I know what you are thinking another interview already, it’s only Thursday! But I just had to share, because Leslie is an amazing entrepreneur and she is also the creator of my new favorite makeup. A couple of months back I bought my first bareMinerals starter kit and fell in love with the product line. And if you know me, you would know that it must be good if I’m taking the time to tell you about it.

Let’s just say I was never a get-up-and-put-make-up-on kind of girl. It was more like through some powder on and go. That is until I tried bareMinerals, I just love how light it feels on my skin.

Anyhow, momlogic.com had a chance to interview Leslie Blodget and they discussed everything from foundation to embarrassing mommy moments.

ML: How do you balance career, family, life?
Leslie: It’s hard to balance everything but important to be there for the moments, the everyday moments like dinner. We make a conscious effort to have breakfast and dinner with the kids. Because I worked like three months after I gave birth and my husband was a stay-at-home dad, I actually had my son sleep with me so that I could get bonding time, because I was off at work during the day. I didn’t want to not hold him and be with him.

(more…)

I can’t believe it! When I found out I made the Nielson’s Power Moms list I was in shock. I was caught up with a family of sick people and had a few minutes to jump on Skype and that is when I found out. I remember telling my friends, that they must be talking about a different Stephanie.

Nielsen Online’s Power Mom 50 is a collection of leading voices in the mom blogosphere based on a blend of blog posts, comments and link love developed through ongoing monitoring of more than 10,000 mom and parenting blogs as tracked by Nielsen Buzzmetrics.  In addition to site engagement, number of Twitter followers, ratings and other metrics were included in the calibration to provide a comprehensive sphere of authority and influence.

I made the list under CEO Mom, moms who juggle work and mommyhood.

Thank you so much for including me in this amazing list. I am so thrilled and excited.

Read the entire Nielson Power Mom 50 report or visit Nielson Online.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Nielsen Top 50 Power Moms in Digital Media (geekmommy.net)

A guest post by Melanie Rembrandt of www.rembrandtwrites.com.

You probably hear a lot about search engine optimization (SEO) these days. And there’s a good reason… SEO is a cost effective way to increase Web site visitors and sales.

Now, this may seem very “technical” for a lot of people. No worries! Here’s a quick breakdown of what you need to know to start your optimization efforts.

First, know that SEO is much more than adding a few keywords to your site. It’s a strategic process that involves:

• Researching competitors;
• Finding appropriate words to work with your messaging and marketing efforts; and
• Offering customers valuable information.

And there are many free tools available to help you with the process like those at www.keyworddiscovery.com, www.wordtracker.com, and Google (http://www.google.com/sktool/?utm_campaign=en&utm_source=en-ha-na-us-bk&utm_medium=ha&utm_term=google%20keyword).

The best way to learn SEO is to follow the easy instructions on these sites, practice researching keywords and see what words are popular for your specific audience. Then, you can add the keywords to your Web site and marketing materials.

(more…)

Are you a new mommy or mommy-to-be living in the Los Angeles area? If you are you don’t want to miss the From the Bump to the Tot Mommy Dinner Party being held at Giggles N Hugs in Los Angeles.

The event will be hosted by Celebrity Nursery Designer & Baby Lifestyle Expert Jayneoni Moore and Celebrity Mommy & Actress Ali Landry! From the Bump to the Tot Mommy Dinner will showcase everything from the perfect bottle to the best baby gear and hottest baby and toddler toys.  All while enjoying a delicious dinner, dinning with some celebrity mommies.

Every Mommy attending the dinner will leave with one of the products from the presentations and an overflowing baby gift bag valued over $200.00.

Tickets for the May 27, 2009 dinner are $45.00 per person. To purchase your ticket today go to www.breakfastclubmommies.com.

Guess what?

BizzieMommy.com is giving one lucky Los Angeles reader a chance to win a ticket for Wednesday nights Mommy Dinner. All you have to do is leave a comment and tell us when you are due or how old your kids are and you will automatically be entered to win. But you have to hurry because the event is just around the corner.

Oh wait there’s more. The lucky winner will also receive an Aden & Anais blanket set!

So be sure to tell all of your Los Angeles mommy friends about the event and get them to enter as well.

For a second chance to win, refer a friend to the event and let us know by leaving a second comment.

Contest ends Saturday May 23, 2009, so get your entry in now!

To purchase your From the Bump to the Tot Mommy Dinner ticket now go to www.breakfastclubmommies.com. (more…)

Mom Entrepreneur: Kristen Ferguson on behalf of Pam Liyanage
Business: Baby Rhys Adventure Gear
Website: www.babyrhys.com

Baby Rhys Adventure Gear is a fresh new baby & toddler accessories collection that is both stylish and functional. We are extremely proud of our beautiful, bright line of soft soled cotton crib shoes, funky hats and essential travel totes that are a must for every busy mom and little adventurer!

Baby Rhys Adventure Gear is well known for the thoughtful design, modern elegance and handmade quality of its collection. There is absolutely no automation used in the creation of this line. It is inspired by the need for convenience and purpose without sacrificing style.

