As I was reading several articles on the NY Times about the gain of women in the workplace, it reminded me how far my career goals changed over the year. I believe that it is because I grow as a person. At university, I dreamt of being the chairman of a large corporation. I am still as ambitious today except that my priorities changed. I measure success differently.

After working for three awesome actuarial firms over a 7-year period, it was clear that I did not enjoy that type of work. It took me some time to have the guts to go after my true passion. But I am so happy that I did. I am proud of being my own boss, to call the shots and to make daily decisions that impact the success of my brand.

Running a small business is a lot of work. My parents were two successful business owners. Their influence may explain why I prefer working hard to build my business instead of working for someone else. If I wanted to, I could get a job at a large corporation with a big pay check. But each time I get an offer, a glance at the job description reminds me that their managerial structure is not for me. A director passes most of their time planning and administrating things. I like to create.

It is a Question of Lifestyle

I am often asked why I run my blog instead of writing for a magazine. First, there is freedom. I choose what to put on own editorial. Then, there is the timing of the story. On a blog, you write about what it is happening right now. Plus, I enjoy the direct contact with the readers, the free exchange of information.

But really, the most important factor is that being the editor on my own women magazine enables me to get the lifestyle I want. I can travel where and whenever I want to and still be working as long as I get an Internet connection. I am building my own media. Any serious blogger is. Some blogs have become major media platforms, food bloggers published cookbooks while others opened their retail shops. Blogging provides us opportunities to make a living following our passions.

We are at a time where business models are challenged. New successful models will emerge as we continue to experiment and explore new ways to do business. Maybe it is time that we update success to be more than being at the top of the corporate ladder. I know that I changed my tune when I realized that happiness has to be part of the formula.

MORE:
+ The Mismeasure of Women written by Joanne Lipman in NY Times
+ When We’re Equal, We’ll be Happy written by Judith Warner – Domestic Disturbances column
+ photo was taken when visiting the USS Constitution in August 2009

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You may have noticed a change to the main navigation bar of At Home with Kim Vallee. There is now a Live section where you will find my tweets and live blogging posts.

What will be these live blogging posts?

It will be made of several things. But mainly, there will be quick links. For a while now, I have been searching at a way to add to the curated experience I am trying to provide you. I wish for great pictures on all my posts here. What do I do when I only wish to provide you a quick info? Until now, I relied on Twitter. But 140 characters is not always enough to deliver the message.  I will use Kim Vallee Live to bring this type of information.

Another usage of Kim Vallee’s Live is when I will attend a conference. You will not have long to wait since I will be at the Social Gaming Summit 2009 that will occur June 23rd, 2009. All day, I will rely what is going on at the session through Kim Vallee Live.

Integrating  Layout

I also wish to point out that my second blog, On the Web with Kim Vallee now shares the theme structure than At Home. Like I said in Live, I am integrating my brand. Each component has its own personality.

Blog Out Loud event  in Los Angeles

One last thing. If you are in the Los Angeles this week, register for the first Blog Out Loud event. It should be a great event for bloggers and aspiring bloggers in the creative sphere. Check out what I have to say about the Blog Out Loud event on On the Web.

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A quick note to tell you that I was interviewed last week by Susan Semenak for an article she did for the main English speaking daily newspaper in Montreal, The Gazette. I shared my knowledge about moms who blog. If you are into it, read the different points of views of a group of moms who likes to blog. They did this article for Mother’s Day.

+ The mommy diaries by Susan Semenak on The Gazette

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I introduced last April this exquisite Champagne cooler. I got the chance to see many in person at the Interior Design Show of Toronto. Do not look in the exhibit; it was only accessible to VIP guests.

I have the chance to be a good friend of Harry Wakefield, the founding editor of MoCo Loco. If you recalled, Harry was one of the 3 bloggers invited on a Design Trends by the Minute panel at the show.

Not only did I drink a superb rose Champagne (pink) but I got the complete demonstration on how works the coolest cooler on Earth. This unique piece of technology is an avant-garde interpretation of the French candelabra. This explains why the cooler illuminates thanks to rechargeable battery.

