Alt Design Summit

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Pilar Guzmán, Martha Stewart Living

As Editor-in-Chief of Martha Stewart Living, Pilar Guzmán is responsible for the iconic lifestyle magazine’s editorial direction. Prior to Living, she co-founded Momfilter.com, was the founding Editor-In-Chief of Cookie, and senior editor at Real Simple. In 2008, she was named one of Crain's "Top 40 Under 40" and the New York Post included her on its list of "New York's 50 Most Powerful Women."  She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and two sons.

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Maxwell Gillingham-Ryan, Apartment Therapy

Eight years ago, Maxwell Gillingham-Ryan was known as the “apartment therapist,” traveling by scooter to his clients’ homes to help them make their spaces beautiful, organized and healthy. Today, Apartment Therapy, the website he started as part of his design services, helps more than 8.5 million unique readers per month accomplish the same goal for themselves. 

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Amy Butler, Amy Butler

Amy Butler is a creative designer known for her sophisticated yet relaxed modern approach to printed fabrics and products for home, fashion and craft. With spirited color and confident combinations of print, Amy's fresh point of view is apparent in all of the products she creates. Amy works from her studio in Central Ohio with her husband, cats and a small staff of amazing friends. Her fabrics, patterns, handbags, design and project books and home decor products are sold worldwide.

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Grace Bonney, Design Sponge

Grace Bonney is the founder and editor-in-chief of Design*Sponge, a daily blog dedicated to the creative life. Since its founding in 2004, Design*Sponge has grown to cover a wide range of topics. In addition to hosting a yearly scholarship for student designers, artists, Design*Sponge published both its first newspaper and book this year, Design*Sponge at Home, which ended with a 30-city book tour that raised money for local arts charities across the country.

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Deborah Needleman, Wall Street Journal

Deborah Needleman is Editor in Chief of WSJ., The Wall Street Journal's monthly style magazine. Prior to joining the Journal, Ms. Needleman was founding Editor in Chief of domino magazine, launched in 2005 by Condé Nast Publications. domino was honored as Best New Magazine by Adweek, top Launch of the Year by Media Industry Newsletter and The A-List 10 Under 50 by Advertising Age.

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Heather Armstrong, Dooce

Heather B. Armstrong is widely acknowledged to be the most popular "mommyblogger" in the world. She has more than 1.5 million followers on Twitter and was recently named by Forbes Magazine as one of the 30 most influential women in media. Time Magazine has twice listed her website as one of the 25 best blogs in the world. She has been profiled in the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times, and she's appeared as a guest on Oprah, The Today Show and CNN. 

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Gretchen Rubin, The Happiness Project

Gretchen Rubin is the author of the New York Times bestseller The Happiness Project, an account of the year she spent test-driving the wisdom of the ages, current scientific studies, and lessons from popular culture about how to be happier. A graduate of Yale and Yale Law School, Rubin started her career in law, and she was clerking for Justice Sandra Day O’Connor when she realized she wanted to be a writer.

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Emily Henderson, Secrets from a Stylist

Originally from Oregon, Emily spent 8 years in New York before moving to Sunny L.A.  She won a little television competition you may have heard of called Design Star, season 5 and currently hosts her own HGTV show called Secrets From A Stylist. She believe strongly there is always a time and place for fresh flowers, and that nothing is more important than simply being nice to every person, every day.

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Kathryn Storke Grady, Snippet & Ink

Kathryn Storke Grady is the founder and editor of Snippet & Ink, a wedding blog that marries her love of pretty things and her love of love. With each of her posts she aims for the place where beauty and authenticity intersect. She lives in the Bay Area with her handsome hubby and a naughty little cat named Lady Bird. She loves reading and cooking and spending time in the middle of nowhere. 

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Victoria Smith, sfgirlbybay

Victoria Smith is the editor of sfgirlbybay, one of the West Coast’s leading interior design blogs. Sfgirlbybay is known for representing ‘Bohemian Modern Style’, and sharing wonder and inspiration in the uniquely handmade. Victoria thrives on encouraging individuality and unique, personal style. When she's not blogging, Victoria is tweeting, or running around San Francisco with her camera and trusty dog, Lucy.

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Ben Silbermann, Pinterest

Ben is the co-founder of Pinterest, an online pinboard to organize and share things that inspire you. Before Pinterest, Ben worked at Google helping to design display advertising products. Ben grew up in Des Moines, Iowa and now lives in Palo Alto California.

