LATISM plus BlogWorld = Main-tweet-stream meets mainstream!

For all the talk about Latinos “integrating” or not into the American mainstream and our supposed “early adoption” of technology, mobile and social media, our near-absence at mainstream tech and social media remains glaringly noticeable.

This is where this come as good news. This week, Latinos in Social Media (LATISM) announced a partnership with BlogWorld & New Media Expo, the first and only industry-wide conference, tradeshow and media event for all New Media, scheduled to take place on May 24-26 in New York City at the Javits Convention Center. According to officials from both organizations, this partnership is aimed at offering LATISM members much needed opportunities to attend the conference and enjoy the learning, networking opportunities and extraordinary exposure the event will offer, as well as finding important resources at the New Media Expo.

Besides providing scholarships for Latino members to attend the conference for free or at a discounted rate, the BlogWorld Conference will also include a Latinos in Social Media panel during which LATISM board members Ana Roca Castro, Elianne Ramos, Giovanni Rodriguez and Sylvia Aguilera will unveil the results of the largest study of the Latino Blogosphere 2011 before it is sent to the press. With a network of 134,000 Latino/a bloggers, LATISM continues to study the trends, behaviors, demographics and purchasing behavior of Latinos who have become influential voices in their respective communities.

“We are thrilled to partner with BlogWorld,” says Ana Roca Castro, Founder and Chair of LATISM. “As one of the nation’s foremost new media conferences, BlogWorld is a perfect conference partner to our organization as we aim to offer our members higher visibility in the social media and blogging arena, as well as provide the inspiration and learning that can help to take their blogging careers to the next level.”

Dave Cynkin, Co-Founder of BlogWorld & New Media Expo, gave his perspective about the partnership. “Given the synergies of our organizations’ missions, we are also thrilled to be working together with LATISM to offer attendees the much needed Latino perspective on the social media conversation taking place at the conference. Additionally, creating better opportunities to attend this educational conference by offering LATISM members discounted rates, affords more bloggers the opportunity to learn about improving their online content, distribution and monetization. The overall purpose of the conference–to help online content creators and businesses expand their knowledge and become more successful online–is a goal BlogWorld and LATISM share, and we’re very proud to be working together with such a passionate and like-minded organization.”

For those of us who know and love LATISM, this is definitely one of the best opportunities LATISM has ever offered for Latinos/as engaged in technology, blogging and social media. Those of us who have attended BlogWorld before, know it as one of the best conferences in terms of educational content and networking opportunities for content creators, so we’re definitely looking forward to see what other opportunities spring up from this partnership! Exciting times ahead!

BlogHerBET 2011: Business, Entrepreneurship and Technology conference

NOTE: This post was first published at the LATISM Blog, where I do most of my writing and for which I am the Editor.

With the increasingly prominent role of women in the U.S. business sphere and the demonstrated growth of the Latino population, we at LATISM believe [scratch that, we KNOW] Latinas will be catalysts to many of the changes in business in the coming decades. Yet, as women continue to struggle in trying to break through the “Glass Ceiling” [or the “Adobe Ceiling”, the term that Cecilia Preciado de Burciaga so succintly coined as its equivalent for Latinas], it becomes more and more important for us in the ranks to find –and become –the mentors who can guide the current and upcoming wave of business leaders.

Last week, a couple of us at LATISM flew over to Silicon Valley to attend BlogHer’s BlogHerBET conference [BET stands for Business, Entrepreneurism and Tech], a one-of-a-kind event for women looking to start-up or projects involving technology, the Internet or social media. Here are some pictures:

So what was so unique about BlogHerBET?

Beyond invaluable advice on raising venture capital, branding yourself/your business, leading product development and building the management, funding and boardroom pipelines, the conference provided attendees with one hour each of personalized and truthful interaction with 50 of the top entrepreneurs, technologists and business leaders in the world.

