Recap SFL Moms and South Florida Bloggers: ‘How to Work with Brands’ November Meetup

On Saturday, November 16, the South Florida Bloggers and the South Florida Mom Bloggers had their monthly meetup at Books & Booksto learn how to “How to Work with Brands.”

Location

Books & Books hosted our event in their Coral Gables location. The space was cozy and comfortable. Thank you for being such a great host! 

Speakers

Amy Sedeño (@amysedeno)

Executive Director & Partner

A pro in the hospitality and tourism industry with over six years of experience, Amy manages the Travel & Tourism division at Carolyn Izzo Integrated Communications (CIIC). Her destination experience includes work with Barbados, Quintana Roo, the Dominican Republic, Acapulco, Los Cabos, Chile, and Guatemala. In addition to destinations, this self-proclaimed, “hotelista” has an extensive roster of properties– big and small– under her belt, including Marriott International Inc., Grand Lucayan (Bahamas), Solmar Group (Los Cabos), Hotel El Ganzo (Los Cabos), Cala Luna hotel (Costa Rica), Hyatt Ziva and Hyatt Zilara (Mexico and Jamaica), The Atlantic (Fort Lauderdale) and Caribe Hilton (Puerto Rico), to name a few. Amy has spearheaded campaigns for high-profile Real Estate clients, including Rancho San Lucas and Vivo Resorts & Residences. Within the Food and Beverage sectors, she has executed campaigns for ProChile and Barton & Guestier. Amy is WSET certified.

Paola Mendez (@coralgableslove)

Founder, The Blogger Union

Paola Mendez is a serial entrepreneur, published author, and the kind spirit behind The Blogger Union – a network of blogger communities, dedicated to growing our members’ brands + incomes through meetups, workshops & brand collaborations.

Each community hosts monthly blogger events and works with different brands to showcase their products and services in cities across the US including NYC, Miami, SoCal, DC, Minneapolis, Houston, & Chicago – and more coming soon! The Blogger Union brand collaborations include working with brands Capital One, Macy’s, Tequila Herradura, Southwest Airlines, Shake Shack, La Croix, and many more.

Paola’s talent for creating communities began in 2007 when she founded Pinkghost, a designer toy store, gallery, and haven for local and international artists. Pinkghost artist products, a collaboration between Paola and her favorite artists, were sold at stores around the world, including the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, the Rhode Island School of Design, the Gothernburg Museum, Kidrobot, and Fab.com.

In addition, Paola continues to run an eclectic portfolio of online businesses, including Coral Gables Love —the most influential online hub in Coral Gables— and Dapper Animals – a colorful crafting blog.

Previous to life online, she was a web developer in the finance and media industry. She holds a B.S. in Computer Science from the University of Miami and a Masters in Information Systems, where she graduated as the valedictorian of her class at Florida International University.

On her down time, you can catch Paola playing drums in her cover band (along with her partner Brian, her sister, and brother-in-law) or snuggling with her toy Yorkie, Pancho.

What We Discussed

Mei Jorge (from Blame It On Mei) asked relevant questions that bloggers and influencers might have when working with brands. And Amy and Paola gave us insights into how to seek out brands that fit with our own. Amy spoke from the perspective of a public relations professional, while Paola spoke from the blogger/influencer perspective.

Paola and Amy discussed:

• How to reach out to brands in a professional way that will make influencers/bloggers stand out above the rest.
• What brands are looking for when they are considering working with bloggers and influencers.
• Tools that public relations companies use to look at whether or not they want to work with a specific blogger or influencer.
• What to include in your Media Kit.
• How to make sure you fit with the brand and it’s image.
• How to negotiate contracts with brands.
• What public relations firms and brands will look for in 2020.

We wrapped up the meetup with a Q&A, in which the attendees asked more questions.

Thank You!

It was another successful and highly informative joint South Florida Bloggers and South Florida Mom Bloggers meetup! 

Thank you so much to Amy Sedeño and Paola Mendez, for giving us insight into what brands look for in working with bloggers and influencers. And to Mei Jorge for moderating! 

Big thanks to Nicklaus Children’s Hospital for sponsoring our meetups, and for the awesome swag! And thank you to all of our lovely sponsors who always support us! We are so grateful.

And last, but not least, thank you to all of the members who came to learn and spend some time with us!

Big Thanks to Our Sponsors

Photos by Nabila Verushka.