5 words to describe BlogHer are:
Responsive
Encouraging
Validating
Empowering
Approachable
Congratulations on your 5 year anniversary, BlogHer! You should be proud.
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BlogHer is wunderful. They do good work for the better halves! Yet, still too many women bloggers don't know about it.
ReplyDeleteJCK, it was such a pleasure to meet you in person at BlogHer '08 after reading you all this time. That's the "get" for me, Elisa and Jory -- getting to know everyone.
ReplyDeleteYou're right: We started BlogHer as the conference and then the community that we were looking for. Doesn't matter how many readers a blog has -- what matters is the quality of what a blogger has to say.
And just look at how we are all mixing it up! Thank you for joining in the mix and for helping other women get their word out. Here's to 2010...
Wow, this really just made my day JCK. Had to share that :)
ReplyDeleteJCK,
ReplyDeleteI got all goosebumpy reading this. It's gratifying to read something that really nails what we hope to achieve with BlogHer. As Lisa says, it truly is the conference and community we wanted to be a part of in 2005.
AND ... you and I met at that conference, Jennifer. So glad I went.
ReplyDeleteCafe Pasadena, you KNOW it.
ReplyDeleteThank YOU Lisa, Elisa & Jory! You all rock.
Me, too, Ruth! One of the best things for me was connecting with you.
Women bloggers - here's a platform just for us. http://www.shetizenjournalist.com. It is a citizen journalism website for women. Many say that women's voices are not heard as strongly in citizen journalism - let's change that. Good quality articles on this site gets a lot of exposure as they have partnerships with the UN and google news.
ReplyDelete