Inspiration: @Jenni Hogan Pays It Forward with MissionHotMama and GoGirlAcademy

giving back • my world • moms making a difference • moms making a difference

by Mom It Forward on July 13th, 2011 | 2 Comments »

Inspiration—Imagine a young, new mother, beautiful but bedraggled, six weeks after having given birth to a baby girl, in her doctor's office, crying in response to his simple question: "How are you doing?" She says, "No one had asked how I was. I had this beautiful baby sitting in my lap but I had focused all my energy on her and had forgotten to focus on keeping myself up to date." We've all felt similarly, but her feelings were exacerbated by the fact that she was on maternity leave from her career as a TV personality in Seattle, and she had but a few weeks to get back to her pre-baby appearance.

Fortunately, this new mother—Jenni Hogan—was tapped into the power of social media. She had already built a substantial Twitter following through her TV involvement, and in her moment of trial, she reached out to them as she hadn't before. She tweeted about needing help at her upcoming personal fitness training appointment, and 12 moms showed up. Their support rallied her, and even continued as they did a few community benefit events. She used the hashtag #missionhotmamas,to capture the group identity of women encouraging one another to know it’s ok to spend some time on you and that you will be happier with your baby if you’re feeling amazing. When her little girl turned a year old, Jenni launched MissionHotMama.com, a place where "we can inspire each other to keep bringing on the hotness, kick booty in life and shine."

The inspiration and activities MissionHotMama provides, though, are in fact, actually a continuation of Jenni's passion for paying it forward. Having benefited from the help of mentors in her career, she is passionate about mentoring others. GoGirl Academy.com is another manifestation of her desire to help advance others. Launched a year and a half ago, it is a for-profit institution dedicated to helping women succeed.

She and business partner Suzanne Keel-Eckmann were inspired to provide an interactive career acceleration program to help women develop their personal brands, boost their confidence, and become their very best selves. All women are accepted regardless of ability to pay, with the portion of their tuition they can't pay coming from the Academy's Pay-It-Forward Fund. Graduates are then asked to reimburse the Fund.

As passionate as she is about motherhood and mentoring, she is also passionate about the power of social media, especially as it facilitates both of those roles. For her, it is a 2-way conversation, a very powerful way to engage with her viewers and her communities that TV, a one-way medium, does not provide. Through social media, she maintains the Jenni Hogan brand, founded MissionHotMama and GoGirlAcademy, and raises awareness for social causes using her klout (read this article about how the power of social media helped #impactmamas).

Jenni Hogan is a force to be reckoned with, a shining example of "momming it forward." You can learn more about her at JenniHogan.com or on Facebook or Twitter, about GoGirlAcademy here, and about MissionHotMama here.