Author Ananda Leeke gave her talk "Digital Sisterhood: A Self-Care, Self-Discovery, and Social Justice Movement for Women in Social Media" at the Ignite Speakers Night sponsored by Social Justice Camp II: The Empowered Are Back on January 21, 2011, at St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Washington, DC. Watch video of Leeke's talk (7 min): http://www.vimeo.com/19056642. Health muralist and activist Regina Holliday organized and hosted the event. Click on the link to learn more about Regina and the Social Justice Camp Ignite speakers: http://reginaholliday.blogspot.com/​2010/​12/​social-justice-camp-ii-on-water-ripples.html. Visit http://digitalsisterhood.wordpress and http://twitter.com/​digitalsisterhd for more information about the Digital Sisterhood Network. Visit www.anandaleeke.com to learn more about Ananda and her current book project, Digital Sisterhood, a memoir (December 2011). Ananda's books Love's Troubadours, a novel and That Which Awakens Me, a poetic memoir are available on Amazon.com: http://amzn.to/​i5qrU3.

1. Digital Sisterhood A self-care, self-discovery & social justice movement for women in social mediadigitalsisterhood.wordpress.com @digitalsisterhd by Ananda Leeke

2. Digital Sisterhood Ananda Leeke’s PowerPoint Presentation supported her speech at the Social Justice Camp II: The Empowered Are Back’s Ignite Speaker Night on January 21, 2011 at St. Paul's Lutheran Church, 4900 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Washington, DC. The PowerPoint is based on an excerpt from Leeke’s book Digital Sisterhood, a memoir (will be published in December 2011). (updated on 2.4.11)

3. Women Online Aliza Sherman, a Web pioneer, mobile strategist, social media innovator and commentator, and author, wrote in her 1998 book cybergrrl! that, “Women are online in force, hooking up personally, finding new opportunities professionally, ‘networking’ with women all over the world. If you go online, you can find hundreds of communities of women world wide discussing everything from parenting to starting a business to sewing to web site design. You can meet women who are artists, secretaries, computer programmers, and moms just by visiting their personal web sites (p. 2) … Going online isn’t really about computers; it’s about communication as well as making connections to both information and people (p. 88).”

4. Women Online “Women are really driving the social media revolution.“ Soundbyte from Media Maven Johanna Blakely’s TEDWomen Talk, December 2010

5. Women Online Did you know women represent 87.1 million of the total U.S. adult online population (163.8 million) in 2010? According to the BlogHer-iVillage 2010 Social Media Matters Study, co- sponsored by Ketchum and the Nielsen Company, there are 67.5million women (18 to 76 years old) out of 126.9 million social media users in the U.S. Now that’s digital sisterhood!

6. So what is digital sisterhood?

7. Digital Sisterhood is… The feminine currency women use to create relationship wealth through the connections they make, conversations they have, communities they build, causes they support, collaborative partnerships they establish, and commerce they engage in with women they meet online and offline.

8. Relationship Wealth The relationship wealth of digital sisterhood is based on what women care about and their shared interests and experiences.

9. Women + Relationship Wealth = Powerful Women This wealth supports women as they stand in their own power and reclaim themselves online and offline. When they do so, they move with a power not seen before. It is rooted in women being fully, P – Present when they O – Own their lives as W – Women who believe they have E – Everything they need to live out their R – Revolution of authenticity.

10. #DigitalSisterhood Wednesdays on Twitter #DigitalSisterhood Wednesdays was established in October 2010 to give women in social media a weekly opportunity to build and strengthen their communities. Each week women are encouraged to celebrate and promote their digital sisters by using the #FF (Friday Follow) format. They are also encouraged to tweet about their digital sisters’ businesses, wisdom, creativity, blogs, Facebook pages, causes, videos, and web sites.

11. Digital Sisterhood Month 2010 #DigitalSisterhood Wednesdays gave birth to Digital Sisterhood Month. Digital Sisterhood Month was established in December 2010 to give women an opportunity to celebrate their connections, conversations, communities, collaborative partnerships, and commerce. 20 ways on how to celebrate the month were posted online. Online events including Tweetchats on different topics, radio shows, Twitter contests, and weekly online yoga classes were held.

