Speakers

Jill Smokler is the New York Times bestselling author of Confessions of A Scary Mommy (April 2012) and Motherhood Comes Naturally (And Other Vicious Lies) (April 2013) as well as the owner all things Scary Mommy. Jill’s website averages over 3 million page views a month, and her Twitter feed and Facebook page entertain well over 400,000 people daily. Her children remain highly unimpressed.

 

 

 

Kelley Sanabria is the President and CEO of Femworking, LLC, which is a membership-based networking organization for motivated bloggers and business women who are serious about launching or growing their businesses and brands. Kelley’s mission and message that we need to offer support, swap strategy, and lift each other up to grow together resonates with those she meets.  Femworking is experiencing an amazing outpouring of local support and has grown from one to five separate groups throughout the region in less than six months. Kelley, a former Spanish teacher, has worked on the political campaign of a U.S. Senator, at a lobbying firm and most recently as an International Trade Specialist at Headquarters for U.S. Customs and Border Protection. She is a master of cross-promotion, business development ideas and networking opportunities.  She is also a proud mother and an award-winning speaker and sought-after event host.

 

Alba M. Alemán, president and CEO of Citizant, provides its leadership team with counsel on business development, corporate growth and ongoing quality initiatives. Alemán has played an active and instrumental role in the company’s 14-year record of success and growth. Since its founding, Citizant has been recognized by clients, government industry and the Greater Washington business community for the successful IT solutions it has developed for government customers and the company’s resulting growth and business success. Citizant has received awards for outstanding achievements from Hispanic Business, Washington Business Journal and Washington Technology. Alemán firmly believes in the industry’s responsibility to invest in the maturation of business practices to ensure the success of customers.  She has guided the maturation of software development, program management, and business development processes at Citizant. She led the company through an independent appraisal at SEI Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) Maturity Level 3 (ML3). Citizant achieved this prestigious rating in September 2008, joining fewer than a dozen comparable small businesses in the federal marketplace with this qualification. Alemán’s professional background combines more than 20 years of experience in talent acquisition and retention with the delivery of high-quality information solutions to the government. In 2010, Alemán was recognized as the Fairfax County (Va.) Latina Business Owner of the Year by the Mid-Atlantic Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.  In 2008, she was named among the 25 top female executives in the region by Washington SmartCEO magazine and was recognized as a ‘Women Who Means Business’ by the Washington Business Journal.  She is a member of the Young Presidents’ Organization and U.S. Women’s Chamber of Commerce.

 

Holly Hamann, co-founder and Chief Marketing Officer of TapInfluence is a serial entrepreneur who has spent her career launching and growing start-ups in the social media, entertainment, video, and other tech industries. She is a blogger, public speaker, contributing writer on technology and marketing to various publications, is an American Marketing Association “Marketer of the Year” award recipient and guest blogger for The Huffington Post. She lives outside Boulder, Colorado and blogs about social media, triathlons and parenting teenagers.

 

A lifelong expert in finding a great deal, Jamie Ratner started a blog as a way  to share her tips and find a little “mom time” for herself. After months of curating savings for her readers, it became clear to her that none  of the deal sites were focusing on what families wanted or needed. While she would love a massage at half off, she doubted the spa would welcome her two toddler entourage. Literally at her kitchen table, the idea for CertifiKid was born. Build a daily deal site that took care of  families, while helping support local businesses too. Three years later, CertifiKid is multimillion dollar business, employing  local parents and supporting small businesses in eight cities from coast to coast.  CertifiKid has helped hundreds of thousands of families save, and  thousands of small businesses earn, money. Jamie considers it part of  her mission to help small businesses find successful ways to work with  deal sites.

Jasmyn Price is founder of Little Foxes Consulting, a business coaching firm that helps women entrepreneurs create successful businesses. An idea machine and problem solver Jasmyn uses her passion for branding and development to achieve a clear vision for their business and develop a thriving platform. Using her training as a therapist, Jasmyn uncovers her clients’ gifts, talents, and challenges and develops a plan to help them make creative and lucrative use of them. Jasmyn specializes in helping women business owners get over the fear, doubt, and self sabotage that can hold them back.

 

Jessica McFadden is the creator and author of the resource website for Washington, DC area families A Parent in Silver Spring, which has been featured in media such as CNN, Forbes and The Washington Post. She also writes a lifestyle blog for parents, A Parent in America, and produces original videos for her blogs, YouTube channel and MomTV. Jessica has also served as a regular contributor of family features to Nickelodeon ParentsConnect,TLC’s Parentables,The Washington Post and Washington, DC-area Patch sites. She serves as a spokesblogger and ambassador for companies which provide quality services to families, and social good causes that strive to improve the lives of mothers and children. However, Jessica says that her most important gigs are being a wife to Chris and mom to nine-year-old son Charlie, seven-year-old daughter Eve, and two-year-old daughter Alice.

 

After a dozen years working in public affairs and public relations in Washington, Monica Gallagher Sakala stepped away in 2008 to stay  home with her two young daughters and begin the next phase of her career.  One day she realized it’s possible she suffers from Stockholm Syndrome and turned to Google to confirm life with a toddler is, in fact, a form of torture under the Geneva Convention. She found the only way to escape the brutal reality of living under a toddler regime was a blog, and so Wired Momma was born. With an almost eight and almost five-year-old at home, Monica  enjoys entertaining moms with the gritty reality of raising preschoolers  and is just getting her toes wet with the emotionally complicated struggle of raising a tween girl. She rarely turns down a chance to talk about work-life “balance” issues. Monica also contributes to Huffington Post and Washingtonian magazine. Her blogging efforts also include working as a blog champion for the U.N. Foundation’s [email protected] campaign, advocating on the importance of childhood vaccines in developing countries. Monica also runs her own consulting company, SOMA Strategies, helping clients develop social media campaigns and providing communications support to trade associations looking to develop campaigns with online influencers nationwide. Follow her on Twitter @wired_momma or hit “Like” on the Wired Momma Facebook page.

