Our next November Feature Blogger is an active member here at MomDot!  Please welcome Sarah from Ohana Mama!

1. Congrats on being a MomDot Feature Blogger!  Why don’t you start by introducing yourself to our readers!
Aloha!  My name is Sarah.  I’m the Mama behind Ohana Mama.  I’ve been married to my high school sweetheart, 6 years and counting.  And together we have two fantastic kids, Cameron who is almost 4 and Leah who is 14 months.  I grew up on the beaches of Southern California and moved to San Diego to attend The University of San Diego.  After graduating I decided to stay in North County San Diego in a small beach town called Encinitas.  There I moved in with my then boyfriend, we got married and we started our family.  I used to be in public relations and still have a love for all things PR, my blog sort of fills that void for me, now that I am a mom.  Most recently I started back working from home for a Social Media Marketing company, Roeder Studios. It’s a woman-run business and I am learning a ton from Laura, the founder.  I also work outside the house a few nights a week at one of the best-rated restaurants in Maui.  This is my “time out” where I can meet other locals and get some adult interaction. And I am a mompreneur (r) in the making…a little more on that below. When not working or writing for Ohana Mama, I love spending time with my family, that’s number one.  We usually head to the beach or go for hikes and explore Maui on the weekends.

2.  How did you arrive on the blogosphere?  What got you interested in blogging?
In 2007 I started down the road to becoming a mom entrepreneur.  I am the mom behind Tag a Towel , fashionable magnetic towel i.d. tags so you know whose towel is whose.  As I was developing this new product I started to reach out to bloggers to gain interest and soon realized that many would not even talk to me if I didn’t have a sample in hand to give to them.  I wanted a blog where moms in all stages of starting a company could be featured and share their story.  It takes a ton of money to send out samples and some mom entrepreneurs just can’t do that, especially in this economy.  So Ohana Mama was my outlet to get the word out on those companies and pay it forward. I feature them through interviews.  This is my favorite part.  I get to learn a ton from these women and make really good friendships and connections.  I love coming across a product that serves a purpose and is of good quality and best of all created or run by a woman or a mom.

3.  How did you come up with the name for your blog?
I wanted something catchy.  I wanted something that reflected where I was right now in my life – living this crazy life in Hawaii. And I wanted it to be about Mamas.  Ohana means family, house or home and best of all, it means a community of people who share the same values.  Together with my readers and the Mamas I feature, we are Ohana Mamas.

4.  Can you give the MomDot readers a “sneak peek” into what’s coming up next for your blog?  Any new events, giveaways, interviews, etc.?
Yes!  We have some great interviews coming up of great mom entrepreneurs who are doing this mom-business thing and succeeding!  And starting December 1st we are having our first annual Ohana Mama Hawaiian Holiday Giveaway Party!  We will have a week full of great prizes from some great sponsors.  The theme is Hawaii…I wanted our readers to have the opportunity to have a Hawaiian Holiday no matter where they are… whether in the snow in Michigan or in the dry Arizona desert.  I love all of the prizes…they are either products made here in Hawaii, like the great ERGO carrier or with a tropical theme.  There’s something for baby, Lil Aloha Babies is a great DVD that brings Hawaii to your living room teaching your keiki (kids) along the way. And Patricia Ann Designs at the Lilly Pad has beautiful finds for the babies, in luxurious Hawaiian prints.  There’s something for the Mama’s, Cheery Creek Designs has gorgeous jewelry with a tropical twist and the maker of these finds is Hawaii-born.  And lastly, we’ll have something for your Ohana, Envirosax is a great alternative to using plastic bags for grocery shopping and they come in great tropical prints and Cowboy PIllows makes awesome decor inspired by the mountains and oceans of Maui, for your ohana.  I wish I could win all of these great prizes!

5. Other than your own blog, what are some of your favorite places to “hang out” on the Web? MomDot, http://www.Mompreneursonline.com, Twitter and http://www.BabytalkBio.com are my must-go to sites every day.

6.  What is the main objective of your blog? Do you have any “bloggy” goals?  How do you plan to accomplish them?

My main goal is to share info about mom-run companies, continue to create and cultivate relationships with moms in the blogosphere and have Ohana Mama be the place that upcoming mom business owners come to learn, share and grow.  Perhaps it could turn into my own PR agency to promote mompreneurs (r), I’d love to do that in the long run.  I hope to get there by just keep on keeping on.  One post at a time!

Thanks, Sarah!  Ohana Mama just unveiled a new blog design!  Go check it out, and while you are there make sure you read some of Sarah’s favorite posts:

http://www.ohanamamablog.com/2008/10/lullaby-express-by-chicks-n-chickens.html
http://www.ohanamamablog.com/2008/09/i-need-drinkglow-mama-review-and.html
http://www.ohanamamablog.com/2008/07/its-bird-its-plane-its-your-kid.html