All blog post opinions are my own. #OMAGONHAL #OMAGINSIDERS #AD A sold-out three day cruise with…
Posts published in “Travel”
Meet MJ: (@mjtam)
In her own words…
“It was 1999 when I first stumbled writing online. I was in the fashion industry at that time, and I was extensively traveling for work so during my flights and hotel stays, I started documenting my daily experiences on an online journal. I anonymously blogged my life as the new mom-to-be. I instantly connected and found a community of blogging women and next thing I knew; I became a big part of the first collaborative blogging network in the nation. My blogging hobby became a career, and since then I worked hard on keeping progressive and always at the forefront of the new media. Social Media became my business. I hosted branded Social Media campaigns, organized high-profile influencer events, and even created a blogging conference that ran for a few years. But behind all that, I continued to blog and tackled topics that meant to me the most: family and parenting.
Part of writing about parenting, I often look to discover places to go and experience with my kids in Chicago. Bringing them up in a big metropolitan city was vital to me as a parent of color. Chicago provided the many cultures that I wanted to surround my family. Chicago is a city of immigrants, rich in diversity, and a perfect place for me to raise my children. I ran around with them exploring neighborhoods from up North by Rogers Park to get some Indian groceries, Vietnamese food by Edgewater, Ethiopian food by Uptown, and of course, there’s Greektown, Little Italy, and Chinatown by me. I am passionate about this city and coined myself a Chicagonista.
A Chicagonista is someone who lives, loves and breathes everything Chicago, and with that, in 2008, I launched chicagonista.com (link), so I can share the vast richness of culture that this city offers. At Chicagonista.com I am joined together with talented and dynamic collaborators from diverse Chicago neighborhoods and backgrounds who share their voices en masse to help unearth some city gems that some may have never heard of like the Filipino Kamayan Feast (link) or about the new Taiwan-inspired Bakery (link) that just opened. Chicagonista.com also goes beyond Chicago. The site has covered travels from around the U.S. and as far as India (link) , Beijing (link), Malaysia (link), Japan (link), and many more!
In 2010 I also created and built the first Social Talk Show of Chicago called The #ChicagonistaLIVE Show . It was a Chicagonista.com come to life interactive show via live-streaming that garnered about 18million Twitter impressions during a one-hour show. I am proud to see that so many followed that path and now that everyone has easy access to doing live online shows, and as technology progress, I have to make sure that I keep up and stay ahead. So it’s that time again to respin, reinvent, or maybe morph the show into something different. Let’s just say; I’m not done yet!
Besides blogging, I also actively post and engage on Twitter and Instagram . There I often use tags #CapturingChicago, #Chicagonista, and #ChicagonistaLife to share a glimpse of my everyday Chicago life.”
Meet Annita: in her own words
“Becoming a world traveler wasn’t on my radar as a young girl. I wanted to be a businesswoman who would take the world by storm or at least my hometown. However, as fate would have it travel entered my life via WWII stories my father shared and I lingered to hear every detail of his travels through North Africa and Europe as a soldier. I imagined walking the same cobbled stone streets, sipping coffee in French Cafes tucked away along narrow streets and late night chats with new friends over Spanish tapas and Sangria.
I applied with Pan American World Airways and started my journey to explore cultures, see far away lands and meet new friends around the world. Exploring cultures became the highlight of my travels. I was intrigued to see we lived our lives differently around the world. On my first Pan Am flight to Japan, during a Soba Noodles meal service (Japanese noodles made of buckwheat), I heard passengers slurping their noodles. I was shocked because my mother always instructed that I not slurp my noodles, but cut them neatly enough to fit on my fork along with the spaghetti sauce. I later discovered this too was not the way to eat noodles in Italy. I was amazed to learn that while my mother in South Georgia taught me “do not slurp, but cut,” another mother in Japan was teaching her little girl “slurp to show how delicious the noodles are.” And, in Italy, little girls were learning to twirl their noodles with a fork & spoon. My first lesson in cross-cultural communication helped me learn we love the same things around the world, although we express it in different ways.
After traveling to over 100 countries, people often ask where is my favorite destination and that’s not an easy question for me. I am still intrigued by the cultural differences of the people, places, and foods I experience. I love exploring them all. Instead of expressing a preference for one destination over another, I want to inspire others to get up from the sofa, put down the city/country brochures and travel the world. Through my radio show I seek to encourage listeners to have the one-on-one experiences of places right down the street, across town or around the world; explore this beautiful world we call home, and you will find there are more similarities than differences between people around the globe and most differences don’t really make that much difference. Go explore – the world is waiting!”
Visit my website and social media to explore the world with me:
Blog and Instagram and Twitter
-Annita
*** Please follow along on instagram as well and learn more about Liz. This year for my birthday , I am embarking on a weekly photo essay project highlighting 52 Phenomenal Women. This is week 9 of 52. Participants in this project will be supporting the efforts of Dress for Success Worldwide – Central. We are all stronger together and it is my sincere hope that we will be inspired by each other’s stories. Now is the time to celebrate as well as encourage one another. Tell your story!***
Meet Dani:
We met years ago through our local parish. Both of us were volunteering and supporting our church/community at large. I’ve always been drawn to Dani’s welcoming and supportive nature. She has a smile and an energy level that is contagious.
Dani retired from her position as Mergers/Acquisitions Clearance Director at the law firm, Kirkland & Ellis LLP, after 29 years. Before she retired, Dani’s life was touched by Alzheimer’s over 30 years ago when her uncle was diagnosed with the disease. Subsequently, another uncle, two aunts and eventually her own mother would pass from complications of Alzheimer’s disease.
Dani joined the Alzheimer’s Association – Greater Illinois Chapter Board in July 2007 in order to be more effective in those pursuits and to work with the Chapter to further the Association’s mission. She served as Board Secretary, Fundraising Chair and delegate to the Alzheimer’s Association National Assembly. She also is a member of the Alzheimer’s Impact Movement, the Association’s sister organization.
In 2018, at the Alzheimer’s Forum, Rep. Mike Quigley (D-Ill.) named Dani Advocate of the year. Rep. Quigley (@repmikequigley) said his said his “constituent and friend” is an inspiration. Dani was one of the first advocates to join the Ambassador program in 2010.
This year, Dani’s walk to end Alzheimer’s coincides with what would have been her mother’s 110th birthday – You may join/support Dani’s Walk to End Alzheimers here on or before October 28, 2018: http://act.alz.org/goto/2018DaniWalk. Last year Dani raised $36,000 and her goal this year is to surpass that!
I was absolutely thrilled that Dani wished to shoot her feature at a playground and local garden. We can take ourselves a bit too seriously at times and making time to play and be joyful is a great escape! When Dani is not supporting the Alzheimer’s mission, she volunteers in several ways at Saint Clement Church, including as a member of their Stewardship Council. She enjoys speed walking, swimming and attending theatre.
*** Please follow along on instagram as well and learn more about Dani. This year for my birthday 🎂, I am embarking on a weekly photo essay project