Last month, I told you how excited I was that I have been selected as a She's Connected Ambassador.  It's an exciting opportunity for me - complete with my very own bobble head!
Not only will I be able to connect with other great social media women, but with some pretty fabulous brands as well. I attended last year's conference and learned a lot from it. I'm really looking forward to another great conference this Fall.

{A little bit of info about last year's SCCTO and how things have changed for me since the conference}

Prior to SCCTO, I had been working with brands on a regular basis.  Through Twitter, I had developed a good relationship with some of my favourite brands. I had never pitched a company in my life. Blog opps just seemed to fall into my lap. I was already working with a few PR companies on a regular basis. I was happy 'where I was'.

I didn't think I had a "niche" like many of the other bloggers did. Many of my peers were review bloggers, contest bloggers, 'Mommy bloggers', and I didn't know where I fit in. I was just a regular girl who lived in the city her whole life, only to move to an island in the middle of a lake in Northern Ontario! My blog wasn't a business at first. It was a personal blog where I chronicled my crazy life on the farm and in a small rural community. I wrote about the culture shock of being in a rural community and all the wonderful and positive things about living here. I wrote about my high risk pregnancy and the birth of our preemie. That was when things changed with the blog. People were approaching me more for doing work for them. I was getting contracted out. I was getting steady blog opps.

A light went on above my head.

I can work from home? I can actually work from my home office and still be at home for our toddler (she turned 3 shortly after SCCTO).

I did notice a lot of bloggers I followed had blogs with higher reach than mine. More followers. More everything. It didn't really seem like a concern, as I was blogging on the side and teaching was my full time job. My blog was just a creative outlet for me. I was never really serious about monetizing my blog.

Then came SCCTO and a whole new world opened up to me. I met and chatted with various brands who sponsored the conference and to this day we still remain in contact. Some almost daily! It really made me feel more confident in supporting a brand after getting to know the brand more.

I have to admit that if I thought I was getting a lot of regular blog opps before, after SCCTO things really took off. I've had to put my teaching job on hold because the social media jobs came fast and furious. I've since received jobs in freelancing (editing, writing press releases, etc) and doing work as a virtual assistant for a few companies. Life is certainly busier now! I've been getting steady opps and more ambassadorships.

I love that I've been able to form long-lasting relationships with brands, but what I love even more is that I've been able to form friendships with many of the bloggers I had known on Twitter, but had met for the first time at SCCTO. To this day, we remain a great support to each other. The friendships are very special.

I learned so much at ShesConnected last year and was thrilled to be chosen as a She's Connected Ambassador.

If I thought being a She's Connected Ambassador was exciting, there's even more to be thankful and excited about! I have just discovered that I am also a Canadian Beef Brand Ambassador!

How fitting! I do live on a working beef farm. Beef is a huge part of my family's life. I will be posting every month for a year about personal experiences cooking, Canadian beef, healthy choices for my family...and I'll also be hosting occasional contests & giveaways on my blog and interacting with the team on Facebook and Twitter.

Thanks again, She's Connected and Canadian Beef! Very excited about the upcoming year! Can't wait to see everyone again at the conference this Fall!

Disclosure - I attended ShesConnected Conference #SCCTO in 2011 and I’m pleased to share my thoughts on last years conference. As part of the Blogger Outreach program with ShesConnected, I received compensation. The opinions on this blog are my own.