Five professional Venezuelan women have found on the blogosphere a way to start a business and create their personal brand. These five women have created their business by means of a personal bet on the development of blogs related to the personal fulfillment of women, maternity, family or graphic design. They receive thousands of visits on a daily basis and they have generated alternative business ways out of the initial idea of the blog. But the most outstanding aspect aims at social, informative and collaborationist work they carry out within the communities of followers they have gained, which has made them stand as influencers in their areas, in Venezuela and abroad.
Berna Iskandar: “I do prevention work on my blog”
When she was studying journalism, Mrs. Iskandar used to wonder what kind of pieces of news she would cover. “I never thought it would be all about upbringing, which paradoxically is not a news source.”
Through her radio program, named “Conoce mi Mundo (Get to Know my World)”, she entered the blogging world, where she has had the possibility to go deep into matters related to responsible and sensible upbringing. According to Mrs. Iskandar, alternative means are more horizontal, “which have given me the opportunity to create a reflection space and talk more families into the non-violent raising”, she said.
In 2013, Berna Iskandar won a Bloggers Contest organized by the Inter-American Development Bank – over 120 participants from 17 Latin American countries – with a post entitled “La nalgada a tiempo (Spanking in Time)”, in which she reflected on the need of having parents that can raise their children without applying violent methods.
“At the beginning there were many people criticizing my ideas, but nowadays, thanks to social networks and the blog, we have seen an exponential change in favor of respectful upbringing”, she pointed out.
Wuildellys Medina: “an enterprising mom, that’s my personal brand”
This Systems Engineer joined the blogosphere 2 years ago, after her participation in an activity organized by ellas2.org. She launched there an ergonomic portacrib, branded Isabella Up. Mrs. Medina had designed it to have her baby near while she was working. She realized that there was a significant number of enterprising women and mothers that were looking for orientation.
“Taking into account that blogging is not very exploited in the country and many people see the potential of this mean of communication, I decided to write on what being an enterprising mother entails in Venezuela, so the blog was named after this idea. I share links to marketing sites, tutorials, tweet card for business, how to foster brands on the network, and, at the same time, I provide support to create new blogs”, Mrs. Medina explained.
By means of her posts, Wuildellys remains technologically up-to-date and backs up those who are interested in trying this activity, in every corner of earth.
Norelis Sayago: “the blog gave a new boost to my startup”
With family-oriented services and a network of products, Norelis found in blogging a new way to promote Ecopartys, her startup of eco-friendly fiestas for children.
A year ago, with the celebration of her son’s party, she launched her project based on her practice and belief of respectful upbringing, within an atmosphere of peace. Social networks were her first promotion source; nevertheless, Norelis had a lot to say from her role as an entrepreneur and mother.
“I not only write about the parties I organize and the products I can offer (yoga for children, organic food, storytellers or decoration without balloons), but I post information on gluten-free food, children diabetes or how to healthily feed our children. At the beginning I thought that nobody would read me, but I received hundreds of visits in only one month”, Mrs. Sayago recalled.
Sibyl Perret-Gentil: “maternity has given me the opportunity to reinvent myself as a professional”
Mrs. Perret-Gentil is a journalist specialized in strategic marketing, announcer, blogger, columnist on maternity and raising matters, and she is the ambassador of Pampers Latin America brand.
With Vidacomomamá (Momlife), Sibyl has created a multimedia community for Latin mothers, which began as a one-minute-long section within her news magazine in a radio station in Puerto Ordaz (south of Venezuela). The positive audience results cleared the way for Mrs. Perret-Gentil to join the blogosphere. “Vida como mama presently features a one-hour-long radio program, over 55 thousand visits to its online format (with higher popularity rates in the United States, Panama, Spain, Argentina, Chile and Colombia) and two social aid programs: @ClubdemamasPzo mothers club, with over 500 member mothers that receive information on maternity and raising with the support of specialists, and ExpoMamá, an outdoor market we hold every three months so enterprising mothers can buy, sell or exchange services and products (new or used) for the whole family”, Mrs. Perret-Gentil detailed.
Daniela Fonseca: “Camionetica is a showcase for emerging designers”
In Venezuelan slang, a camionetica is a public mean of transportation, smaller than regular buses. As the vehicular traffic at the main cities is so dense, the time people spend on a camionetica gives them the opportunity to debate on different matters. This idea was the guideline for the blog created in 2007 by Daniela Fonseca and Gustavo Marquez, creative editors that decided to share all sorts of pieces of information with other people, just as it colloquially happens on this vehicles.
“After writing about any creative topic, we realized that there was an important movement of designers and illustrators gaining ground in Venezuela and Latin America and, in 2008, we began to grow with interviews and support for brands that were emerging at the time and have evolved along with us. That remarkable growth made Camionetica become a website”, Mrs. Fonseca explained.
Nowadays, it targets students of graphic design and advertising, as well as designers that can directly post their work on the public section provided by Camionetica. The blog is followed by 26 thousand people on social networks.
