This time last year I was repeating the affirmation, “International moms will write for World Moms Blog.” (I can’t believe I just admitted that.) But, I was really nervous about launching the new blog, and it was nearing November 1st, 2010, my planned launch date.

Today we have over 50 international writers and maintain a wait list for USA writers.

And the list of countries that I hoped to be starting the blog with numbered to just three.  It was more difficult than I thought to recruit mothers in other countries who wanted to write.

Today we write from 16 countries.

Back then, I decided our first post had to be from outside the United States, since we had a bunch of USA writers, and many of our first fans were, well, my friends in the US.  So, I told Asta Burrows of Norway that she was first up!

And she immediately gave me a confident, “No, you go first!”

Ha!

I told her it had to be her, and she reluctantly went along with it.  I am to this day, grateful. I first met Asta before we were mothers in Johannesburg. Little did we know that our Facebook connection after that trip would lead us to that conversation this time last year. And now we have shared so much in motherhood together through World Moms Blog.

Our first post was from Norway, The Story So Far, written by Asta Burrows. 

The second day of the blog, I ran my own article, under my then pen name of Veronica Samuels.  I repeated to myself the night before, “My article is going to be Freshly Pressed on WordPress tomorrow.”  I even sent an email to the WordPress editors, asking them to consider our blog for their front page.

The next morning, I woke up, checked the front page of WordPress.com and there she was, my grandmother’s picture from the 1920s staring right back at me.

On our 2nd day of existence, World Moms Blog had graced the front page of WordPress. The post received over 800 hits that day, and the traffic increased to Asta’s article from the day before, too.

Turns out the editors received my e-mail AFTER they chose the article, and they were just as surprised at the coincidence as I was. So, I quickly learned that affirmations are more powerful than emails.

A Lost Piece of Americana by Veronica Samuels (Jennifer Burden’s then pen name) was our most viewed article.

Next most viewed was “The Circumcision Decision” by Kyla P’an of Massachusetts, USA.

The post with the most comments was Galit Breen’s “Raising Racism” from Minnesota, USA.   

From that moment on, I felt something amazing was happening, like the universe was listening, and I still have that feeling.

The quick increased exposure led to e-mails from bloggers asking to write for us (Kirsten, Amy), and new followers to the blog that would later join us as writers (Fire Crystals).

I got BUSY, very quickly.  But, I was also 5 months pregnant and knew that I would need help in the coming months.  What had I gotten myself into?

The World Moms answered the call for volunteers, and an editing team was born.  I admit to answering blog e-mails the day after my C-section.  I had to learn not to check e-mail during late night feedings, or I couldn’t get back to sleep because my mind would race.

On the third day of the blog’s existence, I got the MacDaddy of all e-mails, or so I thought.  A woman was contacting me from Ethiopia! I reread the e-mail a dozen times.

Wow!!  It was a little unclear, her English wasn’t perfect, but I thought to myself that her story could just be amazing.  I couldn’t wait to hear it!!

I e-mailed her back with lots of excitement and hope.  I was on a role!  Doors were opening!

I received a reply from Ethiopia.  It turned out she (or whoever it was sending me the e-mail) was looking for an American man to marry, and she could make him happy in many ways, if you get my drift, and could I find her one?  SPAM!!

I had gotten all pumped up for SPAM Mail!!!  Oh, what a fool I felt like!!  I was so embarrassed that I kept that one to myself until now.

World Moms Blog today has writers from Africa. In fact, we write from 7 continents.

The most remote place we write from is the city of Dili in East Timor, where writer Shaula Belour lives in the South Pacific. 

World Moms Blog is run out of New Jersey, USA.

In my blog posts and social media I mention the friendships that we’ve made on the blog, the international Editing Team (the blog couldn’t exist as is without them), the blogging conferences, the UN Foundation Social Good Summit and conference calls with ABC News and Blog Frog about the Million Moms Challenge.

I am so grateful for the blog and for all of the interesting women it has brought together and for the social good that we plan to be a part of in the future.

We have come a long way since my nervous affirmations and the false oasis e-mail from Ethiopia!

The Universe is listening.  It sees how we are doing amazing things like joining women from different cultures and different faiths in conversation around the common thread of mothering.

If we can start there, there is no holding us back in the togetherness and good we can create in the world as humans.  We are a group effort, and we can work to help others and make the world a better place.  The kind of place that we hope for our children.

Here is what we have in store for our Blogiversary celebrations!: 

Check out the makeover of our logo, Lady World Moms Blog!  She is evolving right along with us!  And we hope you like her new look designed by my friend, Erica Joyner.

Today, we are excited to announce the launch our new Human Rights column!  Nicole Melancon, the Third Eye Mom, will be editor to the new column, and Jennifer Prestholdt, our resident mom writer who is also an international human rights lawyer, will be the column’s regular contributor.  We will also be soliciting guest posts to this column from our own international writers and from writers outside the blog.

Next, our very first “Link Up” begins tomorrow!  We are inviting bloggers to write a post about motherhood and their culture and to link up to our site. Please show your support to these participating bloggers by commenting on their sites! Details about the link up can be found here.

Have you noticed our special “International Ambassador” badge to the Million Moms Challenge being run by ABC News and the United Nations Foundation?  You can grab the badge from our “Buttons” page and add it to your blog, too, to show support for maternal and children’s health around the globe!

Also, this month we will be featuring a “Caption Contest” based on a drawing by the amazing Canadian animation artist, JC Little.  Stay tuned for details!

I hope you continue to return to World Moms Blog to watch us grow, read our interesting stories and help us make the world a better place for our children and all the children whom we will never get the chance to meet.

Children are our inspiration.

— Jennifer Burden, Founder/Editor, World Moms Blog 

Logo design by Erica Joyner Designs, Virginia, USA.

Jennifer Burden

Jennifer Burden is the Founder and CEO of World Moms Network, an award winning website on global motherhood, culture, human rights and social good. World Moms Network writes from over 30 countries, has over 70 contributors and was listed by Forbes as one of the “Best 100 Websites for Women”, named a “must read” by The New York Times, and was recommended by The Times of India. She was also invited to Uganda to view UNICEF’s family health programs with Shot@Life and was previously named a “Global Influencer Fellow” and “Social Media Fellow” by the UN Foundation. Jennifer was invited to the White House twice, including as a nominated "Changemaker" for the State of the World Women Summit. She also participated in the One Campaign’s first AYA Summit on the topic of women and girl empowerment and organized and spoke on an international panel at the World Bank in Washington, DC on the importance of a universal education for all girls. Her writing has been featured by Baby Center, Huffington Post, ONE.org, the UN Foundation’s Shot@Life, and The Gates Foundation’s “Impatient Optimists.” She is currently a candidate in Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs in the Executive Masters of Public Affairs program, where she hopes to further her study of global policies affecting women and girls. Jennifer can be found on Twitter @JenniferBurden.

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