January 2013
2 posts
8 tags
Meet SamanthaAnne, 12-year-old who wrote a song...
Everyone has heard of Malala Yousafzai, the 15-year-old Pakistani student and education activist who was tragically shot in the head by the Taliban on October 9, 2012. We were all heartbroken and outraged by this story. Well, when 12-year-old SamanthaAnne Martin heard Malala’s story, she wanted to do something: she wanted to help raise money to help Malala. So, Sammy and her dad, Dan...
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My Visit to Recchiuti's Chocolate Lab...and more
I recently went on an afternoon chocolate field trip to San Francisco with my foodie friend Cathy Curtis. I’d been wanting to visit Michael Recchiuti’s new Chocolate Lab since November, when Michael and his wife Jacky opened their cafe in the Dogpatch neighborhood. I have been a fan of Recchiuti Confections for years, so I was very excited to try their food, in addition to sampling...
November 2012
3 posts
7 tags
Follow-up Interview with Martha Payne, author of...
Martha Payne is a young girl who is changing the world through her own passion and determination, as well as via the power of social media, especially Twitter, with the help of her father. Much has happened since I first interviewed Martha back in late May 2012.
Martha, now 10 years old, and her food blog, Neverseconds, have become world-renown. Neverseconds, where Martha posts photos and reviews...
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The San Francisco Fall Luxury Chocolate Salon
I attended the Fall Luxury Chocolate Salon in San Francisco on Sunday, November 11th. It was a beautiful, blue-skied day at Fort Mason but I colored this photo brown, as I had chocolate on the brain after tasting so many delicious samples at this fun event!
The best part about taking a week to get this post up, is that the winners have been announced! Congrats to Catherine and Ellin of Toffee...
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October 2012
3 posts
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My Interview with Lisa Kift, MFT
Lisa Kift is a therapist in private practice who lives right here in Marin County, where I reside, though we first met via Twitter. If you’re on Twitter, you should follow Lisa @LisaKiftTherapy …she shares excellent relationship and mental health articles and tips. I especially love her #EmotionalHealthMinute tweets, such as: If you tend to scan the horizon for the negative, try...
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September 2012
7 posts
11 tags
My Interview with Chocolate for Breakfast founder...
Sue Ann Gleason has a fabulous and very popular Facebook page called Chocolate For Breakfast which I interact with on a daily basis. She posts great photos of chocolate, and fun quotes…very happy stuff that’s easy to ‘like’. I became curious about who was behind the page, and whether she really ate chocolate for breakfast… so I did a little research and discovered...
5 tags
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My Interview with Leila Radan, Chief Community...
If you are fellow “wife”… that is, a member of A Band of Wives, this woman requires no introduction. And if you aren’t, read on, and learn about the lovely Leila Radan who is almost impossible to introduce due to her many, many talents. She is as smart and interesting as she is beautiful. And oh, what a creative writer! Women, I highly recommend you join ABOW, if not for...
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My Visit to the Ghirardelli Chocolate Festival
Last Saturday I attended the 17th Annual Ghirardelli Chocolate Festival in San Francisco. What a picture-perfect day it was in the city that day! The sun and warm temps brought out big crowds to Ghirardelli Square…not that booths full of chocolate wasn’t enough of a reason to show up. :)
A little history: Ghirardelli Chocolate Company was founded in 1852 by Italian chocolatier Domenico...
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My Interview with Marilyn Halpin, the...
I’ve been following Marilyn Halpin, the @MacFusionGirl, on Twitter for years. I once told her that she should have a “donate” button on her website so that we Apple fans could reward her for her free, friendly, speedy, and smart advice. Marilyn is my go-to person whenever I have a Mac or iOS question or problem. I like her so much that I recently made a big purchase through her...
5 tags
August 2012
4 posts
9 tags
My Interview with Celia Graterol
Celia Graterol is a kick. I can say that because I know her in real life, and it’s true that she is a very funny, wild & crazy woman. When I asked Celia for an interview, I was thinking about the two businesses she owns; her impressive education; the fact that English is her second language, yet she has done very well in this country as a gay woman entrepreneur… I’d forgotten...
“I’ve never sought success in order to get fame and money: it’s the talent and...”
– Ingrid Bergman
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Success & Chocolate Panel at the Commonwealth Club...
I had the honor of hosting the Success and Chocolate panel at the Commonwealth Club of California on July 16, 2012, thanks to my friend Cathy Curtis who runs their Bay Gourmet food program. It was a well-attended, fun event! SF Weekly even wrote an article about the evening.