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Erin Loechner, Design for Mankind

Freelance writer and HGTV.com talent Erin Loechner began blogging personally in 2001 and professionally in 2007 at Design For Mankind (recently honored as one of the London Time’s top 50 design blogs in the world). Erin’s work has been featured in Glamour, Lucky, Dwell, Refinery29, Nylon, Print Magazine and The Huffington Post. She has written over 1,349 blog posts with the word "awesome" enclosed.

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Ryan Marshall, Pacing the Panic Room

Just before becoming a husband and father, Ryan decided to run from the regular 9-5 life, and become a photographer and story teller for a living. His blog Pacing the Panic Room was the home base for the story of the building of a family. He has worked on recent projects for The Gap, Redken, Pureology, Babytalk Magazine, Pregnancy Magazine, Crescer, and Fast Company.

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Gabrielle Blair, Design Mom

Gabrielle Blair's site, Design Mom, was named a Website of the Year by Time Magazine. The site has also been recognized as a top parenting blog by The Wall Street Journal, Martha Stewart, Real Simple and Parents Magazine. Gabrielle has been featured in Better Homes & Gardens, Woman's Day and Ladies Home Journal. Gabrielle is a founder of Kirtsy, a popular inspiration site for women, and also a founder of Alt Summit.

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Nicole Balch, Making it Lovely

Making it Lovely was named one of the 50 World’s Best Design Blogs by the London Times Online, and one of the Top 50 Design Blogs for Mom by babble.com. Nicole's work has been featured in Better Homes & Gardens, The Chicago Tribune Magazine, Time Out Chicago, ReadyMade, Everyday with Rachael Ray, CS Interiors, and other publications.

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Meg Keene, A Practical Wedding

Meg Keene blogs at A Practical Wedding & Reclaiming Wife. Her first book, A Practical Wedding, will be released in January 2012. She has been quoted sources as diverse as The Wall Street Journal, CNN, and Glamour Magazine, and her work has been cited by ReadyMade, NPR, and Feministing.com, among others. Meg attended NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and previously worked in NY in Off-Broadway theater management.

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Ez Pudewa, Creature Comforts

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Jordan Ferney, Oh Happy Day

Jordan Ferney is a former event planner and author of the party and lifestyle blog Oh Happy Day which features party ideas and original DIY's. Jordan also writes for Real Simple.com, Babble.com, and Project Wedding. She currently lives in Paris, France.

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Danni Hong, oh, hello friend

Danni Hong is a graphic designer and blogger based in Orange County, California. She blogs daily at her lifestyle & inspiration blog oh, hello friend. Her blog & shop were started in 2008 and she has worked hard to create her brand over the past 3 years. Her published works include How Magazine, Real Simple Weddings, Somerset Studio, and Romantic Homes. oh, hello friend was also included in the London Time’s top 50 design blogs in the world.

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Alyssa Yuhas, ilikenicethings

Alyssa is based in Calgary, AB where she works as a graphic designer. Her blog, ilikenicethings, started in 2007 as an inspiration board to share with friends. Soon after, she created a blog spin-off and launched We Like We Lovemagazine. In addition to her blog and magazine, she works on design projects for clients from all over North America. Her favorite things are her collection of magazines and (of course) her husband.

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Bri Emery, DesignLoveFest

Based in Los Angeles, Bri Emery is the gal behind the savvy and stylish inspiration blog designlovefest, the place where type and images totally make out. when she's not working she can be found brunching, thrifting, and thinking how deep down, she really just wants to be Jazz singer.

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Dana Willard, MADE

Dana Willard authors the popular DIY sewing, design, and photography blog--MADE.  Readers worldwide pop-in daily for her easy-to-follow tutorials and relatable personality.  Dana's designs have been featured in multiple sewing books, print magazines, and online creative sites.  Her first book, The Fabric Selector, publishes later this year and outlines everything you'll ever need to know about fabric.  She lives in the hot city of Austin, TX with her husband and two kids.

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Liz Stanley, Say Yes To Hoboken

Liz Stanley blogs daily at Say Yes to Hoboken, a style and crafts site, when she's not camping under the Golden Gate bridge with her husband and son or digging for treasures at local thrift stores. She also writes for Babble's Family Style site, Momtastic, and AOL's Holidash site. Her work have also been featured by Real Simple, HGTV, Cookie Magazine, Design Sponge and Apartment Therapy.

