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Momaraderie is Erica Allison, North Carolina PR Pixie Peep

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I had the pleasure of meeting Erica Allison at Social Slam in Knoxville in April. What a big-hearted woman and someone you should know. As a PR colleague, she’s tops; she has a successful blog, called Spot On, (which I successfully blogjacked last week whilst she was away); she runs Allison Development Group, her PR and social media outfit; she is a fab writer (I know this first hand); and, she’s a mompreneur with two little ones trying to make a go of it in summer with the regular issues with sitters, holidays, etc.

You can follow her everywhere – via Skpe (funny, she just popped up on my screen that she’s online…or maybe it’s the kids); via Google+, via LinkedIn, via Twitter, Facebook, her blog, and my goodness, she also has a mobile phone number.

Twitter has changed my life; period. I have developed some of the most incredible friendships and business relationships evah. There’s no way anyone can expand their horizons without the marvels of social media, and meeting Erica Allison has been a highlight of mine.

So, if you take nothing away from today’s Momaraderie, I encourage you to take this…Erica is absolutely a must-follow, must-engage because:

*She’s continually supportive and offers sage counsel to anyone she meets.

*She’s not one to let her hair down all the way (cough, ahem, unlike some writers you may know), and that’s a good thing.

*She’s got a buoyant personality with a kick-ass charm and professionalism to boot.

*She’ll nurture you on the social media pathway, so tag along.

*She’s a hot-rod public relations practitioner, and is ready for hire.

*And, she’s simply a fab friend.

Erica Allison…I’d be surprised if you don’t already know her.

Sunday Sweets & My Dad

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Happy Father’s Day, Dad. I admire you the most of any man in this world.

And, here’s how…

*For leaving your home country of Iran and coming to the States as a wide-eyed teenager
*For marrying a blonde American woman to the chagrin of your Turkish/Persian strict parents
*For raising four children while pursuing a PhD in chemistry and working odd jobs like a gas station attendant when we were babies.
*For enduring the persecution of ethnic hostility during the hostage crisis.
*For  supporting all of us through thick and thin as we grew up
*For having to say good bye to your youngest child and experiencing that pain
*For sharing your knowledge, stories, insight, and intellect with me
*For having an endless supply of love and laughter for your kids and grandchildren.

I’ll never forget watching my dad earn his doctorate at Wayne State University in Detroit. It was a proud moment. He was so handsome with the biggest grin and I remember him waving to us in the rafters as we watched him accept his diploma.

When I was a baby girl, I was daddy’s girl. Still am, actually; I think that never goes away. My dad would come home late and tuck me in at night. We’d look at the stars and say Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star together.

My memories of childhood are fond, especially when we lived in Iran as a whole family. We had no care, no TV, no phone, just life in a third-world country, and love carried us through. It was a simpler time when all we had to worry about was the Shah’s Savak spying on our family. Dad was a dean of students at Pahlavi University in Shiraz, and we had an endless stream of students clamoring for my dad’s attention.

My dad had a choice at various crossroads of his life, and I’m grateful  he always chose us. I’m even more grateful he’s here in the flesh so my daughter can know Grampa.

I’m trying really hard to keep this light and not too sappy and that’s why the tone may be a tad abrupt. I’ve been fortunate more than most to know that whenever I needed anything at all I had only to turn to my parents for that support; that hasn’t changed, and I know it never will.

WE LOVE YOU, DAD. Thanks for giving me the gift of life.

Momaraderie Is Sunday Sweets With Shakirah

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This Momaraderie feature is the first (besides my mom’s) to share about a woman who doesn’t know she’s being tapped. (I love surprises!) She made such an impression on me in the last 48 hours, and what a lovely way to spend a Sunday morning sharing it with you.

Shakirah Dawud is a mother of a daughter who is two-years-old. We all know what that means; following around the baby, consistent attention and basically doing EVERYTHING for her child. She is also a professional copywriter and book editor, and when you sign on to regularly read her blog at Deliberate Ink, you’ll grasp immediately how she can be an editor…a really good one.

It’s because her writing always knocks it out of the park. ALWAYS. I’ve not had the privilege of working with copywriters (it feels more like an advertising thing), and she’s not fully in the camp of public relations (because she’s sitting just outside the fence) yet I see the possible blend, especially with someone so engaged.

Let me tell you a bit more. I’m learning about her in snips and snaps and this should give you a head start:

** Not sure how I was first introduced to Shakirah, perhaps she just appeared in my stream one day with this terribly long Twitter ID with her full name TaqqiyahShakirah_Dawud, I think. And, then, she shortened it to @ShakirahDawud (yeah) b/c I could remember it better. In my blog comments she was commenting, and I asked her how I ought to address her as there were two first names; she told me Shakirah and that was perfect.

** And, she told me she was shy; and I saw that in comments and could feel her holding back. Now that she’s entirely more comfortable the floodgates have opened and she’s pouring out the content and comments everywhere and engaging her personal brand. It’s marvelous to see.

** Nice segue to the comments; Shakirah is one of the most thoughtful and in-depth commenters I’ve ever had the privilege of having on my blogs. On Friday, I posted a Childhood Obesity and BMI Screening Mandates piece over at The SMB Collective. It was one of the most popular posts ever on that blog (I’m still in test mode trying to figure out what it’s going to be when it grows up), and I thank Shakirah for pushing the conversation. She posed such rich thought which encouraged others to weigh in, too, and keep the stories coming. I will be pulling from comments to do a round two on that topic.

** Around the same day, Shakirah posted a blog at her house about Wet Jeans and Chrysler about her childhood memory of wearing tight, skinny jeans to a water park and getting teased.