This is the set-up I saw when I walked in the door. Having never been to the Commonwealth Club, I was impressed with how...
“Yes, I did feel a special responsibility to be the first American woman in...”
– Sally Ride
July 2012
3 posts
6 tags
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My Interview with Kathy Wiley of Poco Dolce...
I had the pleasure of meeting Kathy Wiley last fall at the Fancy Food Show in San Francisco. I am a huge fan of Poco Dolce’s chocolates, so I am looking forward to getting to know Kathy better on Monday, July 16th, while I am moderating the Success and Chocolate panel that she will be on at the Commonwealth Club of California in San Francisco. Bay Area friends, be sure to purchase a ticket...
5 tags
My Interview with Priscilla Gilman
Priscilla Gilman and I “met” on Twitter many months ago, and have been talking about doing this interview since; therefore I am very excited and honored to be featuring her on my blog today. I feel I know Priscilla and her sweet son Benj, after following her Facebook posts and reading her book, which I loved and highly recommend to all parents and teachers. Priscilla is a very warm,...
June 2012
3 posts
“Well-behaved women seldom make history.”
– Laurel Thatcher Ulrich
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My Visit to the NEWTREE Cafe & Chocolate Shop in...
This past week I was invited to an exciting event in the world of chocolate, all because of this blog. Like my friend Tamara Holland said, I have a thing!! I have a thing, and Emily, the Online Marketing Manager at NEWTREE, happened to notice. So she invited me to the private opening of their NEWTREE Cafe & Chocolate Shop in downtown San Francisco. Thank you, Emily!
I was blown away by the...
May 2012
4 posts
6 tags
My Interview with 9 year old food blogger Martha...
9 year old food blogger Martha Payne has been all over the worldwide news lately due to her food blog NeverSeconds which has gone viral, with over 1.6 million pageviews so far. Martha started her blog because she was coming home from school hungry due to lousy-tasting, unhealthy school lunches. She decided to take photos of her lunch every day and post them on a blog, along with ratings of the...
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Wisdom From Our Mothers...
In honor of Mother’s Day, I decided to pose this question on Twitter: What is the one best thing your mother taught you, or should’ve taught you? I knew my friends would respond (you know who you are), but I was so pleased and honored to hear from other wonderful women whom I’ve never met. As a result, I’m now reading Natalie MacNeil’s new book, Danielle...
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My Interview with Laura Fenamore
Laura Fenamore is another amazing and successful woman I’ve met via Twitter, and have had the pleasure of meeting in person several times at A Band of Wives functions, as well as local TweetUps. I can’t imagine Laura weighing 220 pounds, as she once did, because she is very fit and thin now, as you can see in this lovely photo of her. Here is Laura’s story on how she lost 100...
April 2012
3 posts
“The fastest way to change society is to mobilize the women of the world.”
– Charles Malik, Lebanese philosopher and diplomat (via halftheskymovement)
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My Interview with Vicki Abeles ~ Race to Nowhere
The New York Times calls Vicki Abeles’ film “a must see movie”; The Washington Post describes it as “A growing grass-roots phenomenon”; and a reviewer for the Huffington Post says ‘No Child Left Behind’ Means a Race to Nowhere.
I saw Race to Nowhere when it first came out, in 2010, at our local theater. Vicki was there that night, and spoke after the...
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Interview with Judi Shils & Erin Schrode of Teens...
Teens Turning Green is an organization that I have long admired. In fact, when I came up with the idea for this blog, these women were on my list from Day 1. I wondered if Judi and Erin would agree to an interview, though, because they’re so incredibly busy doing their good work; plus, Erin is in college and was traveling when I emailed her. Well, they both blew me away...
4 tags
My Interview with Tika Hick
This interview is different from my other interviews. Tika Hick is not a doctor or a lawyer or an author or a business owner. Tika is a successful and inspiring woman because she is a survivor. I’m sure everyone in Marin County, CA, where I live, has heard Tika’s story. For those of you who haven’t, here it is: Tika was a new mom, recently diagnosed with breast cancer, when her...
March 2012
4 posts
6 tags
My Interview with Annie Fox
I have been reading AnnieFox’s tweets and blog for several years and, as a parent, I find her information to be extremely valuable. I admire this woman who, at a young age, decided that helping kids was going to be her life’s work. It is obvious that Annie is passionate about that work. Parents and t(w)eens: do yourselves a favor and check out Annie’s stuff!