12. Digital Sisterhood Month 2010 Digital Sisterhood Month 2010 offline events were held in Washington, DC. They included a focus group on how women in social media discuss fashion, hair, beauty, and lifestyles; and field trips to Tranquil Space for a yoga class, the National Museum of Women in the Arts for the Lois Mailou Jones exhibit, and Teaism, a woman- owned café, for dinner.

13. Digital Sisterhood Month 2010 Event Schedule 1) December 1 Digital Sisterhood Online Yoga: Watch online video. #DigitalSisterhood Wednesday Twitter Celebration (all day): Women tweeted about their digital sisters, organizations such as The Women’s Collective, and causes like the Red Pump Project that promote HIV/AIDS awareness. Read blog with Twitter highlights. #DigitalSisterhood Tweetchat: The topic was how women in social media used the power of their online voices to raise awareness in 2010. Read blog with Twitter highlights. 2) December 2 Digital Sisterhood Radio: The theme was “Sisterhood Collaborators.” Success Coach Dr. Nicole Cutts and Certified Financial Planner Marie Isabel Laurion were the guests. They talked about their Taking Your Dreams from Design to Destiny: The Next Level conference in January 2011. Listen to audio of radio show. Read blog with Twitter highlights. 3) December 4 Field Trip to Yin Yang Yoga Class @ Tranquil Space, a woman-owned yoga studio in DC 4) December 5 Museum Meet Up Visit: A group of DC women bloggers attended the Lois Mailou Jones: A Life in Vibrant Color exhibit @ National Museum of Women in the Arts in DC. Read blog and see photos from their museum meet up. Dinner Meet Up: Teaism (Penn Quarter), a woman-owned café in DC 5) December 7 Digital Sisterhood Month Adventures @ DC TED Women Event: Read blog for event highlights. Poet Yael Flusberg was interviewed about her book The Last of My Village on Blogatique with Ananda Leeke on BlogTalkRadio. Listen to audio of radio show. 6) December 8 Digital Sisterhood Online Yoga: Watch online video. #DigitalSisterhood Wednesday Twitter Celebration (all day) Digital Sisterhood Month Adventures @ DC Fabulous Women Business Owners Meeting featuring Chief Hot Momma Kathy Korman Frey: Read blog, see photos, and listen to audio blog with event highlights. #DigitalSisterhood Tweetchat: The topic was the most popular conversations women launched and/or participated in on Twitter in 2010. Read blog with Twitter highlights.

14. Digital Sisterhood Month 2010 Event Schedule 7) December 9 Digital Sisterhood Radio: The theme was “Lessons Learned from BlogHer 2010.” Guest panelists included bloggers Boni Candelario, Ofelia Almedina, and Chrysula Winegar. Listen to audio of radio show. Read blog with Twitter highlights. 8) December 12 DC Focus Group: Women in Social Media Who Discuss Fashion, Beauty, Hair, and Lifestyles @ Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Library in DC: Guest panelists included LaWanda Amaker, Founder of L.A. Beauty Beat and Media Mingle; Monica Byrd, Founder of Fashionista Flea Market, Pregginista, and Charm Chat, and DC Women’s Style Examiner; Kelly Collis, Founder of City Shop Girl; Glory Edim, Founder of I Hate My 9 to 5 blog; Sheena D. Franklin, Founder/CEO of Bella Bush; Aisha Massac, Esthetician, Makeup Artist, and Founder of I.C. Faces; Courtney Powell, founder of ThinkandGrowChick.com; Laquita Thomas-Banks, Founder of All Naptural blog and DC Natural Hair Examiner; and Dana Williams-Johnson, Founder of The Art of Accessories. Read blog with event highlights, photos, and videos of panelists. 9) December 13 Digital Sisterhood Radio: The theme was “Women in Social Media Who Discuss Fashion, Beauty, Hair, and Lifestyles.” Guest panelists included Monica Barnett, President of Blueprint for Style, MyJet247.com Style Writer, and MyBlogalicious.com Style Editor; Marie Denee, Owner and Editor of the Curvy Fashionista; Jaye Gipson, Founder of Curvatude; Tamara Marbury, Founder of Blitz and Glam blog; and Veronica Woods, Founder/Owner of MySalon Scoop.com. Listen to audio of radio show. Read blog with Twitter highlights. 10) December 14 Digital Sisterhood Radio: The theme was “Lessons Learned from Blogalicious 2010.” Guests panelists included Jewel Figueras, Founder of The Tiny Jewel Box; Jennifer Hutcheson, Founder of Mami 2 Mommy; and Ericka, Founder of Swarthy Daisy. Listen to audio of radio show. Read blog with Twitter highlights. 11) December 15 Digital Sisterhood Online Yoga: Watch online video. #DigitalSisterhood Wednesday Twitter Celebration (all day) #DigitalSisterhood Tweetchat: The topic was women-owned businesses, services, products or events that women in social media patronized and/or financially supported in 2010.