I’m so eager to keep learning more; in fact, I’m quite eager to see her lovely face – when do we get an avatar, Lady? Meanwhile, I hope you enjoy getting to know Shakirah as much as I have. Her blog is a wonderfully warm place with equally warm individuals sharing personal anecdotes (how does she do that?). Stop in to find out…again, you can find her over at Deliberate Ink.

 

Momaraderie Is My Mom

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My mom Wilma grew up in a small Wisconsin community merely a blip on the map, and she met my dad at University of Wisconsin Stevens Point. They married and after a year the kids (me first) began to arrive — four in total.

When my sister was six-months-old, and I was 9-years-old, we moved to Shiraz, Iran, a city of roses, poets, and Persepolis. My mom had never been out of North America, and back then, Iran was entirely third world with no Westernization whatsoever.

She ensured we had many comforts, and if she couldn’t find it, she just winged it. She is one of the most creative people I know – knitting, crocheting, tatting, felting, making dolls, weaving on a loom, creating anything for anyone.

Our life in Iran was rich with friendships, gatherings, and celebrations. (We had no television or telephone.) At Thanksgiving, my mom and dad hosted some 40 people consisting of a mix of cultures and ethnicities stationed and living in Iran who couldn’t fly home for the holiday. Mom found ways to make the foods we all enjoyed (she used persimmon to make pumpkin pie), and we definitely had mashed potatoes!.

She made us home-made peanut butter, and we loved our pizza from scratch. She rolled pizza crust, and I have no idea what else went on it, but I know we liked it. We even had spaghetti from the international grocer.

All of we kids learned Farsi, and mom tried to, as well. It’s a rather challenging language to learn as an adult, especially with the sounds that require back-of-the-throat gurgles and throttles.

As a family, we hiked mountains, we went on picnics, and we did crafts. I still have the Christmas ornaments we made in Iran from craft kits Mom bought in the States for us. The flat wooden shapes we painted, the angels and Santa Claus sequined pieces, and especially the garland made from tin foil and straws.

My mom was totally out of her element in a foreign country where women wore chador and have always been inferior to men (she being blonde and pale-skinned). Yet, she really ensured we had Halloween costumes and celebrations and family.

Earlier, when I was really little, mom and I had beauty day. She’d do my nails, and fought with my curls to straighten them a bit. She’d put big rollers in my hair with that shower cap with the hose on it and hooked me up to her dryer. When I got home from school, I watched Dark Shadows, starring Barnabas Collins, until I started to have nightmares and had to stop watching! (No wonder I like to read vampire books; thanks, Mom!)

Mom, Dad, my younger brother and me visited with Santa Claus each year; it was a big deal with lunch and pictures and everything. We didn’t have much money growing up; but, we never felt poor. Mom always made the best home-made birthday cakes for our birthdays (I especially remember the cake with a Barbie doll inside.) And, she decorated the best cupcakes for us to take to school on our birthdays, too.

There’s a lot to be said for women who devote their every waking moment to raising four children in foreign countries and elsewhere. She held together better than most, and it’s taken me to be a mom myself to appreciate just what she endured to keep our family on rock solid ground with strong family values. I, for one, benefitted. Even now, she’s still here, anchoring our lives with her love for us and our children — my daughter most of all.

I’m forever grateful for the unconditional love, support and anchoring both my parents have provided me through thick and thin. I realize how fortunate my daughter and I are to have a solid parental framework that has been the foundation of my life.

It’s Mother’s Day today, Mom, and knowing that we still get to have you in our lives is one of the best gifts ever. Thanks for being here to celebrate our family. Love.

 

Momaraderie is Homeschooling, Grantwriting Canadian

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Momaraderie is an occasional feature I write about professional moms I meet, engage with and want to learn more about. I first was introduced to the inquisitive Dawn Comber via a Headway Theme Twitter chat. We got to exchanging tweets, and she seemed to pop in to lend her thoughts on a regular basis.

Dawn Comber (@DawnComber on Twitter) is a keen lifelong learner with a passion for building communities both on and offline. She hails from Oakville, Ontario, where she manages her small business, volunteers for a housing charity, and raises her youngest child, who is 13. The other four of her five children were homeschooled for nine years while she managed a grassroots not-for-profit.

Dawn began juggling her own education along with that of her kids, heading back to school part-time and emerging with a Master of Arts in Leadership. Grant writing for a single organization morphed into consulting to a variety of nonprofits, eventually leading Dawn to focus on helping clients articulate who they are and what they do online. She now specializes in rewriting offline materials for Web publication.

Speaking with Dawn, it’s immediately clear she’s serious about making genuine connections via social media and the small business community; here’s Dawn:

Thanks so much for asking me to contribute to your Momaraderie series.

One of my bigger goals for social media has been to really contribute to community, or find a sense of community with a few people online around me. You kindly reached out to me and that was encouraging. I want to contribute to other people’s blogs and business life in a genuine way — not with a goal to increase my presence, so to speak. I want to make genuine/real connections online; you know, the “social” in social media. (I blogged about it here.)

Participating in your blog is a creative way to get some peer-to-peer support virtually. I am also building offline learning partnerships and working partnerships with women! I meet monthly with two colleagues to discuss new business tools – online or otherwise. I also work closely with 2 colleagues (who are also good friends) on web development (me on the word side) and marketing for start-ups. I try to attend a monthly WP meetup — another place to learn and make connections.

For now, I’ll leave you with a final thought from Dawn, on how she stays centered:

My partner/husband laughed out loud when he saw that question. I’m not really very good at taking care of myself (a downfall of many a woman I am afraid) — but a glass of wine and a hot bath helps sometimes. Mothering keeps me from obsessing on business and vice versa. And friends really help a lot – I have a nice circle of people that I care about and who care for me.

To learn more about Dawn we couldn’t squeeze in here, visit Dawncomber.com. And, please share your suggestions for a Momaraderie feature!