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Nov

10

BlogHer: The Most Influential Women in Web 2.0, Fast Company


Congratulations to the BlogHer founders, featured by Fast Company as part of the Most Influential Women in Web 2.0. I’m proud to have been writing for them for election coverage and having presented for them at their 2008 conference. It’s a great community.

Elisa Camahort Page, Jory Des Jardins, and Lisa Stone

What they’ve done: Five years ago, most female bloggers didn’t view their dispatches as anything more than an avocation. There was no community, and the scope for interaction was limited. Then three women came along and changed things. Elisa Camahort Page, Jory Des Jardins and Lisa Stone set up BlogHer, initially a conference aiming to provide empowerment and create community by bringing women bloggers together offline. Now BlogHer is also a full-time community for women on the Web to come together online, regardless of subject matter.

How they got there: Page, who has a theatre degree from San Jose State University, held various jobs in commodities and high tech, before starting her own blog, Worker Bees, to help organizations use blogs as communications and marketing tools. Des Jardins, who has a BA in English Literature from the University of Illinois, worked in a variety of media jobs before BlogHer. Stone graduated from Wellesley with a degree in Political Science, worked at the Oakland Tribune, CNN and Women.com (later acquired by iVillage). In 2001, she became the first Internet journalist ever awarded a Nieman Fellowship at Harvard University. She later went on to help launch, American Lawyer Media, Law.com’s legal blog network, Knight Ridder Digital’s Thatsracin.com, and Glam Media.

What to learn from them: If you have a company or brand the best catalyst for success is to start communicating. “There are no spectators, whether you’re a new start-up or a 100-plus year-old brand. Start writing, commenting and participating right now. Whether or not your company has a blog or participates in social media, your competitors and your consumers definitely do,” says Stone.

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 7:18 pm November 10th, 2008 in BlogHer, Blogging, Tech, Women 

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