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Alma Loveland, Ollibird

In 2007, Alma Loveland, together with her husband Mike, founded Ollibird, a company that produces digital artwork. She literally wrote the book (or at least A book) on using Adobe Illustrator and she teaches a growing curriculum of Illustrator-based online classes at nicolesclasses.com. Alma's designs have been produced in women's fashion, stationery, and online media. 

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Mike Loveland, Ollibird

Artist, teacher, and photo manipulator, Mike Loveland works with his wife Alma, at Ollibird. As a digital artist, he has processed and improved countless images, formerly as director of post production at a stock photography studio, and currently at Ollibird. Since 2007, Mike has been teaching online Photoshop classes through Nicole's Classes.

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Julia Rothman, ALSO

Julia Rothman has created illustrations and pattern designs for newspapers, magazines, wallpaper, bedding, books, and subway posters.  She is part of the award-winning three-person design studio called ALSO (with Jenny Volvovski (GD '02) and Matt Lamothe (FAV '02)) and runs the blog Book By Its Cover. She recently authored Farm Anatomy, Drawn In and co-authored The Exquisite Book. She lives and works from her studio in Brooklyn, New York.

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Susan and William Brinson, House of Brinson

Susan and William Brinson craft and curate the blog House of Brinson a creative partnership on lifestyle and style in their everyday lives. Susan is a senior art director and designer and William is commercial photographer. In their live/work loft in NYC they collaborate on projects with each other and for individual clients. Susan art directs and designs and William uses the space for photo shoots.

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Tracey Clark, Shutter Sisters

Tracey Clark is a photographer, writer, and founder of Shutter Sisters. She co-authored  Expressive Photography: A Shutter Sisters Guide to Shooting From the Heart and teaches of a slew of Big Picture Classes. She has built an entire career on her passion for stalking and framing the beauty of everyday life through her lens. When she’s not at Shutter Sisters, she’s playing on her personal blog.

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Courtney Khail, Khail Stationery

Both an illustrator and watercolor artist, Courtney Khail is the woman behind courtney khail stationery and design. Her daily blog posts serve as a catalog of studio sneak peeks, inspiring design, and interesting finds from around the web and the world. Courtney currently resides in Atlanta, Georgia with her husband Jordan and their black lab Bella.

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Melanie Blodgett, You are my Fave

Melanie Blodgett is the author of you are my fave, a lifestyle blog devoted to handmade projects, parties and fave finds. You can also find her on Babble's Being Pregnant and The New Home Ec. Her work has most recently been featured in her mom's brag book, coffee table edition. Melanie resides in Denver, Colorado with her husband Ryan and they're happy to be expecting their first baby due in April.

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Marisa Anne, Creative Thursday

A small intention to be more creative one day a week while working a 9 to 5 job…Creative Thursday is now home to Marisa’s paintings, podcast and blog. Her art sells worldwide and can be found in her own online boutique as well as select galleries and shops including Urban Outfitters, Land of Nod and Papyrus. In 2011, Marisa launched her first fabric line.

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Garrett Gee, Scan

Garrett Gee is founder and CEO of Scan, a web and mobile app that connects the physical and digital worlds through QR code technologies. He and his wife Jessica currently reside in Provo, Utah where Garrett plays soccer for Brigham Young University. Before starting Scan, Garrett freelanced as a web and mobile designer. Garrett's design portfolio and more information can be found online.     

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Erin Hiemstra, Apartment 34

As a style strategist, Erin turns a curated eye to life on her blog, Apartment 34. A branding, marketing and PR specialist, Erin has been blogging since 2007. Her work has been featured in The Nest, Canadian House & Home.com, and Rue Magazine among others. In her spare time she loves exploring her new hometown of San Francisco with her husband and 4-legged children, Bailey and Chloe.

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Danielle Krysa, The Jealous Curator

Danielle has a BFA in Visual Arts, and a post-grad in Design. In 2009, after years of looking at beautiful contemporary art and thinking "Damn, I wish I thought of that", she finally decided to say it out loud, and The Jealous Curator was born! Her curation went from the blogosphere to actual gallery walls in 2011 with shows in Washington DC, Vancouver, and San Francisco.

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Piper Toth, One Sydney Road

Piper Toth happily traded the corporate world for the online world.  She is the owner of the online boutique, one sydney road, where she's made it her mission to offer fresh, inspired finds that'll make you & your home sparkle.  Piper also blogs where she gets to gush about design.  When Piper is not working, you'll find her out exploring Cleveland, or the rest of the world, with her husband & 2 dogs.

