The blogHer worthy Experience- My Chicago Trip

Hey peeps, I missed you all and I am sorry for my inability to do my blog rounds for now. I got back yesterday from the life changing 2009 BlogHer conference in Chicago. I was gone for 6 days out of which 4 of those days were spent flying! This happened as I mentioned that I would be flying to Kenya again.

It's kinda painful that I have to cut short my trip and no visit to my friends in the states but I met the tall, pretty and strong Tigeress. Even though our meeting was short, it was worth it. Nice to meet you girl...

The blogher conference was a great experience for me, it was my first time in the United State of America and it was an enthralling experience meeting change makers, the makers of change makers, those wonderful women that know the importance of living a fulfilling and happy lives while helping others to achieve the same. It was indeed a blessing to meet the BlogHer founders; the 3 Super women that concieved and gave birth to BlogHer.com. It's being 5 industrious and rewarding years for Elisa Camahort Page, Jory Des Jardins and Lisa Stone for bringing together community of women who blog, for making others grow and for creating incredible opportunities for others.

I was delighted to finally meet the other awesome International Activists, Cristina from Bolivia, Pilirani from Malawi and Annie from India. It was even of a greater inspiration at our session when listening to these women speak, when feeling all the changes they are making, when listening to how similar some of our stories are.

I leave for Nairobi tonight. Inside of me is more determination to do more and make more contributions to the world...

The Chicago and Kenya Marathon

I am beginning the marathon tonight as I leave for Chicago for the so much planned for and awaited BlogHer conference where I will be speaking as one of the International Activists Scholarship winners.

I had looked forward to an week extra in Chicago but this has being cut short as I am leaving immediately after the conference for an interview in Kenya. This face to face Interview in Nairobi will finalise my participation at the 2009/2010 Peace and Security for African Women Fellowship that start in London in October of this year.




I have got a lot to prepare for within the little time at my disposal as I will have to be back for the 2nd Girls' Technology Camp for secondary school students, a program of Women's Technology Empowerement Centre which will take place in August. I look forward to this empowering camp for girls.

So, my bags are ready but my dollars not, let me hurry and finalise everything.... Will miss you all but I am with you all. I will try and update at the conference but if not, I shall give you all the necessary update when I am back. Wish me luck and safest trip!

Chicago here she comes for 2009 BlogHer Conference.

Early this year, Archiwiz alongside other fatanstic bloggers nominated me for BlogHer International Activists Scholarship and I was chosen! It felt good to know that one's work/contribution is appreciated and recognised. And I am grateful to those who nominated me. Yes, I am.

The conference will take place in Chicago, Illinois this Month from July 23rd to 26th to be precise and all arrangement has being made for my trip by BlogHer team. Standtall has the privilege of visiting the United State of America for the first time and with a 2 year business visa.

I will have the opportunity of meeting 4 other female activists from Bolivia, Bahrain, India and Malawi respectively. I am so excited to have my work and passion listened to and questions asked while I will be able to learn from other activists and hope for future collaborations. I am preparing and hoping for this conference to have an unforgettable impact on me.

Here is a few information as posted on BlogHer webpage on the activists that will be participating in this huge and famous conference with me:

Pilirani Semu-Banda, Malawi, publisher at http://pilirani.blogspot.com
Blog Mission: According to Pilirani's nominator, this blog's mission is: "To bring awareness and change to Malawi's social and economical problems. Some development projects have been kick-started based on stories published on the blog, including the improvement of monitoring programs to get rid of child labour in the tobacco industry and an increase of treatment to women suffering from fistula."

Annie Zaidi, India, publisher at http://www.anniezaidi.com
Blog Mission: The self-stated mission of this blog is "to use writing to force people to rethink positions or examine established ideas, and to break stereotypes about certain communities or groups based on gender, religion or race. It takes, by and large, a non-judgmental stance on most issues, and it seeks to raise questions as part of a genuine attempt at understanding human society and its structures. This is a crucial aspect of journalism, but an aspect that is increasingly overshadowed by the necessity of creating drama around each piece of news, and the mad scramble for exclusivity and one-upmanship between media organisations."

Cristina Quisbert, Bolivia, publisher at http://boliviaon.blogspot.com
Blog Mission: According to Cristina's nominator: "The mission of this blog is to strive to show indigenous communities as a source of pride. There are a lot of misconceptions about indigenous people, and Cristina shows a more personal side and uses her own voice to represent other members of indigenous communities in the Bolivian Altiplano. Cristina is a bridge blogger, allowing fellow Bolivians who may not identify themselves as a member of an indgenous community, to interact and learn about indigenous communities in another region of the country. By also writing a blog in English, she is able to reach a much wider audience and show another side of life in El Alto, Bolivia."

Esra'a Alshafei Bahrain, publisher at www.mideastyouth.com will not be attending for this year again as she had other engagement which should could not but attend to hence her inability to attend the conference. She might attend next year.

On to something else, my blog featured in Tell Magazine and the article was written by Lolade Adewuyi. I was informed by a friend a week after the article was written by a friend. Thank God I found it online. The journalist though a blogger himself did not mention he wrote about my blog. Thanks for finding my blog news worthy Lolade.