Bio: Annie Fox,...
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My Interview with Sally Kuhlman
How do I introduce @Sally_K? I have to use her Twitter handle, because that’s how I know her! Sally was one of the first local people I met on Twitter, over 3 years ago. Through TweetUps, which Sally organizes, we became friends IRL (in real life). In fact, we have quite a close-knit tribe of friends here in Marin County, and we all met because of Twitter and our TweetUps. I thought this...
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My Trip to the San Francisco International...
Where have I been all these years? There’s an annual Chocolate Salon in San Francisco and I didn’t know about it until this year! Many thanks to my foodie friend Cathy Curtis for telling me, months ago, to save the date…and to my sweet friend Maria Benet for accompanying me to this fantastic event. A very BIG thank you to Catherine and Ellin at Toffee Talk for comping us a couple...
February 2012
4 posts
7 tags
My Interview with Tiffany Renée
I am very honored that Tiffany Renée, a candidate for U.S. Congress in 2012, agreed to an interview with me. I have had the pleasure of meeting Tiffany in person, and I can tell you that she is a smart, kind, down-to-earth, woman of integrity. We need more people like Tiffany Renée in politics. Be sure to read what she has to say about campaign reform, below…and everything else, because her...
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My Interview with Pam Cook
I met Pam Cook years ago when our daughters were in preschool together. I’ve always been impressed by Pam because, although she gets up in the middle of the night to do the morning news, she always has a smile on her face! We used to run into each other while dropping our kids off at school, after Pam had already been over to Oakland and back, and had spent several hours on TV! By the time...
♥ Gratitude on Valentine's Day ♥
Happy Valentine’s Day! I’m taking this opportunity to thank the amazing women who have agreed to be interviewed by me so far. Big Valentine hugs to: Tamara Holland, Christine Bronstein, Jennifer Gunter, Cathy Curtis, Sarah Houghton, and Catherine Hughes & Ellin Purdom of Toffee Talk! I’m grateful for them and I’m grateful for everyone who has read, liked,...
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My Interview with the Toffee Talk Gals
Last week I had the pleasure of meeting with Catherine Hughes and Ellin Purdom. Catherine is the founder of Toffee Talk, a San Francisco-based gourmet candy company; Ellin is her best friend and cousin, as well as the Director of Social Networking for the company.
We had a little glitch finding each other, as there are two coffee shops in the small town of San Anselmo with practically the same...
January 2012
5 posts
5 tags
My Interview with Sarah Houghton
I was very excited for our city’s library director, Sarah Houghton, when she was selected to attend the White House TweetUp during last week’s State of the Union address; I immediately sent her a message on Twitter @TheLIB asking for an interview when she returned from Washington, D.C. Sarah was kind enough to agree to answer my questions…I think it’s because we have an...
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My Interview with Cathy Curtis
When I first met Cathy Curtis (and yes, we met on Twitter, where I meet so many amazing people) we bonded over food. Cathy is quite the foodie, in addition to being a fashion queen and super-smart entrepreneur. Anyway, we were both tweeting about Gather, the then new farm-to-table restaurant in Berkeley. We met at Gather for a delicious power lunch shortly thereafter, where we discussed everything...
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My Interview with Dr. Jennifer Gunter
I have been following Dr. Gunter (@DrJenGunter) on Twitter for several years now. Jen impresses me because she’s intelligent, funny, a very dedicated mom, and is extremely outspoken. Let’s just say her tweets are not rated G, and you don’t want to make any “woo-woo” claims when she’s around! Here’s what she had to say about success and chocolate…
...
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My Interview With Christine Bronstein
I first met Christine Bronstein at her home last spring at an event she was hosting for A Band of Wives, the online network she founded, which I’d discovered thanks to an article in Marin Magazine. I was impressed with how warm, welcoming, and real Chris was the moment I met her. I loved this woman right away, and I’m sure you will, too.
Bio: Christine Bronstein is the founder...
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My Interview with Tamara Holland
I was fortunate enough to meet Tamara Holland on Twitter, @tamholland, and then eventually IRL. When I decided to create this blog, Tamara came to mind immediately. You will see from my interview questions that I am incredibly impressed by her, which is why I wanted to discover what makes her tick!
Bio: Tamara Holland is a post-conviction attorney for condemned prisoners in California. She is...