 

Born in Chile, raised in the U.S. and educated in the U.K., María José Ovalle is a bilingual (English/Spanish) public relations professional, media strategist and a freelance writer and blogger. She has a Master’s Degree in Public Relations and Public Communication from the University of Westminster in the UK. Before moving back to the US, she was the Head of PR and Social Media at a London PR agency where she created and lead campaigns for trade associations, small businesses and charity clients She now lives in Alexandria, Va., with her husband, four-year-old bilingual son and newborn daughter. She works with and consults with local businesses focusing on social media training, event and media planning and blogger outreach. In 2010 she created the blog Mummy’s Busy World and wrote from the point of view of her toddler, Little M. During that time, she won acclaim for her unique take on storytelling.  In 2011 she created Very Busy Mamá – Life, Beauty & Style to showcase real style and fashion for moms. She is one of the founding members of the British blog collective Mothers & Shakers which looks to connect UK bloggers with US brands and vice versa and is an official blogger for Disney Baby, latinamom.me, Mamás Latinas and Red Tricycle DC.

 

Nicole Dash, co-organizer of the Femworking Blogger & Small Business Conference, is a mother to four, writer, blogger and child care business owner. She started her career as a journalist and copy editor. She also managed public relations and corporate communications for a national franchise company. In 2009, Nicole started a home-based daycare and has enjoyed success as a small business owner and leader within her community. In 2012, she began her heartfelt blog, Tiny Steps Mommy, where she writes about family, life, parenting and caring for children. She is an active member of Femworking, LLC and the Washington, DC blogger community. Nicole is a Huffington Post Blog Contributor and writes for The DC Moms. She is extremely social and enjoys connecting on Facebook and Twitter.

 

 

Dawn McCaslin owns The Crispy Sage, a vegan meal planning and cooking coaching service that helps people get from plant to plate in the most delicious way. She has also worked with social media and blogging for business for nearly a decade. Pinterest stole her heart a little over a year ago, so when she’s not in the kitchen cooking, she’s online pinning and seducing her followers with food.

 

Christine Wilson, Founder and CEO of M to M Consulting, has over 13 years of sales and marketing experience and she is also a mom and super savvy shopper. She knows what makes a mom try a new product or service, why she stays a loyal customer, and how to deliver your message so that it resonates with moms. Christine has more than a decade of IT sales and marketing experience. She has served as the Marketing Manager for the women’s cable network, Oxygen; Sales and marketing director for two start up companies; and Marketing consulting and advisement for DC based companies and organizations. She was a Marketing team member for “Best Deal Site for Parents” by Washingtonian Magazine and a Board member of Mothers of North Arlington (MONA).

 

Tracey Harrington McCoy, Vice President of Digital for M to M Consulting is an online content editor, social media expert, and pop culture writer. She has spent more than 15 years in the digital world focusing on web usage and content creation. Tracey’s background includes: Vice President of Content at Justin Timberlake’s digital company, Tennman Digital- developed content strategy, site architecture, advertising solutions, and relaunch of JustinTimberlake.com; Executive Editor of Glam Media- developed and managed all content on Glam’s owned-and-operated sites, worked with network of over 600 blogs; Senior Editor of the AOL Welcome Screen/Homepage; and Reporter for the Insider column in People Magazine, LA Bureau.

 

Chad Hill, CEO and Co-Founder of HubShout, LLC, has over ten years of experience in online acquisition marketing and product development, having industry experience working with financial services, media, technology and local service businesses. Prior to starting up HubShout, Mr. Hill founded CyberCMO, served as a Business Development Director at America Online, and worked in product management at FOLIOfn Investments, Intuit and the financial services group at American Management Systems. Mr. Hill holds a BA with honors from the University of Florida and MBA with honors from Georgetown University.

 

Rebecca Geller is President/CEO of The Geller Law Group. She is a seasoned lawyer committed to providing affordable, high-quality legal services to businesses and families. Before launching her own law firm in 2011, Rebecca worked as a corporate lawyer at a major international law firm representing Fortune 500 companies. Her experience is varied, including work with wills/trusts, corporate, trademark, housing, political law, telecommunications, employment, and non-profits. As chair of the Fairfax Bar Association’s Business Law Section, Rebecca received the 2013 “President’s Award.” She serves on a number of boards for non-profit organizations and regularly volunteers in the community. Every month, Rebecca teaches a seminar for the Small Business Development Center about the legal aspects of starting and running a successful business and counsels new entrepreneurs.

 

Somya Munjal started blogging about financial literacy in 2010. She paid her way through multiple college degrees and wanted to teach other young adults how to do it. She’s also a Certified Public Accountant that has worked at large firms and companies. Her real passion is investing in the youth, so she founded Youthful Savings in November 2012. She prepares tax returns during tax season for all her fabulous customers through her Taxes for Education Program. 10% of the tax preparation fees paid to her social enterprise will go towards essential  college scholarships for the youth. After tax season, Somya spends the rest of her time working on important financial literacy initiatives with her organization and other partner organizations. She focuses on providing one on one college/life planning and other key financial and life skills education to youth across the nation. She believes the youth are the future and there is a need to ensure our future is strong. She’s willing to do whatever it takes to see each and every young adult that she comes across achieve their full potential and create a better world for all.