This past Friday night, Ellen and I had the pleasure to meet one of our longtime MompreneursOnline.com community members, Gwen Austin. Gwen was in NYC for the annual Toy Fair, and we got together on Friday night to have a glass of wine and some appetizers near her hotel. We had never before met Gwen in person, but as the founder of RC Art Toys and the  inventor of some really cool, educational toys, she had been active in our Mompreneurs Online forums for several years, so we were really good “virtual” friends. Geting to meet Gwen in person was such a bonus!

This is not the first time we have had a “live” get together with the inspiring, exciting women we have met on Mompreneurs Online. A couple of years ago, one of our most active members, Janene Jarosek, arranged a mini-reunion in Chicago for about a dozen Mompreneurs from our online community. We were already bonded through the exchange of ideas and experiences in our online community, but this gathering so strengthened our bonds as we shared personal and professional challenges over two days….and had so much fun in the process. We’ve also coordinated a luncheon in NYC for moms in the metropolitan NY area and another of our members, Danielle Zeitlin Hughes, arranged a memorable evening get-together at a restaurant.

What this all says is that you can form really valuable friendships through shared interests and nurturing support in an online community, and we are so grateful to all the women we’ve met over the years at Mompreneurs Online. You have made our community so vibrant and inspirational. We hope to meet each and every one of you in the near future so we can further cement these bonds of friendship and shared experiences.