I had the fortune of being paired up with Janet Riccio, EVP of Omnicom and founder of their G23 subsidiary. Janet is not only the ONLY high-rank female executive at one of the Forbes Platinum 400 list of the Best Big Companies in America, she is also a tireless philanthropist and part of the Board of Directors of the Women’s Funding Network and the Make-a-Wish-Foundation. With hard-to-match wit, Janet imparted equal doses of belly-laughs and sound, rapid-fire, no-nonsense business advice. How lucky am I to get her as my mentor?!

Imagine the possibilities if every one of us on the way up got mentored/sponsored, and in turn, we grabbed the hands of the up and coming Latinos/Latinas behind us! Like they say: “It’s not an “I cause”, it’s a “We Cause”.

What powerful future generation of leaders we could create together… and it starts with you, me, us… TODAY!

Now, what follows is not a session-by-session recap of the conference [BlogHer did a marvelous job at that on the BlogHer website]. Rather, this is a visual journey through the conference, sprinkled with a couple of videos from some power women we met along the way. Enjoy!

Elisa Camahort, Co-Founder of BlogHer, on whether Entrepreneurship is about who you know or what you know:

Karen Duggan, CEO of Playful Planet, on why this is a good time for entrepreneurs:

Janet Riccio, EVP of Omnicom, on the Ten Commandments for Entrepreneurs:

On behalf of LATISM, I’d like to thank BlogHer co-founders Lisa Stone, Elisa Camahort and Jory des Jardins for this marvellous opportunity. You BET we’ll be attending next year’s BlogHerBET!

NHLI, Latina Leadership & the Power of Social Media

It was John F. Kennedy who once said “Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other”.  It was those words that came to mind for me as I joined hundreds of Latinas from around the United States at the National Hispana Leadership Institute’s Annual Executive Leadership Training Conference in Miami, FL on November 4-5, 2010. During the Conference, I had the pleasure of sharing the stage with two of the most dynamic Latinas I know (in the picture above): Aurelia Flores (@latinaleader) and Marisa Treviño (@latinalista), in a panel titled “Plug into the Power of Social Media”.

READ ALL ABOUT THE CONFERENCE HERE

Thanks to Blanca Stella (@micaminar) for sharing this video with me.

Latina Blogger Outreach: Webinar on PR Newswire

I had the pleasure of discussing LATISM’s Latina Blogger Survey at the PR Newswire’s Multicultural Division webinar: “The Spanglish of Social Media: The Importance of Relevant Communications.”

(You can listen to the archived audio recording here )

In the linked post at the LATISM blog, I outlined some hard and fast rules for marketers to capitalize on the Latina blogger explosion while safeguarding the integrity & credibility of their brands.

READ THE FULL POST HERE

Post on Marketing Prof’s Daily Fix: Latina Blogger Explosion

 

 

 

I’ve been an avid fan of the Marketing Profs site for a while: its daily newsletter and insightful articles are usually my mental breakfast as I head out on my commute every morning.

And so it was a great honor for me to accept their invitation to write a column for them on the topic of Latinas and blogging. As the Vice-Chair of Communications and PR for Latinos in Social Media [LATISM], I was part of the team that produced, implemented and publicized the Latinos in Social Media’s [LATISM] Latina Blogger Survey, I have been am eye-witness to the veritable explosion of Latina bloggers throughout the blogosphere.

The article explains how, beyond the obviously good news that these bloggers now provide us with a new outlet for furthering our brands’ messages, the implications of this Latina blogger explosion for PR and marketing professionals are many…

READ THE FULL POST HERE

March for Immigration Reform – March 21, 2010 – slideshow

They came, they saw, but… did they conquer?

My take on the March for Immigration Reform coming up in the next post…

Join us tonight for our #latismtoydrive Fundraising Twitter party!

Thanks to our generous sponsors, Ingenio Bilingual Toys & Games, Discovery Toys and Time to Play, Latinos in Social Media (LATISM) and Being Latino were able to donate hundreds of toys to the Children’s Aid Society.

Our next goal is to raise $1,000 to help Latin American children though UNICEF. 53 million children go hungry in Latin America every year, and UNICEF is the largest worldwide organization providing aid to fight these statistics.

