LATISM Top Blogueras at the White House!

I’m so excited to share this news!  Recently, I found out that I was selected as one of LATISM’s Top Latina Bloggers to visit the White House this week for a special retreat focusing Leadership and Social Good!

Leadership and Social Good!?  Yeah!  Sign me up!!  This is how you make a difference in people’s lives.  ♥

Not only that, but we will also be a part of an exclusive briefing at the White House to discuss the issues that affect Latino communities most: Education, Health and Jobs.  Issues that can literally change the face of this country as we know it.  Issues that we should all be talking about and taking action on.  I desperately want to learn how to fuel real action and I’m so excited to be a part of this group that will be receiving training specifically geared at creating social change!

I want to issue a special thank you to the ladies who have included me in this retreat.  A special thanks to everyone at LATISM, to the ladies at Latina Bloggers Connect and the advisory board for the event, who helped make this trip possible for all of us!  I know it’s going to be a life changing opportunity!  THANK YOU!!

Follow along at #TopBlogueras on Twitter for updates!

More from me soon…but for now, here are some details about the event and the selected bloggers…

OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE

A group of the most influential Latinas in the blogging and social media spheres woke up to a once-in-a-lifetime email message today: “Congratulations, you have been selected to attend the First-Ever Top Latina Blogger Retreat.” The exclusive, invitation-only event will take place at the luxurious Hotel Helix, located in the heart of Washington DC, from May 20th to May 22nd, 2012.

Invitation requests were open to applications submitted digitally at http://bit.ly/BloguerasRetreatApplication until May 10, 2012. A selection committee, including the leaders of the top Latina blogger communities: Latina Bloggers Connect, Las Blogueras, Blogs de Mamas and New Latina. The committee was in charge of reviewing the bloggers’ applications based on influence, traffic and quality of content.

The list of winners, in no particular order, is as follows:

Mirna Arce http://AhorrosConCupones.com

Rachel Armas http://www.theartmuse.net

Veronica Arreola http://www.vivalafeminista.com

Caryn Bailey  http://rockinmama.net

Elisa Batista http://www.momsrising.org

Jeannette Kaplun http://todobebe.com

Elizabeth Cerezo http://thoughtsofamommy.net

Jessie Nuez http://www.hechoparamama.com

Brenda Cisneros-Dewong http://www.mejorandomihogar.com

Yvonne Condes http://momsla.com  //  http://yvonneinla.com

Janice Correa  http://mamistimeout.com

Marta Maria Darby  http://mybigfatcubanfamily.com

Luciana Gabriela Davidzon de Scher http://www.latinfoodlovers.com/

Laura de Ona http://SolyPimienta.com

Julie Diaz Asper  http://blog.gigcoin.com

Melanie Edwards  http://www.modernmami.com

Ana L. Flores http://spanglishbaby.com

Monique Frausto   http://BlogsbyLatinas.com

Teresa Garza  http://checalamovie.net

Dariela Cruz-Gillespie  http://www.mamitalks.com/

Carolyn Gonzalez  http://www.caroincarolina.com

Maura Hernandez  http://theothersideofthetortilla.com

Eugenia Hurtado  http://www.thewiselatinaclub.com

Jennifer Hutcheson http://mami2mommy.com

Denisse Icaza  http://ahorrosparamama.com

Nadia Jones  http://www.justicejonesie.com/blog

Roraima Lassanske http://www.mamacontemporanea.com

Tracy Lopez http://latinaish.com

Yolanda Machado http://sassymamainla.com

Adriana Maestas http://latinopoliticsblog.com // http://politic365.com

Yvette Marquez http://www.muybuenocookbook.com/

Silvia Martinez  http://www.mamalatinatips.com

Yolanda Mason http://lasblogueras.com

Silke McDowell http://www.growingbilingual.com

Blanca Stella Mejia http://micaminar.com

Melyssa Mendoza http://changeyourliferideabike.blogspot.com/

Raquel Negrón http://thedigitallatina.com

Monica Olivera http://www.MommyMaestra.com

Carmen Ordoñez http://www.vivafashionblog.com

Monica Vila  http://www.TheOnlineMom.com

Maegan Ortiz  http://vivirlatino.com

Helena Osorio-Zavala  http://pinkguayoyo.com

Maria Jose Ovalle  http://www.verybusymamablog.com

Chantilly Patiño  www.multiculturalfamilia.com // www.biculturalmom.com

Angélica Pérez http://www.newlatina.net

Mariana Perez http://thedomesticbuzz.com

Carolina Pichardo http://www.youngurbanmoms.com

Lynn Ponder http://webcitygirls.com/

Nicole Presley  http://presleyspantry.com/

Jeannette Quiñones http://www.sazonboricua.com

Lisa Quinones Fontanez http://www.autismwonderland.com/

Flor de Maria Rivera http://flordemariafashion.com/

Migdalia Rivera  http://latinaonamission.com

Vianney Rodriguez http://sweetlifebake.com

Roxana Soto Romero  http://www.spanglishbaby.com

Ericka Sanchez  http://nibblesandfeasts.com/

Mercedes Sanchez http://bechicmag.com/magazine/

Dania Santana Henriquez  http://www.lafamiliacool.com/

Alejandra Suarez  http://www.brandlateen.com/

Eliana Tardio Hurtado  http://www.elianatardio.com

Laura Tellado http://holdinoutforahero.org

Laura Termini  http://www.chicanol.com

Maybelline Valenti  http://www.naturalmentemama.com/

Carrie Ferguson Weir  http://tikitikiblog.com

Ruby Wright  http://www.growingupblackxican.com/

Sponsors and partners for this event include Johnson & Johnson, Procter and Gamble, Mary Kay, Southwest Airlines, Univision, Comcast, McDonald’s, Fleishman Hillard, Babble.com, Macys, Porter Novelli, and Consumer Reports. The event was organized in partnership with Latina Bloggers Connect.

