[The Food Fighters]
www.lobsterdonut.com
Who’s Blogging: Cleveland and Vasko (pseudonyms), Toledo
The Concept: The Food Network collides with The Onion.
The Back Story: “We’re now based in Philadelphia and New York, but we’re both from northwest Ohio and we met at UT. We both love food and food culture —eating and writing about it —but sometimes people take it too damn seriously and it just becomes absurd. We take a lot of inspiration from the news, and someone like Guy Fieri is the piñata of the food world; he’s just kinda begging for you to take a whack at him. We handle this with all the sensitivity of Samuel L. Jackson reading that kid’s book Go the F** to Sleep.”
The Highlight Reel: “We’re the first website that shows up if you google Bobby Deane’s girlfriend. For some reason, people want to know about her. That’s probably the source of half our traffic.”
The Day Jobs: “We don’t want to blow our cover.”
The Haul: “You know, we’d love to make money, but we really need to build our base. It’s kind of a drag when one of us will write something that we really like and not much happens, and then Kim Kardashian will tweet about non-dairy creamer and it’s everywhere. But we know we gotta just keep plugging away. The goal is to monetize, but we want to do it right. At the moment, we’re just having fun.”
[The Normal-Sized Woman and Chronic Oversharer]
www.brittanyherself.com
Who’s Blogging: Brittany Gibbons, Swanton
The Concept: The naked truth about fashion, sex, food, and body issues from a gorgeous size 16
The Back Story: “I started blogging in 2007 when not many people were doing it. First, I wrote about food and that wasn’t so great. Meanwhile, I was feeling like the fashion glossies just weren’t cutting it for anyone who lives on more than cigarettes and two carrots a day. So I just started writing about how I love fashion but I also love to eat, and just my general struggles with my own body image, my experiences being bullied, stuff like that. I hit a nerve. I got yelled at by my original hosting company because I was getting so much traffic. Now, I’m editor-in-chief of curvygirlguide.com, where we’re looking to reinvent the definition of beauty, and promote open, forward-thinking dialogue on body image, self esteem and life. Meanwhile, brittanyherself.com is all me, writing pretty much whatever I want.”
The Highlight Reel: Many to choose from in the Most Popular channel, including “Fat Ass” and “Let’s all make a list of things I can’t fit into while I cry and get drunk. It’ll be super fun.”
The Day Job: “I used to be a wedding planner. Now this is the day job — and it has also taken over nights and weekends. But, unlike wedding planning, it’s fun.”
The Haul: Six figures, thanks to endorsement deals. Brittany’s the current face of national retailer Lands’ End’s plus size clothing line and is shooting a pilot for a travel show called Have Boobs, Will Travel.
[The Local Wine Guy]
www.toledowinesanddvines.com
Who’s blogging: Dave Nershi, Perrysburg
The Concept: The red, white, and rosé version of the locavore
The Back Story: “About three years ago, I realized that, while there were a lot of local wine events and tastings, there wasn’t a central place to find out about them. So I just decided to set up a site where you could get info and find a community of local people who were passionate about grapes. I also didn’t want people to feel intimidated by a lot of scientific jargon, which you don’t need to enjoy a nice glass of wine. My goal is to demystify wine and cut through the snobbery. People don’t realize that you can get an excellent bottle of wine for just $10 or $12. The site has a weekly roundup of area events, as well as tasting notes about wines from everywhere: California, France, Australia, South America, Ohio and Michigan. It’s nice to know that the blog is being read by people in Europe, Canada, around the world and, of course, here in the Toledo area. It’s a great creative outlet and a way to connect people to the local wine scene.”
The Highlight Reel: “Ohio has the conditions to grow grapes that don’t grow as well in places better-known for supplying wine; we’ve got more than 100 wineries in the state that turn out excellent Cabernet Franc, Reislings, and Eiswein. Drink local!”