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Brittany Egbert, One Charming Party 

Brittany knows a thing or two about hosting a great party. From a very young age, she helped out with her mother’s catering business. Her work in event planning led her to launch One Charming Party. Her work is featured regularly on television, as well as  publications like Real Simple Online, HGTV.com, and various print magazines. Brittany and her husband have four children. They live in Utah.

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Kathleen Shannon, Jeremy & Kathleen

Kathleen Shannon is an ad agency art director turned freelancer turned brand consultant. Her approach to capturing, shaping and sharing overlaps her profession, her life and her blog. Kathleen's layered-modern-messy-adventurous-authentic aesthetic pervades everything from her clothes to her home to her food.  She'll follow a whim from the foothills of Mount Everest to a reality show audition just to have a good story to tell.

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Wendy & Tyler, Blue Lilly

Wendy and Tyler and portrait photographers currently on a year long tour of the world, capturing families and landscapes as they go.  They blog about their adventures, stories and images at bluelily.squarespace.com.  Their work has been featured in the NY Times, Oprah and The Today Show.  They have two children and homeschool on the road as they go.

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Cassanda LaValle, coco+kelley

Cassandra LaValle is the editor-in-chief behind the lifestyle blog coco+kelley where she explores trends in fashion, decor, color and entertaining. As a designer,  she consults clients across the globe on styling their homes and private events from her offices in Seattle. She has been recognized by editors at Martha Stewart, House Beautiful, Sunset Magazine, and was listed on the London Times 50 Best Design Blogs.

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Chris Gardner, Curbly

Chris Gardner is the editor-in-chief of Curbly.com, a DIY home decor web community dedicated to creating and sharing how-to projects for those who love where they live. He's also the founder of ManMade, a site that explores the craft and handmade scene from a guy's perspective. He's the author of "Make It Mod," and has appeared in ReadyMade, SewHip, and the Wall Street Journal. He lives and makes messes in Columbus, Ohio.

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Laura Mayes, Blog Con Queso

Laura Mayes is an Emmy-winning writer, and a co-founder of the Mom 2.0 Summit, the Mighty Summit & Camp Mighty, as well as Kirtsy. She has worked with Kirtsy to curate national art exhibits and to run nationwide programs to educate women about social media,  She speaks regularly at gatherings including SxSW, ALT Design Summit, Evo converence, TribeCon, and Interactive Strategies. Laura records her daily adventures at Blog con Queso.

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Allison Chapman, Igloo Letterpress

Allison has been printing since she was young, learning under her Grandad's experienced eye, eventually completing an internship at the Smithsonian and moving on to teach at the Minnesota Center for Book Arts. Using her Grandad's treasure trove of vintage images and type, along with his 19th century press, she founded Igloo Letterpress in '96. Allison lives and works in beautiful downtown Worthington, Ohio.

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Ami Price, Elizabeth Anne Designs

Ami Price is the founder and editor of Elizabeth Anne Designs, an inspirational wedding blog focusing on classic and timeless soirees.  Ami holds an MBA from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business and balances her love of beautiful things with her career as the Director of Administration for a financial services company. Ami lives in Chicago with her husband and their adorable pup Charlie.

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Kelly Beal, Design Crush

Design Crush has been Kelly's love letter to the design community for the past four and a half years. She's a graphic designer by trade who doesn’t make or sell anything other than perception, but she's passionate about supporting those who do. Giving them a voice and spreading their names and talents far and wide is what she does best. You can also find her contributing on Curbly, Houzz, and Wantist.

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Jason Hudson, jasonhudson.com

Jason Hudson is a photographer and blogger from Toronto, Canada. Contributing to Toronto Life Magazine, Kinfolk, and The Globe and Mail and working with The Hudson's Bay Company and other fashion houses and retailers, he has managed to etch out a particular niche, somewhere between documentary, advertising, and journalism. He lives in Toronto with his partner, Jeff.

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Lisa Congdon, Lisa Congdon Art + Illustration

Lisa Congdon is a San Francisco-based illustrator and fine artist known for her colorful and imaginative paintings and drawings. Her illustration clients include Chronicle Books, Harper Collins Publishing, Target, Pottery Barn Teen, Urban Outfitters and Land of Nod. Lisa is the author of A Collection a Day and has been featured in Martha Stewart Living, The New York Times, Dwell Magazine and numerous art & design blogs.

