Carol Cain is the @NYCityMama

by Mom It Forward on March 2nd, 2011 | 2 Comments »

This is the story of a woman who moved from quiet little Wisconsin to bustling New York City, while at the same time moving from a bustling career in PR and publishing to the "quiet" life of a stay-at-home mother. Once upon a time indeed, Carol Cain found herself in a wonderful place full of energy, tall buildings, and people, but at a loss for what to do. She began a quest, a quest for adventures with her children, seeking things to do with them that would be inexpensive and fun for both them and her. She battled giant traffic jams and "rude" New Yorkers. At times, she was exhausted and longed for the intimacy and sense of security of a small suburban neighborhood. But she also fell in love with the tremendous energy of the city, the incredible access to so many grand opportunities, and the exposure to arts, foods, and cultures that the city provided her and her children. She began chronicling her quest, and NYCityMama.com was born.

Two years later, it is a family-friendly catalog of her travel and food adventures in and around New York City. "I worked in PR for well over 15 years, and in publishing...for about two," said Carol. Then, "I found myself in this new world of stay-at-home moms and thought it would be interesting to journal a lot of the interesting and sometimes wacky lives of NYC moms, especially in the playground," says Carol. "I consider myself lucky enough to have worked with some great people in the past who gave me the opportunities I needed to build on the confidence and people skills that make it so easy for me to seek out the opportunities I have now through my blog."

Like many, she was surprised by the huge community of bloggers she discovered, in New York and elsewhere, as she blogged. As it happens, though, she began to be a rallying voice of those bloggers in her community. "I am most known for being very open and vocal with my opinions, and I hope that more often than not, I am so in a positive way," she says. "I do so to make other bloggers aware of either mistakes that I have made that they can avoid, or to empower them to use their own voices with confidence, and in a positive way, with and for others. I don't think that bloggers in NYC are any different than bloggers anywhere. We deal with a lot of the same issues that many bloggers do and have a lot of the same insecurities and questions...that other bloggers do. Bloggers in NYC have a lot more opportunities at times than others, because we are centrally located, but that doesn't mean we always handle them in positive ways. And therein lies the challenge. I think it's important to remind those in our community to remain humble, to remember that we have to work for what we want, and to earn our worth. My vision for this community is that we be an example of professionalism, humility, and ethics, despite the accessibility, despite the high demand."

Carol Cain's story has thus been one of adventure, for sure, but also, of dreaming and unifying, which in the end is an extension of her role as mother. "I am a blogger because I put my role as mom first. Though blogging has opened my world up to opportunities I would have never dreamed possible, it was because of my time with my children that I even thought of blogging. So, when I get caught up in the busy life of a blogger and I find myself away from my family too long, I step back and refocus. I am a better writer, dreamer, and adventurer because of my family."

Connect with Carol on her blog NYCityMama.com, on Twitter @NYCityMama, and on Facebook at NYCityMama.