Globalight retails for about $800 if I am not mistaken. But do not rush to the store; the Globalight cooler is only available in Europe.

In the shadow (bottom picture), you see a guy taken a picture. This is Maxwell Gillingham-Ryan of Apartment Therapy. Look at some of his pictures on Maxwell’s highlights of IDS 2009.

Go see more pictures of the VIP lounge and bar on a photo album of AHWKV’s page on Facebook.

+ Globalight for Veuve Clicquot

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We met at the show and sit together at the Design Blogger Panels with Maxwell Gillingham-Ryan of Apartment Therapy, Harry Wakefield of MoCo Loco and Grace Bonney of Design*Sponge.

Her video is great! I am to warm you Lara, I will borrow some of your video techniques. You will see that Lara was also impressed by Luminoso, that I introduced two posts ago. You will probably grasp a better understanding of this innovative product by watching the video.

+ Via Ready2Spark

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How they did it?

Michelle Blanc, Bruno Guglielminetti and Dominic Arpin compiled their own list of 25 Web celebrities and from that they produce the top 10 list.

I am happy to report that two bloggers from our circle made the Top 10. At the 3rd position is Martine Gingras of banlieusardises.com. Martine pioneered the mom blog in Quebec. She is very good.

M-C. Turgeon is an artist, blogger, podcaster and crafter. She runs a Web design and communications  studio. She founded Creacamp, a meeting for creative women  in Montreal. M-C Turgeon writes either in French and in English on her blog. She is very active online and offline.

It did not stop there. Several bloggers from the women and mom blog circle were chosen in the top 25 lists, including me. I wish a express my warmest thanks to Michelle Blanc and Bruno Guglielminetti for giving me this honor. Women in other spheres also appear on the Top 25 lists. Slowly but surely, the Web stops to be a gentlemen club.

Upcoming Talk

I wish to remind you that I will be talking about Women and Mom Blogging and Marketing at the next PodCamp Toronto at 2:45 pm on February 21st, 2009. The topics covered are all exciting. In you are in Toronto that weekend, come to visit. It’s free.

MORE:
+ Top 25 of Michelle Blanc
+ Top 25 of Bruno Guglielminetti
+ Top 10 on Christiane Charest

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The Design Trends by the Minute session with the panel of 3 design bloggers was awesome. I got the pleasure of meeting Maxwell Gillingham-Ryan of Apartment Therapy and Grace Bonney of design*sponge plus a chance to chat more with Harry of Moco Loco. I will tell you what I learned from these amazing bloggers on Monday.

Earlier I met Lara McCulloch-Carter of Ready2Spark. I really enjoyed her company. In fact, we end up eating dinner together and our husbands at Frank restaurant at Art Gallery of Ontario.

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In the News

First, Deena Waisberg interviewed me a few months ago about women blogging. Her article is published in Reader’s Digest. Deena introduced the world of blogging through the eyes of a few Canadian bloggers.

She asked me if she could interview one of my readers. After asking permission, I referred her to Sabina DeShazo of Barefoot in the Orchard. I wish to thank both for their collaboration.

Session at PodCamp Toronto 2009

I posted my session on the wiki. It will be a follow-up to the session I did in Montreal. Last time, I did an introduction to the world of women and mom blogs. Now the scope will be an Updated Look at Women and Social Media.

The core of the session will be on what is happening in the world of women and mom marketing and blogging. We will look at the latest metrics. See how blogging and social media enhance the life and the daily activities of modern women. I will share great initiatives but I also want to hear about yours. So if you are in the Toronto area, I wish you will come.

• What: PodCamp Toronto 2009
• When: February 21 and 22, 2009 (a weekend)
• Where: Rogers Communications Centre at Ryerson University, Toronto, ON
• Cost: Free!

PodCamp Toronto is made possible by the generous contributions of our sponsors. Visit podcamptoronto.org for more information and Free Registration.

MORE:
+ The Feminine Side of Blogging in the Reader’s Digest
+ PodCamp Toronto 2009 blog

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+ I featured a real-life party with this impressive Chinese theme birthday party for a 8-year old girl. I like the idea of educating kids on another cultures while entertaining them. This unique party was put together by the mother with her daughter.

