Nearly four years ago, three coworkers and I started this blog pretty much on a lark.
At the time, our collective working mom experience was brief but swirling with guilt — and somehow, our guilty burdens seemed lighter after we shared what we were feeling with each other. Why not write down some of these cross-cubicle conversations we were having and publish our thoughts for other working moms to see?
It didn’t take long for me to sense the power of this thing we started. Comments started trickling in, first from our friends and family, then coworkers, maybe a few Cincinnati moms who were friends of friends, then random Internet people that we didn’t even know. (*Squeeee!*) A news service mentioned our blog in a brief roundup of websites, and WMAG was introduced to moms all over the country.
As the months and years went by, some of our regular commenters became our “in real life” friends. We featured guest posts by all kinds of moms in all manner of guilty (or occasionally, guilt-free) situations. Sometimes we’d get questions emailed to us privately, asking for advice about very personal matters.
At blog conferences, I’d run into very well-known bloggers and people from very well-known companies who, when they saw my blog name on my badge, would squeal in recognition and say quite earnestly “I LOVE your blog!” And due in large part to this blog, Sara, Tela, Cara (now a co-founder emeritus) and I have all been featured in major media outlets — the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, MSNBC, CNN, BusinessWeek, and ABC News to name a few — talking about our little revolution against working mom guilt. Talk about power!
This year, we added some new dimensions to our WMAG community, via Twitter and Facebook. We’ve found even more new friends in both places, and enjoyed some lively discussions about mom guilt and other fun topics.
While none of us has gotten rich from writing this blog, I can say my life has been richer because of it. WMAG has given us a strong, powerful place to voice our opinions, share our frustrations, garner some terrific advice and most importantly, develop a supportive community. In the coming months, we’re going to be giving the blog a whole lot more love, in terms of design, functionality, rewards for all you loyal readers and more content and discussion than ever before. Stick with us, kids, ’cause we’re going places!
This post was written as my entry for Kim Moldofsky’s MomImpact Type-A Mom Conference Scholarship contest. I would love the opportunity to attend what I hear is a wicked awesome blogging conference. With the right tools, knowledge and connections, I think WMAG could become powerful enough to take over the world! (Or maybe just reach a few more working moms like us.)
Update (Sept. 8, 2010): OMG, I totally won the contest! HUGE thanks to Kim Moldofsky and her company MomImpact, a firm that connects brands and bloggers for conversations, events, and reviews. I’m thrilled to be attending Type-A Mom in Asheville, NC, Sept. 24-26. There will be some amazing speakers (including Kim), bloggers and sponsors at the conference. Plus … Mama gets a weekend all by herself! Woohoo!