Category Archives: blogs

blogs, cupcakes

Brooklyn, We Blog Hard

Tonight was the #bkblogs event at The Bell House. It was like SXSW but only if it was constrained to the block of 7th Street between 3rd and 2nd Streets in Brooklyn. There was music. There were lobster rolls and shrimp rolls by Red Hook Lobster Pound. There were tech start-ups, bloggers, tumblrs, twitterers, blog-to-book authors and such. There were cupcakes by Robicellis.

Tonight, I met Bourgie Interrupted, @laurenthedark, Jean from Swee10.com Chermelle from Off Manhattan and Wendy Todd. I mentioned these five ladies because they are Black women in Tech that I am meeting for the first time. The Boy thinks I know everyone in Brooklyn who has a URL, so it was especially nice to met new people doing cool stuff. I love meeting “The Other Brown Girl” in the room, so feel free to come up to me at any event and say “hello”.

It was super sweet to see Chris from The Skint, Brian Fairbanks, Blondie and Brownie, STFU Parents, AmyBlogsChow, Emily Hanhan, Amber Marlow Blatt of HeyBrooklyn, Anita of Brooklyn By Bike, Eric from Garden Fork, Rob Blatt of IMDBoner, Melissa of ForkThis, Hagan of Wandering Foodie, Erik of Fancy Fast Food, Lilit of Save The Assistants, Clay of Midtown Lunch, Brenda of Chaos Theory, Only The Blog Knows Brooklyn, Brianna of Unemployed Brooklyn and anyone else I forgot to mention.

Thanks to Fucked in Park Slope, Brokelyn and Brooklyn Based for putting this event together.

Related: Check out Fucked in Park Slope’s recap.

blogs, sxsw

Food Blogger Bash At Cedar Door

jose and nichelle

On March 15, Austin 360 and Clear sponsored a Food Blogger Bash. This was second year of the event, and it was fun! We ate tacos, drank margaritas and champagne. Addie Broyles organized the event and I met some cool people including Matt Timms (the king of all the foodie competitions) and The FoodSpotting team. Also in attendance were Cathy Erway, Charles Hope, JD from Citizen Taco, Stephanie Klein, Emily Farris, James Boo from Ice Cream Man, Luis from SXSWFreeNoms, and Amanda from Retro Bizarro.

Clear was one the sponsors, and I talked to one of the representative.  Clear is exciting to me and I can’t for it to come to New York. What is Clear? Clear is 4G wireless network and it is $30/month.

Here’s another picture of me from the party.

blogs

Seattle Bound For Cinnabon

Tomorrow I am leaving for Seattle, Washington for Cinnabon for a sweet retreat. All I know about Seattle is what I see on “Grey’s Anatomy”. I am excited to be a part of a special mission along with other bloggers to sample new treats from Cinnabon which includes CUPCAKES!

Update: Here is the list of bloggers who will be going.

Amanda Acuna, Mommy Mandy

Alice Currah, Savory Sweet Life

Cathy Danh, Gastronomy Blog

Tanya Gordon, Mommy Goggles

Carey Jones, GigaChef.com

Elita Kalma, Soul Parents

Shara Lawrence-Weiss, Mommy Perks

Nichelle Stephens, Cupcakes Take the Cake

Erin Zimmer, Serious Eats

I will be blogging about this here, Cupcakes Take The Cake and on Twitter.

blogs

At The Martha Stewart Show Today

It is an extra special show. It’s the blog show. Chez Pim will be on the show.

Sitting next to The Sophisticate Gourmet and 55 Secret Street.
Chez Pim is making Pad Thai.

Jennifer Koppleman Hutt from Whatever Martha, just played “Let’s Get Physical on her recorder.

Andrew Ritchie has a blog called Martha Moments. Andrew and Martha are making cute “yarn cards”.

Briana Campbell has a blog devoted to get hired at Martha Stewart.

threenichelles

After the show, I took a picture with Nichelle Pace and Nichelle Gainer! Later I had coffee at Stumptown Coffee at the Ace Hotel, and lunch at Ma Peche. It’s been a glorious day!

blogs

In Blogs (Tweets) We Trust

Nearly four years ago, I was a guest blogger for We Media. I was given a topic to discuss, and the post was about trust. I reread this yesterday and realized if I substitute “twitter”  or “social media” for “blog”, my commentary would still be the same.

This week’s theme of trust is significant because I think trust is what drives people to read blogs. They trust the author.

What is trust?
Trust is acceptance. You accept what the blogger has posted. I read blogs that I trust.

Why do you trust someone (or some thing)?
I think trust comes from experience. Whether it is trust in a brand, a blog or a president. We trust because a set of experiences have been positive. The more frequency of positive experiences, the stronger the trust.

How does trust spread?
Trust is spread by testimony. Testimony is stronger than “word of mouth.” When people say “he/she/it is cool,” they are giving testimony that they trust the entity.