15. Digital Sisterhood Month 2010 Event Schedule 12) December 16 Digital Sisterhood Radio: The theme was “Feminism Online.” Guests panelists included Shireen Mitchell “the original Digital Sista”, Speaker, trainer, and thought igniter in media, tech, and politics; Veronica Arreola, Professional feminist, mom, writer, speaker, PhD student, and blogger; Liz Henry, BlogHer web developer, geek feminist/sci-fi blogger, speaker, poet, and literary translator; Treva Lindsey, University of Missouri-Columbia professor and blogger; Alexis Pauline Gumbs, Feminist blogger; and Brandann Ouyang Dan, Feminist blogger, invisibly disabled, U.S. Navy Veteran, social justice activist, and contributing writer for DisabledFeminist.com. Listen to audio of the show. Read blog with Twitter highlights. 13) December 20 Digital Sisterhood Radio: Digital Native Lauren Thomas, Founder of Digital Aftershock, was the guest. Listen to audio of the show. 14) December 21 Digital Sisterhood Radio: The theme was “Lessons Learned from lavish! an unconference experience for the lifestyle social networker.” Guests panelists included Stacey Ferguson, Co-Founder of the MamaLaw Media Group, LLC and Blogalicious; Christie Glascoe Crowder, Founder of Inside the Chatterbox and Co-Founder of The Blog Rollers; Johnica Reed, Travel and Lifestyle Writer, Editor and Digital Strategist.; Carla Schwartz, Founder of Decorativity; and Bessie Winn-Afeku, Founder of The Fabulous Do Gooder. Listen to audio of radio show. Read blog with Twitter highlights. 15) December 22 Digital Sisterhood Online Yoga: Watch online video. #DigitalSisterhood Wednesday Twitter Celebration (all day) #DigitalSisterhood Tweetchat: The topic was women’s online communities. Read blog with Twitter highlights. 16) December 27 Digital Sisterhood Radio: Civil Digital Discourse Sister Andrea Weckerle, Founder of CiviliNation, was the guest. Listen to audio of radio show. Read blog with Twitter highlights.

16. Digital Sisterhood Month 2010 Event Schedule 17) December 28 Digital Sisterhood Radio: Digital Doyenne Sister Lauren Brown Jarvis, Blogger and Research Assistant/Producer for Spelman College’s Digital Image Moving Salon, was the guest. Listen to audio of the show. Read blog with Twitter highlights. 18) December 29 Digital Sisterhood Online Yoga: Watch online video. #DigitalSisterhood Wednesday Twitter Celebration (all day) Digital Sisterhood iPad Lunch Date @Caribou Coffee in Arlington, VA: Read blog with photos. Listen to audio blog. #DigitalSisterhood Tweetchat: The topic was inspiring and informative digital sisters. Read blog with Twitter highlights. 19) December 30 Digital Sisterhood Tea Meet Up @ Panera Bread in Silver Spring, MD: Read blog and watch video from the event. Digital Sisterhood Radio: Digital Sister of the Year Shameeka Ayers, Founder of The Broke Socialite and lavish! an unconference experience for the lifestyle social networker, was the guest. Listen to audio of the show. Read blog with Twitter highlights. 20) December 31 Digital Sisterhood Radio: Digital Sister Sociologist Jessie Daniels, Author of Cyber Racism, Hunter College Professor and Co-Founder of Racism Review blog, was the guest. Listen to audio of the show. Read blog with Twitter highlights.