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Susan Petersen, Freshly Picked

Susan lives with her husband and two small children in Utah where she runs her online leather goods shop - she makes moccasins for the rich and famous (or at least their kids). Her products have been featured in Parenting Mag., US Weekly, In Touch, Good House Keeping and House Beautiful. She also has been blogging for the past 5 years at Freshly Picked, a blog about design, fashion, and craft.

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The Girls With Glasses The GWG Show

ELIZA Magazine editor Summer Bellessa and Singer/Songwriter Brooke White join forces to bring you The Girls With Glasses Show. The GWG Show is an online variety show full of fashion, entertainment and heart. The Girls have worked with amazing brands such as Kate Spade, Ban.do and Warby Parker and have been featured on MSNBC, Entertainment Weekly, LA Times, and Black Eiffel!

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Joslyn Taylor, Simple Lovely

Joslyn Taylor is the founder of Simple Lovely, a lifestyle blog that chronicles her love of design, fashion, art and food. She is also a freelance writer for The Dallas Morning News, among other publications, and a founding partner of Tiny Dallas, which focuses on raising kids in a creative and mindful way. In her spare time, she runs the corporate website for a large software company. 

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Marie LeBaron, Make and Takes

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Anne Sage, Rue Magazine

Co-Founder and Executive Editor of Rue Magazine; blogger at The City Sage; digital media and lifestyle branding strategist. A Canadian living in San Francisco, Anne holds a degree in English from Stanford University and is blessed with an all-consuming interest in nearly everything: fashion, interior design, music, pop culture, history, cats, dogs, ponies, fruits, vegetables, ice cream....the list goes on. 

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Kate Woodrow, Chronicle Books

Kate Woodrow is a lifestyle and art editor at Chronicle Books, an independent publisher in San Francisco. She has acquired and developed more than 100 book and gift products, many of which started off as a blog, an Etsy shop, or a conversation. Kate is also a freelance editor for Anthology magazine. She lives with her husband in Berkeley, CA.

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Christine Castro Hughes, Darling Studio

Christine Castro Hughes is a designer and writer who delights in simplicity, color and a good cup of coffee. Christine started Darling Studio in 2005 to bring smart, beautiful design to small businesses and boutiques. She has chronicled her life online for over 12 years, first on Webby-nominated Maganda.org and now on Brunch. She works and plays in Los Angeles with her husband, Rama, and their children, Henry and Maira.

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Hunter Alii Sebresos, Dyvergent

Hunter Alii Sebresos is a founding partner of Dyvergent, a consultancy focusing on innovation within branding and media. He has worked for top advertising agencies and as a Visual Strategist for NASA.  His voice on the future of design, media and interfaces has been sought after by Advertising Age and the Custom Content Council. His greatest passion comes from inspiring creative professionals on how to define a personal brand and practice.

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Jess Chamberlain, Sunset Magazine

As a contributing editor for Sunset magazine, Jess Chamberlain is always on the hunt for innovative and thoughtfully-made products, inspiring homes and gardens, and creatives making the world a more beautiful place to live. Jess is most passionate about making sustainable choices the obvious ones and converting plastic-baggers into aspiring environmentalists. She also sometimes likes to pretend she’s a photographer. 

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Brooke Reynolds, Inchmark

Brooke Reynolds is the author of inchmark, a blog she began in 2008 after moving from New York City to Southern California (now she spends her time at the beach instead of waiting for the F train). A former art director for Martha Stewart magazines, Brooke designs books and stationery and works on various other projects for clients like Purl Soho, Martha Stewart, Oliver + S, Restoration Hardware, and Stewart, Tabori + Chang. She and her husband John have three young children.

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Jenny Komenda, Little Green Notebook

Jenny Komenda is a NYC-based interior designer and blogger. Her daily posts on Little Green Notebook cover mostly decor-related inspiration and DIY projects, but Jenny also shares glimpses into her life in the city with her three young daughters. Jenny's work has been recognized by editors at Elle Decor, Better Homes and Gardens, Vogue, House and Home, Good Housekeeping and HGTV, among others.

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Angie Anderson, Biggest Little

By day, Angie Anderson managed national marketing campaigns for big companies like Starwood Hotels and Moleskine, but by night, she was formulating a plan to break away, start an independent graphic design company, and turn her employers into clients. In December 2010, that's just what she did, launching Biggest Little: a small design operation with big ideas. Angie lives in New York City and is currently working on kid's apps with her collaborative design group, Tryangle Labs.