About Me
At the 2010 Nonprofit Technology Conference I attended a group discussion breakfast about personal vs. professional branding. Kara Carrell (aka @Karitas) pointed out that she has a "How I Roll" post that she links to and updates as her on and offline world evolves. I loved that idea. So much so that I'm stealing, I mean borrowing it.
Professional stuff:
- I am Vice President of Operations of C3: Colorectal Cancer Coalition, a colorectal cancer patient advocacy organization I helped start in 2005. For C3 I manage and implement HR/office procedures (a little tricky since I'm not actually in the office), technology and accounting/bookkeeping. Essentially, everything that faces inward. C3 currently has 7 staff members and we've done some pretty amazing stuff to fight colorectal cancer with little resources. Check us out.
- I telecommute to C3's office in Alexandria from my home office in Southern New Jersey. That means I am very comfortable with all sorts of cloud-based tools and I like to tinker with new stuff. Most of which I've forced on my colleagues and write about somewhere. I'm in the DC area once or month or so.
- For about 2 years I worked first as a writer, and then as Managing Editor of Web Worker Daily, a wonderful website devoted to teleworking in the digital connected age. While at WWD I had my posts make it to the front page of Digg a few times, and the front page of Yahoo! once which was a trip. I quit because I prefer to concentrate my professional attention in the nonprofit world. While I was with WWD, I worked with Anne Zelenka on her book, Connect! My name is even on the cover.You can still order it on Amazon.
- I have a BFA in Graphic Design from the Savannah College of Art & Design, but I don't think I'm a very good designer. I am visual, but far more interested and capable in the production side of things than the design side.
- I am a proud member of NTEN, the trade association so-to-speak of nonprofit techies. Fantastic organization. Highly recommend. Update July 2010: I am now on the Board of Directors of NTEN!
- I am co-moderator of the Nonprofit Salesforce Practitioners online user group.
- I consider myself an early adopter/adventurous techie, but I am not a developer. I can do basic HTML/CSS, and read through simple PHP, and that's about it. As long as it's not about code, I'm a fast learner when it comes to tech.
Personal stuff:
- My involvement with C3 is very personal. My father was diagnosed with colon cancer in 1998 and died just 9 months later. My work with C3 is the only way I can live in a world without him.
- I have been married since 1993. My husband is a strategic services consultant for a software company. He also telecommutes like me, but he gets to travel all over the world. Lucky guy.
- We have two children that I try not to talk about too much in open public spaces like this. They're old enough now to care. One has Asperger's Syndrome/High Functioning Autism so that's a cause very important to me, particularly around advocating for the education of a special needs child where I have considerable battle scars.
- When I don't have my hands on a keyboard or a family member, I'm knitting. It's "my thing." I love making sweaters and big projects. I love cables and texture more than color and lace.
- I'm a Mac fan, but not a fanatic. I admit I drank the kool-aid for quite some time, but came to my senses around 2004 or so and now I'm more of a "right tool for the job" kind of gal. That said, our home currently has 5 Macs in active use and 2 iPhones.
- Politically, I lean left, progressive, liberal...whatever you want to call it...and I'm not afraid to express a strong opinion. In fact, I love trying to look at issues from multiple angles so I can be sure I'm committed to my own position. I'm not afraid to admit I'm wrong or change my mind. That said, I am spiritual and have personal faith but I do not believe our leaders should legislate morality or their religious points of view. I believe marriage is a lifelong commitment between two adults regardless of gender, because homosexuality is no more a choice than being left-handed. I believe that life begins when an organism can fully sustain itself outside of the mother's body and it's a decision left to that body and her doctor only. I believe a strong society takes care of its citizens, even when there's no profit in it.
Connect with me:
For many years I had a personal blog stemming from the freelance work I was doing under the biz name Mom at Home Design. The momathome.com domain doesn't really fit me anymore, but there's a lot of equity there and I'm not quite ready to let it go. I transitioned everything to judisohn.com but even that doesn't cover it. So at least for now, my digital home is where I choose to hang my hat. At this moment that includes:
- When the mood strikes I post on my Posterous, which you're reading right now. Despite my best intentions, I tend to post in spurts. You can subscribe to the site via RSS, but when I post it does automatically feed out to Twitter and Facebook.
- Follow me on Twitter. I update quite often. I follow folks who engage with me. I unfollow folks who send me bot DMs. You have been warned.
- Send me a message through Facebook. I read all mail sent through Facebook, but I don't accept all friend requests. Rule of thumb: if you know me well enough that we'll probably hug the next time we see each other, then I'll accept your request or friend you first. Otherwise, please stick to Twitter until we get to know each other a little better.
- Connect on LinkedIn. I'll accept if we've had a conversation I can remember, on or offline.
- I'm not in love with location-aware tools, but I'm testing the waters on Foursquare.
- Are you a knitter too? Then you can find me on Ravelry.