The Day Job: Executive director for the Society for Industrial and Organizational psychology, a professional society for psychologists headquartered in Bowling Green
The Haul: “Enough to buy the occasional corkscrew.”
[The Rubber Tramps]
www.learnsponge.com
Who’s Blogging: Kyle Golemblewski & Megan Doriot, Toledo
The Concept: Sell your stuff, live in a van, and drive all over the U.S.
The Back Story: “We’re in our mid-twenties, and had kind of hit a crossroads in our lives. We both realized we’d always wanted to travel and just started thinking, what’s the craziest way we could do that? So in February 2012, we just packed up what we’d need into a van and started driving west. (If you think fights are bad in a house, you should see how they get in a 40 square foot living space! But we don’t have many of those.) Like the blog name, we’re just trying to soak up as much as we can along the way, and so far we love it.”
The Highlight Reel: “We decided we were going to do a ton of nature, and we bought a national park pass. That’s been an incredible deal.” Megan picks Yellowstone as her favorite spot so far; Kyle’s a Badlands [South Dakota] guy.
The Day Job: Kyle continues to do some digital marketing from the road; Megan, a former office manager, has taken a hiatus from the typical working world.
The Haul: The blog has a paypal button, and strangers donate. “Sometimes, people we meet on the road find out about what we’re doing and give us some money. With our savings and (Kyle’s) gigs, it’s enough to get by. The bigger deal is when people say, ‘Wow, you’re doing what I’ve always wanted to do.’ That’s inspiring.“
[The Babes of First and Ten]
www.blitzandglamour.com
Who’s blogging: Team Captain Alia, along with Glambots Becky, Em, Stephanie, Rachael, and Jess, Sylvania
The Concept: Sports, especially football, especially OSU football, from the perspective of hot women.
The Back Story: “There are tons of places guys can get sports info, but they’re kinda like Rainman, where it’s just this long stream of really boring data. Also, a lot of times when women want to talk about sports, there’s ‘that guy’ who knows everything and won’t let you get in a word. We’re a bunch of women who are super-passionate about sports. The entertainment factor really comes from people’s engagement, so we welcome anyone to the table. Even Michigan fans.”
The Day Jobs: “Still figuring that one out.”
The Highlight Reel: ”The Jersey Dolls page is pretty popular, which is our photo forum. We invite women to send us pictures of themselves doing their fan thing.”
The Haul: “So far, we’re writing for love, not money. But if we can figure out a way to at least pay for tickets so we can go to a few more games, that would be awesome.”
[The Deliberate Dabbler]
www.thatonechic.com
Who’s blogging: Yeisha (pronounced “Ayeesha”) Beamon
The Concept: The go-to girlfriend for small biz advice with a side of life lessons.
The Back Story: “I’m passionate about small, local businesses, and I created a blog to deal with those kind of issues, and just to motivate women and let them know they could pull off their own small business. I’m also currently completing an externship, after completing my schooling at the Culinary Vegetable Institute in Milan, Ohio. I had another blog, the Humility Project, where I wanted to share my beliefs, and again, just help motivate people. I decided to consolidate into one site. People always refer to me as ‘that one black chick,’ and that URL was taken, so I grabbed thatonechic.com. It’s a place where I can cover the range of all my favorite topics, with the uniting thread being the message of motivation, empowerment, and sisterhood.”
The Day Job: Founder of Toledo Baby Town and Family Expo
The Highlight Reel: “When my friend’s — they’re white — little girl had a birthday, I wanted to buy her a black baby doll. It is not easy to find a black doll! But I thought it was important for her to have toys that reflected the world around her. She loved it. I have readers around the country, and I seem to be a hit in England; that post really resonated with people.”
The Haul: “I started the site because I didn’t want to stretch myself too thin, so while I definitely want to monetize, I’m not rushing into it. I think a lot of times, women think they shouldn’t start something until they have everything perfect, but honestly, just dive right in and everything will work out as you go. That’s how I’m approaching things.”