+ I am a fan of mingle plates. I showed you many models since I started writing this blog. I went to a party before Christmas where my friend had these clips. I think they are the best option since they fit on your salad plates. But there are more, I presented you 7 Plates Designed to Mingle at Cocktails Parties. Note that the Wine and Dine Oblong Appetizer Trays have slightly changed.

+ With photos from my favorite home décor magazine, UK-based Living etc I talked about Decorating with Gray.

A Blog is Born

The attention given to my post on Women Market Statistics on the Web last September led me to start a new blog on Women, Social Media and Technology called On the Web with Kim Vallee. I quietly started the blog in December, a week before Christmas.

If you are thinking about migrating to Wordpress, I started a series about why and how to migrate to Wordpress. I already published my Must-Have List Before Your Start Your Blog on Wordpress. Next, I will write a guide if you are migrating from Blogger.

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Highlights

Since I thought that some of you may want to stay current on trends, I am publishing a summary of my presentation. I compiled key facts about what is going on right now. And I finished with my opinions about the market.

Female Internet

There are now more women on the Web than men. My presentation put emphasis on the fact that women use technology to communicate, create, collect, share and fulfill their dream/passion.

Revealing Statistics

ComScore Media Metrix’s year-end report: Women’s community was the most visited and fastest growing Internet category, tied with politics. The number of unique visits to women’s community sites jumped 35% to almost 70 million from 52 million.

This is quite an achievement considering the Presidential race.

InsideFacebook: Two days ago, a new survey shows that women outnumber men on Facebook in every age group

A BlogHer survey conducted by Compass Partners : 36.2 million American female Internet users actively participate in blogs every week. You get 15.1 million women publishing at least one post a week and 21.1 million reading and commenting at least weekly.

eMarketer established that more than 8 out of 10 U.S. moms go online at least once a month.

2007 survey by Intelligence Group:

• 88% of mothers said the Internet has helped them stay connected to the world
• 85% believed technology has made their life as a mother easier
• 66% said they relied more on technology since they became a parent.

I believe that with this large women presence, we will change the face of Internet. I shown 7 blogs besides my own on my presentation to represent the different voices of women. Everyone were impressed by the level of quality. I show the homepage of Steamy Kitchen, TasteSpotting, decor8, Design Sponge, Oh Joy!, Babygadget, Simple Mom and Hostess with the Mostess.

Traditional Media are Waking Up

The BlogHer survey found that because of blogging, 24% of surveyed women watch less television, 25% read fewer magazines and 22% read fewer newspapers. This is why the traditional medias are starting to embrace the Web 2.0 inside their publications.

Last week, on September 17, 2008, Martha Stewart did an entire TV episode on blogging. She encourages women to start their own blog by giving Blogging 101 tricks.

Two magazines, Domino with My Deco File and Style at Home launched Web 2.0 initiatives this fall. As a blogger I asked myself, what does it mean for my brand? How I can leverage that fact to convert audience to my site?

Twitter

I observed a switch in the Twitter population since last year. The foodies, the moms and on a lesser extent the event planners are very active on Twitter. Foodies and moms use Twitter to have dynamic conversations with their peers. I even found a site called Twitter moms.

Have you noticed a change in the Web? Do these facts reflect your reality?

Watch My Presentation Online

You can see the last third of my session at PodCamp MTL on September 20th, 2008. The presentation was recorded on live stream but as it something occurs, there were some technical difficulties at the start. The four pictures at the top rely to the last segment of my presentation about how the print media is catching up.

Fell free to watch it. Since it is a live stream, the video quality is not the best. You will see that I am still not completely comfortable in front of the camera. One thing I would like to do is to give the same conference several times to see how I improve.

Free TV Show from Ustream

Women and Mom blogs are an exciting domain. I am proud to be a part of it. I strongly believe that we moved from a Male Internet to a Female Internet. The more we participated, the more the Internet will become a social, simple and practical place.

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