17. Digital Sister of the Year for 2010 The Digital Sisterhood Network selected Shameeka Ayers, Chief Lifestyle Officer of The Broke Socialite, as the Digital Sister of the Year during Digital Sisterhood Month because she inspires, informs, and ignites a passionate spark of creativity that calls each of us to live a fabulous life by surrendering, having faith, practicing gratitude and generosity, and dreaming big! Shameeka is a multitalented woman, wife (see her fantastic husband in photo on the left), mother, daughter, friend, blogger, author of Instantly!: How Quickly I Realized I HATE My Job,and founder/producer of lavish!, the first unconference for lifestyle social networkers. Listen to the December 30th episode of Digital Sisterhood Radio to learn more about this amazing woman.

18. 12 Lessons Learned from Digital Sisterhood Month 2010 Digital Sisterhood Month founder Ananda Leeke learned 12 key lessons during the 31 days of celebration. She tweeted about the lessons on December 31, 2010. See below. Listen to audio blog. 12 Lessons Learned: anandaleeke My lessons learned from #DigitalSisterhood Month 2010: Women online R generous. They share, support & spark new conversations & communities. anandaleeke My lessons learned from #Digitalsisterhood Month 2010: Don’t try to plan every single moment. Allow for organic spirit of the sisterhood. anandaleeke My lessons learned from #Digitalsisterhood Month 2010: Continue my self-care practices 2 support myself: yoga, Reiki, meditation & running anandaleeke My lessons learned from #Digitalsisterhood Month 2010: Keep your eyes open & celebrate diversity of women & men who embrace the sisterhood! anandaleeke My lessons learned from #Digitalsisterhood Month 2010: Keep an open heart, meet the sisterhood where it is & allow it 2 B what is gonna B. anandaleeke My lessons learned from #Digitalsisterhood Month 2010: Be open, flexible, & ready 2 change schedule in order to highlight the sisterhood. anandaleeke My lessons learned from #Digitalsisterhood Month 2010: As U surrender & step out on faith, stop, see, and give thanks for the sisterhood! anandaleeke My lessons learned from #Digitalsisterhood Month 2010:Surrender yr fears around yr big dreams. Step out on faith. The sisterhood has yr back. anandaleeke My final lesson learned from #Digitalsisterhood Month 2010: Allow myself 2 B a vessel — a container 4 the celebration of women online. anandaleeke My lessons learned from #Digitalsisterhood Month 2010: Tell sisterhood stories w/ videos @Cinchcast@Talkshoe@Flickr@Twitter@Tweetchat anandaleeke My lessons learned from #Digitalsisterhood Month 2010: It’s okay to ask for help and allow others to help U promote the sisterhood online. anandaleeke My lessons learned from #Digitalsisterhood Month 2010: Expect the unexpected opportunities that come from the sisterhood. Blessings!

19. Digital Sisterhood Book Kickstarter Project Fundraiser Kickstarter.com was used from September 23 to December 23, 2010, to raise $1,159 for the Digital Sisterhood Book Project. 39 donors supported the online fundraising effort. An additional $70 was raised from PayPal and offline donations from 4 donors. 43 donors helped raise a grand total of $1,229 which will be used to fund the self-publishing fees for Digital Sisterhood, a memoir by Ananda Leeke (December 2011). Leeke’s memoir discusses her Internet adventures, digital sisterhood experiences, and reflections about women and the Internet from 1986 to 2011. It begins with her first Internet experience as a law student using the LexisNexis research service at Howard University School of Law in 1986. It also discusses the first time she witnessed the power of women and the Internet at the U.N. Fourth World Conference on Women held in Beijing, China in 1995.