And does it matter?
Trust matters. Integrity matters. The contract of trust and its reciprocal partner integrity is important. Without one or the other, there is no consideration. There is no need to read the blog.

blogs

2000 To The 9. A Personal Recap of This Year.

January
Low key New Year’s Eve. Inauguration party was fun. Was in the studio audience for Martha Stewart show.
Martha Stewart Show
February
I did a fun cupcake photo shoot with Matty Baker. I went to see Sharon Jones and The Dap Kings for Valentine’s Day.
Tub of Cupcakes

March
I went to SXSW Interactive, spoke on a panel about Finance 2.0 and organized a cupcake event in Austin.
Hanging with Babette of Bakespace
April
I volunteered at both the 99% Conference and the PSFK Conference. I was the guest speaker at a viral marketing class at FIT. Allen Salkin’s mom drew this sketch of me at his “shoulder-themed” birthday party.
Nichelle Sketch
May
I organized a really fun cupcake meetup where Bre Pettis demonstrated his Cupcake Robot.
Cupcake Social 010
June
I went to the Webutante Ball. I was quoted in the LA Times about cupcakes. Matt and I had a scone party in his backyard. Cupcakes Take The Cake has a rainy cupcake picnic at Central Park, and cupcake kebabs made by Nora Vetter made their debut.
Cupcake Kebabs
July
I competed in the 4th Annual Hot Dog Cookoff. I also went to AfroPunk Festival.
July 007
August
My friends Cat and Kap got married. Hosted the Delicious Sandwich Social with Jon Friedman. Set the world record for the longest cupcake kebab at a URDB event. I started editing Pepsi We Inspire.
me with cupcake
September
I went to cupcake tea at the Ritz Carlton. I went to the Finovate Conference.
cupcake tea at Ritz Carlton
October
I judged Emily Farris’ 5th Annual Casserole Crazy Party at Brooklyn Label. I went to a Microsoft party and I was one of the lucky people to get a Zune HD.
Me at Microsoft party
November
fbzfest 009
I went to the Foodbuzz Blogger Festival in San Francisco. My panel, “The Broke Diaries: Using Blogs And Twitter To Live Cheaply” has been selected to be a part of the 2010 SXSW Interactive Conference. Cupcakes Take The Cake was mentioned in the New York Times.
December
I went to loads of holiday parties. Cupcakes Take The Cake held its fifth anniversary party at the Roger Smith Hotel. I went up to Mount Vernon. It snowed a lot before Christmas.
cupcakes take the cake 011

blogs

MediaBistro’s Dessert And Discourse

1 Comment

Tonight was my first time attending this annual event for senior level women’s magazine editors. It was nice to see a few friends including Jessica Siegel, Sara Benincasa, Michelle Madhok and Kelly Samardak. I tweeted during the panel part. It is a habit now. Here’s a few tweets from my stream. Two of the panelists, Michelle Adams and Nicole Staggs had just launched new sites, Lonny Mag and Real Beauty, respectively.

Event over. Goodie bag included blowdryer, wine and a tiny bottle of creamy liquor. Yay lady editor events!

about 2 hours ago from TwitterMail

I love money. I hate the word monetize. Wish I got a nickel every time I hear it uttered.

about 2 hours ago from TwitterMail

Crunching numbers = reading Google Analytics.

about 2 hours ago from TwitterMail

Kick ass resume: have some dotcom experience, have a personal blog, comfortable with crunching numbers.

about 2 hours ago from TwitterMail

None of the panelists think their entire sites would go behind a pay wall.

about 2 hours ago from TwitterMail

Growth is about mutual back scratching, partnerships and creating content that other sites want to link to.

about 2 hours ago from TwitterMail

Lonny.com LonnyMag.com just launched. It’s a new shelter online mag. Founder Michelle Adams worked at Domino.

about 2 hours ago from TwitterMail

Nicole Stagg says pageviews and #of pages per reader. High engagement is important.

blogs

The Week in Links (Say Cheese!)

Walking On Sunshine

“Cheese, glorious, cheese…”  I got a copy of The Cheese Chronicles, a new book about cheese by Liz Thorpe from Murray’s Cheese Shop.

Bill Wadman, the photographer who the wonderful 365 Portraits project, now has a book.  I stopped the book party at a lovely apartment in Chelsea.

Thursday, I went to the Girl Geek Dinner which was so much fun. Cathy Erway, Vanessa Bertozzi of Etsy blog, The Storque, and Jessica Faye Carter were the speakers.

I’m working on a new website that will launch this week. Check out We Inspire.

Saturday,  I stopped by Nadine’s birthday drinks. She is working on some cool stuff.

Vote for my SXSW panel, “The Broke Diaries: Using Blogs and Twitter to Live On The Cheap”.

blogs, the week in links

The Week In Links (MJ Tribute, Watermelon Salsa, DUMBO)

Watermelon Salsa
It’s been a humid, rainy and sticky week weatherwise.

Monday was the Hyatt Manhattan Ballroom for Mashable event.

Wednesday, my friends and I went to Joe’s Pub for Our Hit Parade’s tribute to Michael Jackson. It was brilliant, irreverent and I almost cried when the kids did a medley of Jackson 5 songs. Alan Cumming did “You are Not Alone” and “Smile”.

Thursday,  I sweated with the best of Brooklyn at Digital DUMBO.

Saturday, I made watermelon salsa.

Lastly, I have a new blog which is a Tumblr about food. Check out Niche Food.