Please join our LATISM/Being Latino Fundraising Twitter Party tonight, Thursday December 30th, 2009 at 8pm. Go to http://www.twitgrid.com and follow hashtag #latismtoydrive [NOTE: you must have a Twitter account to do this]

As a thank you for participating, we are raffling books and gifts to the first 10 people who donate.
HERE’S HOW YOU CAN HELP:

- Donate through our PayPal account: http://bit.ly/7B8yL0

- Place the Latism/Being Latino ToyDrive Widget on your blog: http://tinyurl.com/y9ercrg

- Become a fan of @Zuberance on Facebook today: http://facebook.com/Zuberance. @Zuberance will donate $1 per new fan until the end of today’s party.

- Get involved and spread awareness by inviting your friends to donate.

Latinos in Social Media and Being Latino thank you all for your support!

LATISM 3 Kings Day Toy Drive and Fundraiser

In these tough economic times, it’s more important than ever to make sure that disadvantaged children in the US and Latin America enjoy the holidays and have access to basic necessities. LATISM is proud and excited to partner with the Being Latino network to help world-renowned organizations such as the Children’s Aid Society and UNICEF in their continued efforts to provide these services.

I am proud to be part of a group of people who truly care about their surrounding community. Their passion to be a positive driving force working on behalf of our community is simply contagious. Below is the press release for the Toy Drive and Fundraiser.

Latinos in Social Media presents its 1ST ANNUAL 3 KINGS DAY TOY  DRIVE & FUNDRAISER to benefit The Children’s Aid Society’s Latino Outreach Initiative and the United Nations Children’s Fund [UNICEF]

New York, NY – Latinos in Social Media, the largest organization of Social Media professionals of Latino origin, is partnering with the Being Latino network to bring joy to disadvantaged Latino children in the US and Latin America this holiday season. LATISM’s  1st Annual Three Kings Day Toy Drive & Fundraiser will benefit The Children’s Aid Society’s and the United Nations Children’s Fund [UNICEF].

“Part of LATISM’s long-term vision is to give back. The fact that our first Toy Drive and Fundraiser is aimed to benefit both children in Latin America and at home is yet another innovative example of how LATISM is using new media to benefit our community at large,” said Louis Pagan, Co-founder of LATISM.

The partnership between LATISM and Being Latino has two primary goals:
-    To collect at least 400 toys which can be distributed to children who may otherwise not have any presents this Christmas
-    To raise at least $1000 in monetary funds to help programs working for the survival, basic education and health needs of disadvantaged children in Latin America.

To this end, the Toy Drive & Fundraiser will have two levels:
1st Level – TOY DRIVE: Thanks to generous donations from their sponsors, Time To Play, Ingenio and Discovery Toys, LATISM will be donating new unwrapped bilingual Educational toys to the Latino Outreach Center of the Children’s Aid Society, located in Washington Heights, New York City. The toys will be distributed to poor Latino children in the area.

2nd Level – FUNDRAISER: Latism and Being Latino will be collecting donations from their joint online networks. These monetary donations will benefit UNICEF, the United Nations Children’s Fund, and be distributed through UNICEF to centers aiding disadvantaged children in Latin America.

TOY DRIVE/FUNDRAISER LAUNCH DETAILS:
WHAT: Live Twitter Party
WHEN: December 30th 2009, 8pm EST
WHERE: Twitter (use hashtag #latismtoydrive or enter latismtoydrive in TweetChat.com – you must have a Twitter account).

HOW YOU CAN HELP:
• Participating in LATISM’s live Twitter party to raise awareness about the Toy Drive

• Making a monetary donation ONLINE through our Chipin/PayPal account. Monetary donations will be accepted until January 3rd, 2010.

• Making a toy donation by sending new, unwrapped toys to: The Children’s Aid Society -105 East 22nd St, New York, NY 10010. Please use codename: LATISMTOYDRIVE09. Toy donations will be accepted until January 3rd, 2010.