20. Digital Sisterhood Network 2011 The Digital Sisterhood Network is making a digital splash in 2011! Check out the events and projects below. #DigitalSisterhood Wednesdays on Twitter Monthly #DigitalSisterhood Tweetchats from 9:00 pm - 10:00 pm ET Digital Sisterhood Radio on Talkshoe.com Digital Sisterhood Trip to Haiti with the Heart of Haiti Campaign, February 2011 Digital Sisterhood Network’s Blogger-in-Residence Program, March 2011 – March 2012 Kickstarter Fundraiser #2 for Digital Sisterhood Book Project, March 2011 - June 2011 Digital Sisterhood Legacy Campaign, March 2011 (launch of campaign) Digital Sisterhood Social Justice Causes: -Crowdrise fundraising efforts for women & girls living with HIV/AIDS and Haitian Women, 2011 - 2012 -Feminism Online Project, March 2011 Participation in Spelman College’s Digital Digital Doyennes: A Celebration of Female Digital Innovation, April 2011 Digital Sisterhood Month, December 2011 Digital Sister of the Year for 2011 Digital Sisterhood, a memoir book by Ananda Leeke, December 2011

21. Digital Sisterhood Blogger-in-Residence 2011-2012 The Digital Sisterhood Network’s Blogger-in Residence Program was established to serve a woman living with health opportunities (transformed the word challenges into opportunities) in the DC metropolitan area. The 2011-2012 Blogger-in-Residence is Kamaria T. Richmond, a native Washingtonian and writer. Richmond is passionate about spirituality, fabulous and healthy living, family and friends, lifelong learning, fashion, beauty, hair, the arts, music, gourmet food and wine, home décor, traveling, and independent films. She worked as the East Coast Assistant Buyer for St. John at Nordstrom for 10 years prior to being diagnosed with sarcoidosis and experiencing a stroke that injured her brain in 2004. After her stroke, she decided to use her health challenges as life reinvention opportunities that inspire her to live a healthier lifestyle by practicing forgiveness, gratitude, joy, loving kindness, mindfulness, positive thinking, and self-care. Follow her on Twitter and Cinchcast.

22. Digital Sisterhood Legacy Campaign Aliza Sherman, a web pioneer, mobile strategist, social media innovator, and founder of Cybergrrl, Inc.,challenged women in her book cybergirrl! to, “Take the time to learn something new about computers or the Internet. Then take the time to teach another woman or girl what you learned. If we each help one other woman get online, we’ll build a legacy of technical savvy and connectedness to the world for our daughters and granddaughters.” What a powerful challenge! It inspired the creation of the Digital Sisterhood Legacy Campaign which will launch during National Women’s History Month in March 2011. TheDigital Sisterhood Legacy Campaigninvites women in social media and technology to help one woman or girl in their life or community who needs assistance in understanding, accessing, and using social media, the Internet, and/or technology. By sharing what they know, women in social media and technology will create an individual and collective digital sisterhood legacy that increases the number of social media, Internet, and technology savvy women and girls. It will prove once again that when women invest in themselves and each other they yield a high return!

23. Digital Sisterhood MovementSelf-Care, Self-Discovery & Social Justice When women in social media invest in themselves and each other, they yield a high return. So how can they remind themselves to invest? They can join the Digital Sisterhood Movement of Self- Care, Self-Discovery & Social Justice.

24. Digital Sisterhood Self-Care Women in social media can use online meditation podcasts, videos, and smart phone apps to practice self-care.

25. Meditation & Chill Out Phone Apps

26. Digital Sisterhood Self-Care Women in social media can use yoga podcasts, videos, and smart phone apps to practice self-care.

27. Online and Offline Yoga Women in social media can watch online kind and gentle yoga classes on Stickam.com: http://stickam.com/anandaleeke. They can also join Meet Up groups like the DC- based Kind and Gentle C-OM-MUNITY Meet Up to practice yoga locally: http://yoga.meetup.com/584.

28. Digital Sisterhood Self-Care Women in social media can use fitness, health, nutrition, and magazine smart phone and iPad apps, Facebook groups, and Twitter pages to practice self-care.

29. Nutrition Phone Apps

30. Health Magazine Facebook & Twitter

31. Health Magazine Facebook & Twitter

32. Fitness Magazine Phone & iPad Apps

33. Digital Sisterhood Self-Discovery Women in social media can watch creative coaching workshops on Ustream.tv, listen to creative living podcasts, and participate in blogging book groups, monthly art challenges, teleseminars, and webinars to discover their voice, passions, and interests.

