Culture Mom Media to Be Media Sponsor of Digital Family Summit

This Columbus Day weekend, teens, tweens and their parents will explore the brave new world of digital content creation in a three-day summit of workshops, talks, panels, and parties to be held in Baltimore, Maryland.
 
The second annual Digital Family Summit  will be held in October 11-13, 2013 at the Baltimore Hilton Hotel in the heart of Baltimore’s celebrated Inner Harbor and Culture Mom Media is proud to be a media sponsor.

If you are a member of our network or an active spectator of what we do, we are thrilled to offer you a 25% discount code to attend the conference.  The code is CULTUREMOM — use it at registration here.

“The Summit is designed for both parents and kids who are creating exciting content on blogs, in digital video, through photos or by designing video games,” says Stephanie Schwab, Chief Executive Officer of Crackerjack Marketing, and a Digital Family Summit founder. “Kids and their families can come together to learn new digital skills and gain confidence in expressing themselves online.”

With 76% of teens using social media networks, 14% of teens writing blogs, and nearly 95% of all teens on the internet, parents have a new world of digital content to consider with their kids. The conference is designed to bridge the gap for content-creating teens and tweens and their parents who may or may not be digitally savvy.

LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES

 
The Digital Family Summit features three types of learning content: Workshops, Talks and Keynotes.

Teen and tween attendees learn the ins and outs of digital media creation, including video, photography, game design, and blogging.

For teens and tweens, fast-paced, kid-friendly, experiences will help budding content creators get up and running in the medium of their choice by the end of the conference.  Workshops include:

• Blogging • Digital photography • Video production • Video game development

Talks provide opportunities for parents and tweens to learn about online safety, including cyber-bullying, identity theft, and intellectual property rights, and examine the privacy issues inherent in digital sharing.  Speakers and panelists include teens and adults with expertise in digital security, personal branding, entrepreneurship, emerging platforms and more.

Keynotes will cover topics ranging from good digital citizenship to using social media to get into college.

ACTIVITIES FOR THE ENTIRE FAMILY

This year’s conference will also feature sponsor parties, one of the most popular aspects of last year’s Digital Family Summit. In 2012, party sponsor Gillette Venus threw a Pink Carpet Party and Ubisoft created a Just Dance party, both attended by all conference attendees. These, and many other activities will be designed for the whole family: from meals to snack breaks to an exhibitor treasure hunt, which will send everyone searching throughout the hotel for clues leading to sponsor prizes.

“We hope that the entire family will come to the conference, even if not everyone is digitally focused,” says Schwab. “Baltimore is a fun, family-friendly city, so come and enjoy all that the city, and the conference, has to offer.”

BRANDS AND BLOGGERS ARE GETTING INVOLVED

Last year’s Microsoft sponsored Teen Entrepreneur Lounge was a great place to take a break, play some games, and learn about entrepreneurship and digital safety.

Last year the conference drew 275 attendees of all ages.  Cecily Kellogg, a well-known mom blogger and writer forDisney’s Babble.com website said in a review after the conference: “The Digital Family Summit is poised to really bring something new to the intersection of parent bloggers, digital kids, and the children of bloggers.  I cannot wait to return to the conference and meet more of these amazing young people!”

Ticket sales are now open, with early bird pricing of $99 per person available through July 12, 2013.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

To get more information about the conference, visit http://www.digitalfamilysummit.com. Also follow Digital Family on Twitter at@digifam and become a Fan on Facebook.

Culture Mom Media will see you there!  

Welcome to New Client: Lay/N/Go

Culture Mom Media is proud to welcome our new client, Lay/N/Go. As of August 5th, 2013, we started managing their social media efforts.  Check them out and please be sure to follow at TwitterFacebook and Pinterest.

