Speakers 2012
Aaron Schaap: Speaking on “Building Your Brand/FAIL FASTER“
 Aaron is the Founder/CEO of Elevator Up – a company that focuses on helping ideas startup and grow. He’s also founded various other companies like Canvas Hosting and the Factory, along with helping create and foster a variety of events and groups in West Michigan. Aaron brings a strong passion for community and wants people to focus less on the bullshit around being an entrepreneur and spend their time “Strategically Doing” instead of “Strategic Planning”. More on Aaron at @schaapy. |
Brittany Gibbons: Speaking on “Numbers Matter” and “The Business of Blogging”
 Brittany is a writer, humorist, and catalyst. Mostly known for her satirical wit and self deprecation, Brittany first gained recognition authoring the award winning humor blog, Barefoot Foodie, in which she overshares bits of her life between phonetically spelled sound effects and excessive ellipses. In 2010, Brittany traded in her author hat for one of media maven, launching Mouth Media with partner Heather Spohr, the nationally recognized online magazine Curvy Girl Guide, as well as several other big projects being launched this year. She is a 2011 TED speaker and a 2011 BlogHer Humor Voice of the Year. Brittany is also the voice of the popular humor podcasts, Three Martinis In and Brittany & Meredith, LIVE!, and can be found contributing to the new ABC show, Rebecca Regnier’s Full Plate.Brittany can be found traipsing about various forms of social media on a minute by minute basis. She can also sometimes speak Italian and write her name with her left hand. You see, she’s right handed. So, that’s why that is a big deal. |
Elena Wollborg: Speaking on “SEO & SEO for Video“
 Elena is the author behind Mommy is in Timeout. She is a mom to two; wife to one. By day she’s a high school teacher. By night, she’s searching under the bed for missing-in-action binkies, chasing monsters out of the bedroom and running after her toddlers with 2 toothbrushes and a wash cloth; none of which usually make contact with them.She is also the co-founder of VlogTalk- a weekly vlogging link-up where they hope to encourage more people to step out of their comfort zone and get in front of the camera. They post weekly tutorials on creating vlogging content, improving your production and optimizing your blog with video.When Elena’s not blogging or vlogging, you can also find her acting as a producer for TEDxDetroit, organizing blogging events as co-founder of Detroit Bloggers or filling her twitter feed. |
Jodi Schaap: Speaking on “Building Community & Creative/Authentic Writing“
 Jodi, affectionately known as JodiMichelle, believes the best in people. She’s passionate about intentional living, being involved in her communities and living naked on paper.Taking control of the hectic life that is being married to a Serial Entrepreneur and Mother to two, Jodi dreams big through her Life Listand takes you along for the ride. She’s fearless in the kitchen often trying difficult recipes or techniques before completely reading the instructions just to know she can.A catalyst for How To’s, Tutorials, DIY junkies and Ideas, JodiMichelle.com chronicles lists and links of Things To Do.A conributor for Curvy Girl Guide and Turnstone you can find Jodi on Pinterest, Twitter and Facebook. |
Katie Kimball: Speaking on “Ebooks” and “SEO & SEO for Video“
 Katie, a former teacher and current mom of three from Michigan, blogs at Kitchen Stewardship about healthy foods, caring for the earth, watching your budget and balancing it all with faith-filled family time. She never runs out of things to say. A diehard lifelong learner, Katie has relished the steep learning curve of the blogging world, and her penchant to stay up far too late allows her to keep climbing that mountain. She is the author of Healthy Snacks to Go, The Family Camping Handbook, and The Everything Beans Book and is a guest lecturer and strategic partner manager for gnowfglins.com cooking eCourses. She also contributes to Simple Organic, Green…Your Way, and CatholicMom.com. |
Meredith Soleau: Speaking on “Social Networks in the Workplace“
 I began writing my humor blog, Life’s Crazy Joke, in 2009. I guess it doesn’t suck since I’m now the Relationship Editor over at Curvy Girl Guide (which totally proves all of that serial dating before marriage has finally paid off). In 2011, HR Managers began laughing at my work when I began writing for Fistful of Talent.After all of this career ADD, I have finally figured out what I want to be when I grow up. I want to be a radio DJ. Brittany & Meredith, LIVE! is the most fun I’ve ever had in my life. Not only are we pretty, but we’re pretty hilarious. |
Sarah Jehnzen: Speaking on “Monetizing“
 Sarah is the author of Sarah’s Deals, a West Michigan based blog that’s “Helping You Live Better, For Less”. She posts regular sale matchups, coupons, reviews, giveaways and freebies as well as a variety of cooking tips, household hints, craft/decorating ideas, and other helpful information. You can connect with Sarah via Facebook or at @sarahs_deals on twitter. |
Stepfanie Cuevas: Speaking on “Building Community & Creative/Authentic Writing“
 Stepfanie is a writer, blogger, and social media expert. She is the founding editor of The Lady Bloggers Society, and her specialty is educating the internet savvy about all things social media. Stepfanie teaches online courses, runs the Social Online Conference, speaks at events, handle social media accounts for businesses and brands, and writes about all things from parenting, to entrepreneurship, to internet marketing.Stepfanie is a mother of two little girls who are her inspiration to jump into the blogging world. She spends most of her time convincing her husband to buy them a dog, playing tennis and struggling to win, and karaoke-ing with her mother and aunts. |
Sommer Poquette: Speaking on “The Business of Blogging“
 Sommer, founder of Green and Clean Mom, a blog about going green realistically with inspiration and motivation from a typical mom’s point of view. Noted by Nielsen Online as one of the top 50 Power Moms and named one of top 20 moms to Follow on Twitter by She Knows. Sommer is a full-time social media consultant for the Shaklee Corporation and is the author of My Mommy is a Blogger children’s book that explains blogging simply. |