Baby Rhys Adventure Gear is designed by today’s active parents for today’s active parents!

What inspired you start your business?
Baby Rhys Adventure Gear was inspired by CEO Pam Liyanage’s son Rhys. As avid traveler’s Rhys began globetrotting at the early age of 8 months. While traveling with Rhys, she found that convenience & baby’s comfort made the trips much more enjoyable. The entire line has been designed around making any trip, over sea’s or to the grocery store, a little more convenient & enjoyable for everyone.

How long have you been in business?
Nearly 4 years

Describe your ideal workday.
As close to any working mommy ever gets to “balance”; crossing off items on the “To do list”, connecting & building with other like-minded businesses, closing a new sale, keeping up to date on what’s going on in the world, some time for fun & business on the social networking sites & most importantly, quality time with the kids. Isn’t that what we’re all striving for?!

What have been some of your major successes?
Seeing our product line sold North America wide & in Japan, with countries being added as we speak!

(more…)

I am submitting this photo into the www.iheartfaces.com Blurb Book photo contest. I am granting I ♥ Faces permission to use my photo in a printed version of a book for commercial use and possibly advertising of a photo book on both the Blurb and I ♥ Faces web sites.

Forgive me; I am weeks behind on my blog posts and having a house filled with sick people didn’t help. However, everyone is slowly recovering, the Hubs is still out of commission, but the rest of us are doing much better.

So I know it’s a little late but I wanted to tell you how much fun I had at the local Mom’s Night Out event. It first began on twitter where I won a $100 gift card to Leaps and Bounds.  I can’t wait to go shopping. Then after work I headed to Mint in Los Angeles.

(more…)

Helpful tips for your next email campaign

A guest post by Renee Martinez a mother of 4, blogger and marketing consultant.
Knowing and understanding your customers intimately is essential for you to be successful in business. With an effective email campaign, you have the opportunity to understand your customers through tracking if they open your email and more specifically, where they click once they open it. This information is valuable and can translate into a more comprehensive assessment of customer interests and trends. While this seems easy enough, let me assure you; it’s not. Like every marketing effort, you need a strategy.

Allow me to provide you with an example:
I receive a monthly email newsletter from my chiropractor. I have received it every month for nearly two years. I opened the first one to find the dreary text format unreadable and impersonal and have since never opened it again. Frankly, I find it rather annoying that they haven’t even checked their stats to notice that I haven’t so much as opened it and remove me from their list. By not removing me, I perceive what they send as spam.

There are several ways to avoid the above scenario.

• Develop a plan. How you will acquire email addresses. What information are your recipients interested in that you can provide in an easy-to-read approach. How can you provide information that is interesting, sets you apart from your competition, and on a regular basis?
• Only send emails to people who have opted-in or given permission to receive you messages.
• Send emails on a regular basis. If you decide to develop a monthly campaign, make sure it gets out every month. Doing your campaign in-house? While it may save a little money, beware of how other assignments can affect the timeliness of your emailer. I have many stories of people who have started their campaign in-house and wound up hiring-out to maintain a regular schedule.
• Design a campaign that maximizes your opportunity to capture customer interests through tracking.

(more…)

Celebrate Moms Benefit Kids at Castle Ivar In Hollywood Hills

My daughter was super excited when I told her we were going to a REAL castle Saturday morning, she eagerly got dressed and sat patiently while I did her hair. It was going to be a busy day.

We had a little difficulty finding Castle Ivar even with mapquest directions and the Iphone GPS, but once we did it was absolutely worth the wait. The castle was spectacular and I even got in a workout from climbing all of the stairs. I brought one of my “mommy’ friends and her daughter to the event with me.

We explored the castle for the first hour and you will never guess who I ran into? That’s right Caryn from rockinmama.net, see what I mean we ALWAYS run into each other.

There was a slue of services on hand for moms

Eyelash extensions by Lovely Lashes
American Laser Centers was available to perform to provide multiple body and facial treatments
Green Bliss Eco Spa provided eco-friendly manicures

And that was just a few of the things available. We spent the majority of our time in the kids area with My Princess Academy, after all we had two princesses on our hands so we didn’t have much of a choice.

(more…)

If you are a small business owner in the Los Angeles area, then you don’t want to miss this!

PR Café has a developed a unique and affordable way for you to obtain PR advice. Did I mention it was affordable?

This is how it works. PR Café provides one-on-one, 15-minute public relations strategy sessions with public relations industry agency owners who typically charge $200 per hour. Each 15-minute session will offer a sampling of practical, do-it-yourself publicity tips and direction from a PR professional who can serve as a sound board for ideas. So you want to know how much each session is, right?

Each 15-minutes session is $15 and your appointment can be extended to 20 minutes for an additional $5.

Don’t forget PR Café is set up on a first-come, first-served basis so be sure to get their early on Friday, May 15 between 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Location:
Barney’s Beanery
8447 Santa Monica Blvd
West Hollywood

For more information visit the PR Café or on twitter @PRcafe.

Don’t you think they should start this type of service everywhere? What a great idea!