ABOUT THE FIRST-EVER TOP LATINA BLOGGER RETREAT

The First-Ever Top Latina Blogger Retreat is an exclusive, by-invitation-only event by Latinos in Social Media (LATISM), with the objective of empowering the top voices of the Latina community with the skills and connections they need to turn their blogs into social enterprises and tools for advocacy. The two-day event will include capacity-building and mentoring sessions with top executives from a variety of industries and causes as well as a LATISM-exclusive briefing at the White House. For more information about the First-Ever Latina Blogger Retreat, visit http://blogueras.latism.org/

© 2012, Chantilly Patiño. All rights reserved.

Raising a Feminist Daughter

So, the other day I was reading comments on the black dolls article and Angélica mentioned that she encourages her daughter to play with trucks and other toys that might be considered gender specific by most parents.  This got me thinking about my daughter and the way we try to raise her both “girly” in some respects, and in others “tomboyish”.  I was a tomboy growing up…hated all things “girly” and I always hated being teased about my clothes and choice of toys and activities because of it.  I was the little girl with short cropped hair, a baseball cap, jeans and a tee-shirt.  I played football and basketball with the boys and was repelled by Barbies (Sorry Barbie…you’re not welcome en mi casa!).  It wasn’t easy when I was young, but of course, my parents didn’t really know how to support my choices either.  I think that parents today are much more aware of gender issues than they were even 20 years ago.  A lot of that probably comes from the development and availability of information on the internet, but I’m sure that civil rights movements have also given us privileges that we wouldn’t have otherwise had.

I have to admit, hearing other parents talk about their journey to be more inclusive of out-of-the-box ideas makes me smile.  =)  We’re a generation that thinks critically about parenting.  We analyze every decision and we research every technique before putting it into practice.   Parents are becoming conscious of health, gender, race, socioeconomic status, green living and so many other elements that promote positive and thoughtful parenting.

In my own journey I’ve made sure that my daughter has monster trucks, karate gear, princess costumes, dolls, remote controlled cars and My Little Ponies.  She sleeps in our bed, nurses, scrambles her own eggs and picks out her clothes.  She has a diversity of bilingual and multicultural books and toys, and she makes friends without prejudice.  I wish that I could say I had grown up with such diversity and open-minded ideas in my childhood.  I’m sure that sometimes my decisions are based on prejudice (I can’t stand pink!) but I always try to challenge myself to question why that prejudice exists and then break down those barriers.  This website, for example, is all in pink!  ;)  Strange for a person who hates pink, right?  But after I had my daughter, I realized that I could learn to love pink and that it wasn’t the color of oppression, as I had believed it to be before.  When I was a kid, I was pushed to conform with traditional “femininity”, but as an adult I don’t have to worry what anyone thinks.  For my daughter, she can be girly or not…that’s entirely up to her.  :)  Let’s do her one better…she can be both, como su mami!  ;)

Just for fun, I thought I would include some cute photos of my daughter in her adorable “Karate Princess” costume. Yes, it’s really a Kimono, but don’t tell her that!  ;)  My mother was a missionary in Japan and I can’t help but sneak in bits of the culture here and there.  More on that in another post!  ;)  I’ll leave you with the above collage of some seriously cute Halloween photos…that’s my tough little “girly” girl!  ♥

This article was previously publish in April, 2011.

© 2012, Chantilly Patiño. All rights reserved.

Happy Mother’s Day! Better Believe It, You Are MOM Enough!

So, yesterday I was up late finishing up my take on the TIME magazine breastfeeding cover shot, just in time for Mother’s Day.  You know, the one where they call mothers out as being either fanatics or not quite “good enough”, and I couldn’t help thinking about all the mud slinging going around this Mother’s Day.

In a desperate attempt to spur on the mom wars and poke at our sometimes fragile mom identities, TIME has chosen Mother’s Day as the perfect time to remind mothers yet again, just how lacking we are in society’s eyes.  Well, you know what?  We don’t have to take that.

Just a little reminder to say, YOU ARE MOM ENOUGH.  And not only that, but you are a SUPER MOM.  You are a generation of moms that really does it ALL…work, home, kids and seriously…EVERYTHING ELSE.  And you know what?  We do WAY more than ENOUGH.  WAY MORE.  And we shouldn’t have to be judged like this for everything we do.

Images like the one in TIME are solely for magazine sales IMO, because if you talk to any mom, she’ll tell you that we do twice is much work as the men and still make it look EASY.  Easy enough that when men have to take over our tasks for the day, they’re more than frazzled.  We also do more research that anyone on the planet…moms don’t take these decisions lightly and we often have to make them without support.  A sign of our strength and determination.  So when do we get credit for that?  When do we get credit for going AGAINST the grain?

So I say, TIME, let’s focus on nurturing APPRECIATION for the work moms do and focus a little less on penalizing moms for choices that we know very little about.

FOCUS on a more DIVERSE group of moms and might actually learn a thing or two.  Just a thought.

© 2012, Chantilly Patiño. All rights reserved.