Michelle Obama was hugged and cheered by schoolgirls she told could be future world leaders

“Be the best that you can be,” Mrs Obama said.

Addressing a gathering of schoolgirls in London, the US First Lady urged her audience to have “confidence and fortitude” to determine their own success.

Mrs Obama choked up as she took to the stage to speak to the pupils at Elizabeth Garrett Anderson School in Islington, north London.

Fighting tears at one point, she described her audience as “the future leaders of Great Britain and this world”.
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CINCINNATI (Reuters) – Maternity leave. Affordable child-care. Flexible work arrangements. When first lady Michelle Obama said she wanted to help working women balance career and family, American moms applauded — and immediately came up with a wish-list of policy changes.

“I’m so psyched she is bringing this issue to the forefront,” said Geniene Pernotto, 43, a marketing director and single mother of one in Youngstown, Ohio.

Pernotto quit her demanding corporate job in New York City in exchange for a pay cut and shorter hours at a nonprofit in northeastern Ohio. But she laments that she had to choose.
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Soda Has Most Popular Page After President, in Collaboration Between Creators and Marketer

I just read that in-game advertising company IGA Worldwide is struggling. Obviously the economic downturn isn’t helping anyone. But video games have stayed strong and as more games use Internet connections for new content, one would expect such a company to be doing well.
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When it comes to innovation, look to the non-profits. When you’re short of marketing megabucks, necessity can be the mother of some pretty interesting inventions. Consider the Obama campaign, or PETA.org’s fascinating forays into viral marketing.
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PR Spin: Social Media Facts

It’s apparent: social media has exploded to the masses. The WWW of social networks and applications have made a huge impact in the business and online PR world. Stretching from the Twitter accounts of Obama, Brittany Spears and Fox News to the Facebook Fan Pages of Victoria Secret, Target and The Buyer Group.
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Ask Not What Women Bloggers Can Do for You … Getting Things Done in the Blogosphere

Rosie the Riverter - We Can Do It!

Rosie the Riverter – We Can Do It!

Recently a departing employee gave my partners and me framed prints of this iconic image of Rosie the Riveter, with a new subtitle: ‘BlogHer Inc., Founded 2005.’ The image is incredibly meaningful to me. I see it as an illustration of what my partners and I did when we got tired of hearing the question “where are the women bloggers?” In response, we established a business around this community. Rosie reminds me of a shared trait among women who blog about everything from parenting to politics: We have a compulsion to make things happen, especially when times are tough.

Read the original By Jory Des Jardins

As co-founder and President of Strategic Alliances for BlogHer, Jory Des Jardins is an innovator in online advertising, women’s media and Internet entrepreneurship. Jory can be contacted at jory@blogher.com.
Read all Jory’s MediaBizBlogger commentaries at Jory Des Jardin – MediaBizBlogger.

With so much focus on Barack, we were interested in seeing what his first lady, Michelle Obama, had to say about child rearing.  As a mother of two young children, it’s interesting to read her views on raising a family.

Know when to fold them: In an interview aired in September on the season premiere of “The Ellen DeGeneres Show,” Michelle Obama was asked whether she and her husband were planning to have a third child.

Read the original by Zack Miller