• Following and Retweeting our Toy Drive message using #latismtoydrive on Twitter

• Writing about it on their blog

• Posting up the LATISM Toy Drive/Fundraising widget on their blog

• Broadcasting our link through FaceBook & LinkedIn pages/groups

Toy Drive and Donations totals, as well as ceremony pictures will be posted at our Latism.org website on January 6, 2010.  For further information, please call Elianne Ramos, LATISM DC Media Relations Manager, at 646-932-7752 or Louis Pagan, LATISM Co-Founder, at 347-688-5385. Additional information about the toy drive can be found on the LATISM Facebook Fan page and on the Being Latino Fan Page.

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About LATISM
Latinos in Social Media (LatISM) is the first entity to organize, train and promote social media professionals who are either of Latino origin or target the Hispanic/multicultural audience. LatISM members are bloggers, twitters, group leaders in social networks, social media consultants, government officials, non-profit program officers, developers and more. As the leading organization for Latinos in social media, LATISM is proud to help empower and mobilize the Latino community. Visit http://www.latism.org for more information.

About The Children’s Aid Society
The Children’s Aid Society was founded in 1853. It is one of the nation’s largest and most innovative non-sectarian agencies, serving New York’s neediest children and their families with a network of services that includes community schools, neighborhood centers, camps, adoption and foster care services, teen pregnancy prevention, education, health and recreation. The Children’s Aid Society is a founding member of the Boys & Girls Clubs of America, and the vast majority of Children’s Aid’s sites are Boys & Girls Clubs. For more information, please call 212-949-4938 or visit www.childrensaidsociety.org.

About UNICEF
UNICEF is on the ground in over 150 countries and territories to help children survive and thrive, from early childhood through adolescence. The world’s largest provider of vaccines for developing countries, UNICEF supports child health and nutrition, good water and sanitation, quality basic education for all boys and girls, and the protection of children from violence, exploitation, and AIDS.  UNICEF is funded entirely by the voluntary contributions of individuals, businesses, foundations and governments. Visit http://www.unicef.org.

ABOUT BEING LATINO
Being Latino is a communication platform designed to educate, entertain and connect all peoples across the global Latino spectrum. Their aim is to break down barriers, foster unity and empowerment through informative, thought-provoking dialogue and exchanging of ideas. Being Latino seeks to give a unified voice to the multitude of communities that identify with the multidimensional culture that is Latino. Visit http://beinglatino.wordpress.com.

Social Media and Latinos: A Match Made in Online Heaven?

LATISM DC team & Founder Ana Roca Castro

The Latinos in Social Media DC Team answers our questions.

There’s a conversation going on right now. It’s happening in organizations and businesses across the country, across the world, across the disciplines. There’s no escaping it. What is social media? How can my organization benefit from it? And are Latinos taking part of that conversation? Despite myriads of articles out there attempting to answer these questions, there has been no definitive answer as to who really has the pulse on where and how Latinos fit into the social media spectrum. Until now.

To read the complete article, visit the Hispanic Business Column at Examiner.com

This article first appeared at Examiner.com on October 9, 2009.

All text and images [except where noted] ©2009 Elianne Ramos.

All Rights Reserved.

Latinos in Social Media DC conference – December 11 and 12, 2009

The Latism DC Conference, the third installment of the Latinos in Social Media Heritage Tour, took place in Washington DC on December 11 and 12, 2009.

Over 100 attendees from as far as California, Colorado, Philadelphia as well as from the DC, MD and VA area, enjoyed 1-1/2 days chockful of learning, sharing and open discussion about, among other things:

- The basics of Social Media

- How organizations can maximize their Social Media efforts in reaching Latinos

- The implications of Social Media for Latino empowerment

- The vision of Latism regarding its role in bridging the so-called Digital Divide.

I’m honored to be part of the Organizing team for the Conference, heretofore known as The Six Latinas: Kety Esquivel [@KEtyE] , Sylvia Aguilera [@httponline], Alma Suarez [@AmericanLatina], Julie Diaz Asper [@JulieDiazAsper], Jennifer Lubrani [@meningioma] and yours truly [@ergeekgoddess].

Below, some scenes from the conference, to the beat of a very special song:

“Viva Latism!”, created on the spot by Mariachi El Rey. Enjoy!

For more information about the Latinos in Social Media, visit Latism.org

For more information about Latism DC [conference and chapter], visit Latism DC