Lay-n-Go is a patent pending activity mat, cleanup, storage and carryall solution in one.  These large and small designs are perfect for home but durable enough to hold up wherever your travels take you.  Some quick facts about these user-friendly organizational finds:

   
  • Quickly closes for easy carrying and storage
  • Washable and wipeable high quality fabrics
  • Velcroed storage pocket to stow the drawstring
  • Lay-n-Go (5′) features inside pockets & shoulder strap
  • The LITE (18″) is reversible & perfect for life on the go
  • The COSMO (20″) is the ultimate cosmetic bag
 

Join Our Twitter Party: Let’s Get Serious About Family Travel with This Girl Travels

This Girl Travels is all about seeing the world, increasing your love of travel and having an adventure, wherever you may be.
We are thrilled to be teaming up with This Girl Travels, a lifestyle and travel blog that offers travel reviews and helpful travel tips for families, couples and girlfriend getaways, features on travel, food, style and all things Disney.  As global travelers ourselves, we understand the need to expose our own children to everything the world has to offer and we always love getting tips and recommendations from the experts.
And that is what this party will be about – one solid hour of tips from the experts!  We’ll hear about the best places for family travel, the best deals, the best time to go, how to plan a trip for a traveling family, what kids like to do when they travel and much, much more. We’ll have travel experts on board for the chat, as well, including @ShannonEntin, a family travel writer passionate about road trips and homeschooling.
Best of all, we have PRIZES galore to help you plan that next family trip including:
– “Summer Road Trip” pack to giveaway provided by State Farm Insurance which contains a first aid kit, Rand McNally road atlas, an insulated bag, a travel bingo game, stain remover wipes, a journal from PaperBlanks, a LED reading light, an inflatable neck pillow, an insulated travel mug, a car emergency kit and a small stuffed dog all in a beautiful Amelia Earhart Milano Collection tote bag (valued at $49.99 alone)
– A Sensory Organizing TRAVEL Gift Basket (valued at $50) with an advance copy of Carolyn Dalgiesh’s book The Sensory Child Gets Organized (Simon & Schuster, on sale Sept 3, 2013)
– Two Lay-n-Go LITES, activity mats that convert into a transportable satchel for quick and easy clean-up of toys.  Perfect to spread out on planes, in restaurants, in cars, or in hotel rooms (valued at $24.99 each).
– Khaki Workmate iPhone case (valued at $24.99)
– A summer reading book set for those moms and dads hitting the beach or taking a train around Europe:
Parenting Without Borders by Christine Gross-Loh
They Used To Call Me Snow White by Gina Barreca
Death Angel by Linda Fairstein
A Good Birth by Anne Lylerly
– A book for tweens to take on the trip:
Five Summers by Una La Marche
RSVP and join us!
 

Join our Twitter Party: ANN on Broadway

During our next Twitter party, we’ll celebrate Ann Richards’ life, legacy and lessons for the future as seen in ANN, the critically acclaimed new play now on Broadway. Written and performed by Emmy® Award winner Holland Taylor of “Two and a Half Men”, ANN is the inspiring and hilarious new play which takes a revealing look at Ann Richards, the impassioned woman who enriched the lives of her followers, friends and family. Ann Richards was a loyal wife and mother before becoming Governor of the State of Texas. Once in power, she worked to transform the state into one she wanted to live in. She truly believed that control lies in every citizen’s hands and that we all need to step up. Join us to talk about ANN and Ann Richards. During the talk, we’ll have giveaways galore including ANN merchandise like a signed script, poster, hat and three pairs of tickets to the show! We hope you can join us for what is sure to be a discussion as rambunctious as Ann Richards herself! It’s taking place on Wednesday, May 22nd at 9pm EST at hashtag #AnnPlay. Find out about tickets here or call Telecharge at 212-239-6200.

Join Our Twitter Party: Parenting Without Borders

We’re thrilled to be teaming up with the author of Parenting Without Borders: Surprising Lessons Parents Around the World Can Teach Us by Christine Gross-Loh.  In her book, she takes readers on a multicultural tour of the world’s best parenting practices – from Finland, Sweden and Germany to France, Japan, China, Italy and beyond to examine how international parents successfully foster creativity, discipline, independence, resilience and academic excellence in their children. During this party, we’ll get right to the heart of and dissect the matters we care most about when it comes to raising children: life skills, eating habits, manners, expectations, mom guilt, sleeping and our obsessions with praise (too much? not enough?). We’ll learn what we’re doing right and what we’re possibly doing wrong, and we’ll all certainly come away with a new slate of practices and goals. We have three FABULOUS moderators guiding our discussion: Carol Cain from Girl Gone Travel (@carolacain) Mara Gorman from Mother of All Trips (@motherofalltrip) Katja Presnal from Skimbaco Lifestyle (@skimbaco) In addition, we’ll be giving away amazing prizes every 10 minutes including: This book captures the essence of our mission and raison d’existence and we can’t wait to get the party started.