34. Digital Sisterhood Self-Discovery Women in social media can read magazine iPad and smart phone apps, Facebook groups, and Twitter pages to gain inspiration and information on how to discover their voice, passions, and interests; accept, forgive, and reinvent themselves; and live creative and fully engaged lives.

35. Magazine Facebook & Twitter

36. Magazine Facebook & Twitter

37. Digital Sisterhood Self-Discovery Social media conferences, networking sites, meet-ups, and Facebook, Yahoo, Google, and LinkedIn groups are places that offer women space to explore themselves, make connections, have conversations with like- minded women, build community, and establish collaborative partnerships.

38. Social Networking Sites

39. Digital Sisterhood Social Justice Women can use their social media presence to support social justice causes they care about such as breast cancer, feminism, Haiti’s rebuilding efforts, heart health, HIV/AIDS, violence against women, and women’s health week.

40. Digital Sisterhood Social Justice Women in social media can participate in blog campaigns and carnivals, Twitter chats, Twestivals, Tweetups, and unconferences like Social Justice Camp, and Nonprofit 2.0 to gain awareness, fresh ideas, collaborative partners, training, support, and build community.

41. Digital Sisterhood Social Justice Women in social media can use Eventbrite, Kickstarter.com, Crowdrise, and other online event and fundraising sites to raise money for social justice events, causes, and projects they develop and/or support.

42. Conclusion So how can we remind women in social media to invest in themselves? Tip 1 - Use online meditation and yoga podcasts, videos, and smart phone apps to practice self-care. Tip 2 - Get involved in self-discovery online activities like creative coaching workshops on Ustream.tv, Jamie Ridler’s creative living podcasts and Next Chapter book blogging group, Art Every Day Month in November, and creativity teleseminars that help women discover their voice, passions, and interests. Read magazine iPad and smart phone apps, Facebook groups, and Twitter pages to gain inspiration and information. Tip 3 - Participate in social networking sites like BlogHer, Black Business Women Online, Mom Bloggers Club, Owning Pink, and She Writes. Attend the Blogalicious Weekend, She’s Geeky, lavish!, Blissdom, and BlogHer conferences. Check out local meet ups. Use Facebook, Yahoo, Google, and LinkedIn groups to share and build connections with like-minded women. Tip 4 - Sign up to participate in social justice blog campaigns and carnivals, Tweetups, and unconferences like Social Justice Camp to share ideas, gain awareness, collaborative partners, training, and support. Tip 5 - Launch online social justice fundraising efforts and host offline events with social media tools such as Eventbrite, Kickstarter, and Crowdrise to raise money and awareness. Tip 6. Read the Digital Sisterhood Network blog and participate in the events held on Twitter and Digital Sisterhood Radio.

43. Bio of Ananda Leeke Yoga + Creativity + Internet Geek = Ananda Leeke. Leeke is a lawyer turned “Jill of many trades”: innerpreneur, author, artist, coach, and yoga teacher. Her mission is “Empowering U2BU through creativity coaching, Reiki, self-care, social media, volunteerism, and yoga.” She pennedThat Which Awakens Me: A Creative Woman’s Poetic Memoir of Self-Discovery (2009 – available on Amazon.com) and her debut novel Love’s Troubadours – Karma: Book One(2007 – available on Amazon.com). Her poetry appeared in Beyond the Frontier: African American Poetry for the 21st Century (2002) edited by E. Ethelbert Miller. Her six-word memoir – Go Green Boho BAP. Urban Debutante. - was published in It All Changed in an Instant: More Six-Word Memoirs by Writers Famous & Obscure by Larry Smith and Rachel Fershleiser of Smith Magazine in 2010. She is currently writing Digital Sisterhood, a memoir (2011) and Love’s Troubadours – Symon: Book Two (2012).

45. Email: kiamshaleeke@yahoo.com

46. Web: www.anandaleeke.com

47. Blog: http://authoranandaleeke.wordpress.com

48. Network: http://digitalsisterhood.wordpress.com

49. Twitter: http://twitter.com/anandaleeke

50. Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/Ananda-Leeke/68996700906

51. Ustream.tv: www.ustream.tv/channel/ananda-leeke-live

52. Vimeo: http://www.vimeo.com/user2529025

53. YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/anandaleeke