Thoughts on International Women's Day

✍️ Thoughts 📸

I am sending this newsletter out as International Women’s Day wraps up in the US. As a self-employed person with no employees, I couldn’t really strike. No work done today means double the amount of work for tomorrow.

However, I took some more care in putting the links together in this issue, making sure that the pieces were either written by a woman and/or featuring a woman.

On my mind today has been the thought that inclusion and diversity are “too difficult” for people or companies. It’s a concept that people grapple with, so constantly that becomes an unreachable goal, so why even start?

My approach to what I do, how I write, and even how I generally tackle the big projects is to start small. The inclusion of diverse voices does not mean you need to single out a woman in your office to speak about their thoughts on behalf of all women. Actually, please don’t do that.

The “actions speak louder than words” idea can be applied here. Take one tiny step at a time.

Some questions to ruminate on:

  • Who speaks up the most in your meetings?
  • If you have ad placements or marketing materials, are you featuring only white hands? If there are photos with black hands, are they only of coffee producers?
  • If you’re reading books or listening to podcasts (or writing/producing them!), who’s authoring them? Upon examination of my reading lists, I’ve realized that I need to read more books authored by minority voices.
  • Are you taking a culture’s food, picking one ingredient out, creating a drink and then naming it after that culture? An example of cultural appropriation as it manifests in a Chicago mezcal bar.

Anyway, thank you as always for reading my thoughts. I hope you enjoy this issue!

💁 Social Media👨‍💻

13 Facebook Live Tips from Hootsuite’s Social Media Team

Hootsuite’s social media specialists share how Facebook Live can help you connect with your audience in new and engaging ways.

7 Ways to Find Your Target Audience on Twitter

Are you struggling to identify your target audience on Twitter? Do you have a vague, mostly qualitative idea, but fall short when it comes to reaching your audience?

💻 Digital Strategy 📤

The 4 Elements of Successful B2B and B2C Digital Marketing Programs

Approach varies greatly between the worlds of B2B (business-to-business) and B2C (business-to-consumer) marketing.

Infographic- A guide to social media customer care

For the visual people, a nice guide on how to take care of customers online.

7 Women in Coffee Who Are All Sorts of Awesome

It’s International Women’s Day today and we’d like to introduce you to our hand picked list of 7 women in coffee who are all sorts of awesome.

Michelle Johnson Of The Chocolate Barista: The Sprudge Interview

Barista competitor and creator of The Chocolate Barista Michelle Johnson. (And one of my favorite coffee people!)

Are food bloggers fuelling racist stereotypes? - BBC News

Asian American photographer says some digital foodies are playing into racist stereotypes about ethnic dishes.

🌱Plant Update 🍃

I have a new plant! It's a lemon slice (for the white and yellow "slices" on the flower). It joins me on my desk as a colorful source of creativity. Crossing my fingers that it'll have a long life.
I have a new plant! It's a lemon slice (for the white and yellow "slices" on the flower). It joins me on my desk as a colorful source of creativity. Crossing my fingers that it'll have a long life.