Announcing the Creation of m2m Mums the Word Blog

PicMonkey-Collage1 - m2mWe are so proud of our latest social good effort.  We have brought together a select group to capture the universal themes of motherhood, mother’s dreams and the power of mothers to talk about many of life’s big and little challenges and provide hope for the future. Over the next year, you will learn more about mothers2mothers from an amazing group of carefully selected women as they learn more about the organization themselves and how we can help these innocent children who deserve as much as we have to give. Introducing the m2m Mums the Word Blog: What do bloggers who write about culture, travel, home decorating, parenting, work, healthy living, fashion and beauty have in common with the HIV-positive women we work with in Africa?  They care deeply about promoting healthy motherhood and making sure that every child everywhere is born free of HIV.  This group of eleven accomplished bloggers are supporting our moms in Africa with an exciting new monthly blog on our site, called m2m Mums the Word. The inaugural m2m Mums the Word post, titled The Real Mommy War, was written by Cristie Ritz-King of The Right Hand Mom. Read Cristie’s post here. Find out more about the m2m Mums the Word blogging team here About m2m: mothers2mothers (m2m) was founded in 2001 in Cape Town, South Africa, and is guided by the simple but powerful premise that mothers are the key to ending pediatric AIDS and sustaining the long-term health of women and children in communities burdened by HIV.   

Join Our First Twitter Party: Lost in Suburbia, A Momoir

lost in suburbia We’re thrilled to be working with Tracy Beckerman, author of the new momoir” titled Lost in Suburbia A Momior, How I got Pregnant, Lost Myself and Got My Cool Back in the New Jersey Suburbs.  In the book, she takes her readers on a humorous ride as she recounts settling into her new role as a stay-at-home mom in the suburbs, grappling with self-identity issues, and rediscovering her passions in life. Can you relate? Did you leave work to stay home with the kids? Then, did you feel like you lost a part of who you are or have an identity crisis? And, how did you deal with it? How did you get your groove back? Or, are you still trying? With heartfelt candidness and an irreverent sense of humor, Lost in Suburbia: A Momoir, tells the tales of one woman striving to reinvent her life after motherhood. From losing all interest in her once stylish wardrobe, making reluctant friends with the minivan-obsessed, scrunchie-wearing, suburban moms, and partying just a bit too hard her first weekend away from the kids, Tracy divulges her relatable, funny and heartwarming missteps in parenting and daily life. We’ll be hosting a twitter party in the book and Tracy’s honor on Tuesday night, April 2nd and the theme is: Ditch Your Mom Jeans and Get Ready to Get Your Cool Back!  You can RSVP here.  We’ll be giving away copies of Lost in Suburbia every ten minutes, and the grand prize is a $150 SpaFinder Wellness Gift Card that can be used at over 20,000 spas, yoga, Pilates or fitness studios and more around the world. We hope to see everyone there!  

Announcing Culture Mom Media

Press Announcement  Holly Rosen Fink, formerly co-owner of MamaDrama Consulting, is forming a new media company, Culture Mom Media, LLC.  The company will offer online, as well as traditional, marketing, publicity and social media management services. It is an extension of the existing web site and brand, TheCultureMom.com.

With a strong hand in the mom market, Culture Mom Media will connect initiatives and brands with influencers in that arena, as well as direct community management efforts in all markets, host online events, assist with traditional marketing and PR efforts, create sustaining partnerships and offer social media training.

“We’re all about relationship marketing.  Using our existing connections, experiences and tools, we will work closely together to execute a plan that will maximize potential and achieve successful results, while always looking at the goal of achieving social good,” says Fink about her new business.

Fink is a Marketing, Communications, Public Relations, Branding and Social Media expert with over 15 years experience increasing brand awareness and sales at leading publishing houses and media companies.  For the last 10 years she has created a flourishing consultancy including marketing, product strategy, social media outreach, public relations strategy, philanthropy & social good programs, partnerships & writing.  Joining her team are Brian E. Fink as Chief Operating Officer and Ellen K. Schmidt as Social Media Director.

Contact for further information: holly@culturemommedia.com