LA isn’t just home to a community of bright entrepreneurs; it’s also home to a legion of great writers and bloggers. Throughout the year, Lalawag will be chatting with some of the city’s most prominent bloggers to find out a bit more about what makes them tick.
Jenny Ortiz (@Interview_Her) honed her interviewing skills once upon a time as an Executive Recruiter at a firm. She was bitten by the entrepreneurial bug at the same time and started a designer cake company named Tea Time Cake. At one point it all clicked with her that she should use her expertise in probing and talking with people in order to find out more about entrepreneurial women like her. Thus, Interviewher was born — a blog and social networking site focused on women who own their own businesses.
Tell us about your blog.
Interviewher is more than a blog! It’s a free interactive world for women and businesses owned by women. Interviewher is comprised of a blog with a social networking and marketing platform. The blog portion features women behind the hottest products, services, shops, boutiques, inventions, fashions, books, charities, restaurants, salons, events and anything else we come across that women may love. It’s meant to inspire, motivate, and inform. Interviewher’s social network allows these women and companies to connect with each other in this virtual female community and reap all the benefits. Individual members can find the deals with exclusive promotions, discounts, and giveaways. They can also discover cool new products, stores, events, and beauty secrets, shop private sales and even search for job openings! Company members are able to promote themselves, offer exclusive discounts and giveaways, barter with other companies, throw events, post job opportunities and a few more things we’re working on.
How did you get started blogging?
Before I founded Interviewher, I used to be an Executive Recruiter, interviewing companies and job candidates. From that experience I realized I had a knack for conducting interviews and finding out more about people and businesses. At the same time, I had also started my own designer cake baking company called Tea Time Cakes. In order to promote my beautiful fondant cakes and reach new customers, I created my own website and blog. A big part of my business was conducted over the internet. This was my first exposure to the computer and marketing world. It exposed me to the challenges and excitement of being a woman owning a business. The fact that the task wasn’t easy, led me to explore how other women were successful in starting their own businesses. That’s when the idea came to me to combine my recruiting skills and what became of interest to me as a result of starting my own business together to create Intervhewher!
What platform do you use for blog publishing? What made you decide to use it over the other choices out there?
I now use a combination of platforms one of which is WordPress for the blog portion of the site. My programmer thought it would be the most uncomplicated and straightforward platform to use. I think it came out looking feminine, clean and sharp.
Who’s the most interesting woman you’ve met through Interviewher?
I have to say that each time I interview a different woman, I always learn something new. Two recently interviewed women come to mind right away: Rory Freedman, and Gretchen Rossi. Both of these articles will be up very soon on Interviewher.
Rory is the brainchild behind the book “Skinny Bitch.” Rory is a very down-to-earth woman who literally dropped every girl’s dream job as an agent at Ford Models, to follow her dreams. She took a huge chance and money was not her biggest motivator. She’s the perfect example of what happens when you don’t give up.
Gretchen Rossi is on the show Real Housewives of Orange County and has recently launched her own cosmetics and handbag lines, both under the name “Gretchen Christine.” This woman is an open book and is not afraid to show her true colors. Even though Gretchen could easily have many people running her company, she chooses to do almost everything on her own. Gretchen’s outlook on life is very different to how most women view theirs. The ups and downs of her own personal life have motivated her to create an impressive brand.
What are the first three sites you check when you wake up in the morning?
I honestly go straight to the Interviewher social networking site. I also have the Facebook app on my phone so that’s a must even before I get out of bed. Members of Interviewher can actually log in through Facebook too! After I check these sites, I check all my emails then get straight to work. Every morning I conduct interviews (after Regis and Kelly) and I literally have no time to surf the web to find out what celebrity is in rehab next.
What smartphone apps do you find indispensable on your home screen? Why did these apps make the cut?
On my iPhone:
- Tip Calculator – It’s just so easy to use! Plus, math is not one of my strong suits.
- Doodle Jump -I play it less these days because I am rarely bored lol but if I’m traveling or something I definitely load this one up. It’s like jumping through a never ending world!
- Knocking Live Video – You don’t need WiFi to video chat through this and it’s good option to connect with those who do not have Facetime.
- Shazam – I love this one, I don’t think this one needs an explanation.
- Talking Tom Cat – He’s so cute and always makes me laugh
- Facebook - ‘Nuff said.
Where do you do your best writing? (at home, starbucks, the park, etc.)
At home, I have a desk set up in the living room that looks out to Biscayne Bay. It’s a very tranquil atmoshphere so I can conduct my interviews and writing in peace. :)
Can you share your thoughts on the LA Entrepreneurial scene, especially from a female perspective?
From my own research and from reading other writers, I have found LA women entrepreneurs to be very driven and sure of themselves. It seems like “press” comes easily to these ladies. I also think the LA Entrepreneurial scene seems to be much more exciting and has the potential for sudden and exponential growth than all other cities because of the close access they have to celebrities which is marketing gold.
What helps you the most in terms of expanding your readership?
Even though we feature companies from anywhere in the world, focusing on one city at a time really helps. Starting locally helped create a grass roots buzz about LA’s female-owned companies. I have excellent writers who make the stories cute and fun to read, all while putting our stories in a positive light.
Once any woman or company is interviewed by us and featured on Interviewher she will inevitably tell all of her friends, existing customers and PR people as well as post it on Facebook and Twitter. This helps us increase our numbers because their fans and friends will follow the link to Interviewher.
We also send out periodic newsletters which always helps to increase our readership.
Do you have any other tips for aspiring bloggers?
This may seem obvious, but finding a great title and domain name is half the battle. I also think it’s important to be in touch with your readers by letting your audience know there’s a real person or people behind your blog. Finally, the blogging world has become very competitive, so creating unique content on a frequent basis also very important.
You can follow Jenny on Twitter (@Interview_Her) and Facebook.
