Holiday Spirit: The Spirited Women's Guide to Shopping Out of the Gift Box
NOT Your Average Shopping Guide
December 03, 2008
I am always on the lookout for great women to promote, and Nancy Mills - founder of the Spirited Woman blog, fits the bill to a T. I've interviewed Nancy before, but today I bring some holiday cheer, straight from the talented minds of the Spirited Woman bloggers (all 9 of them - ranging in age from...well, read the interview below, you'll be surprised).
Let me tell you that when Nancy mentioned she was doing this - creating a great holiday shopping guide for gals (and men, let's be honest - we hope our men check it out, too) that was so far out of the ordinary (you HAVE to click the link to learn how), I was thrilled to be able to participate in the group tour she was creating. Notice how Nancy's interview - full of heart and inspriation with a sincere focus on the positive things we have in our lives - supports all of the things this blog stands for: giving you the opportunity to achieve outstanding results in 2009 by doing what women do best: sharing stories from the heart and ACTING on the desire to help others.
Without further ado, let's hear from Nancy Mills.
Yvonne: Nancy, tell us what The Spirited Woman is?
Nancy: That's easy. The Spirited woman is an inspired women's online empowerment community, originally founded in 2002. This is based on the Spirited Woman Approach to Life. Our goal is to inspire women globally - to live life fully with a sense of adventure, freedom, energy, fun - and to be a voice for spirited women everywhere.
Yvonne: Well, from that perspective...do you think EVERY woman is a Spirited Woman?
Nancy: Oh yes! The underlying philosophy of The Spirited Woman is that EVERY WOMAN is born a spirited woman and that YOU ARE ENOUGH AS YOU ARE.
Yvonne: You have a group blog - tell us about that and about the Spirited Woman philosophy.
Nancy: Well, Yvonne, we're known for our inventiveness, community spirit, thinking outside of the internet box (such as our Spirited Woman Video Contest, Singing Contest, Tele- Chat Circle with famous women authors, Holiday Guide..) and our popular Spirited Woman Blogger Team - 9 inspired women from around the world - are igniting change by inspiring women nationally and internationally.
Yvonne: That's really exciting. Let's talk about those 9 Team Bloggers...
Nancy: Yvonne, I could go on and on about my team bloggers. These are 9 "ordinary women" who are extraordinary in so many ways. They're women with heart, talent, and vision, who cover the beat for spirited women on topics ranging from entertainment, travel, fashion and inspiration, going green to being a Spirited Kid. Our bloggers range in age from 11 to 46! They're of different races, colors, cities and interests - all with the unified goal of providing a daily dose of positive Spirited Woman news.
Yvonne: Let's get to the holiday guide, Nancy. Tell us about that.
Nancy: Delighted! At Spirited Woman we celebrate the holidays by sharing from the heart. We believe that giving does not have to cost a lot of money, or take a lot of time - particularly now in this time of change. To help our readers, and yours, Yvonne, we created a holiday guide with some truly outstanding items.
This guide was actually the brain child of our fashion blogger, Dawn Z Bournand in Paris - it's the embodiment of her "gift for giving" insight. I loved the concept and proposed it to our blogger team. They loved it too and created off-line posts that I edited and turned into a PDF guide. This is our first holiday guide ever....we are all very excited. The idea is to help people think out of the gift-giving box. To give back and create change, really make a difference. To quote from Rosa Wong of Hong Kong, "I like the idea of buying a goat, a cow, a water buffalo or even a Llama at Heifer, or a gift package of Oxfam because that will benefit the environment or a third world country," You can see how different this 44-page guide is. Amazing stuff! PLUS...personal stories, a hilarious holiday letter, and a winter poesm from Alice, our "spirited kid". Yvonne: But, there's even more, isn't there, Nancy? Nancy: Oh yes! There's a Spirited Woman Blogger Contest. I hope everyone will open the guide to find out how THEY can become a featured blogger on the blog. The winner will be featured on the homepage of our site. Yvonne: How much do we have to pay for this fabulous holiday guide? Nancy: It's F*R*E*E!!! - of course! Here's how we can offer it without cost: We have a guide sponsor - the Cleavage Creek Cellars company is our sponsor. Budge Brown, the company owner, was our first "Spirited Man" blogger a few months ago. He's a successful entrepreneur who lost his wife Arlene to breast cancer. In her honor, he started the Northern California winery and each woman featured on the Cleavage Creek wine labels is a cancer survivor. Budge has already raised over $37,000 and we hope to raise more funds via our holiday guide. Yvonne: Wow. I love that story. Readers, please share this - the story, the holiday guide, and the Spirited Woman lifestyle of giving. Blog it, Twitter it, share it with your friends and family - pick up the phone! Today! What do you have to share, as a last comment, Nancy? Nancy: Yvonne, I want your readers to know that this is just the beginning. In January, we are hosting a special worldwide event called "Project Ignite". It's going to be HUGE! Think: Igniting the Spirited Woman Flame, the Fire Inside. Stay tuned. We'll let everyone know...as soon as we can. Let's all thank Nancy for sharing this holiday guide, sharing her Spirited Woman focus, and her enormously big heart. Giving back is the topic of the month! Remember...the more you give, the more you receive. There are links in this post, but there is also a link in the cover image of the holiday guide on the blog, top right - we hope you will share over and over, with everyone you know.
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