StarWomanPlus Interviews Gina McCauley- The Dean of Black Bloggers.

StarWomanPlus-

What is inspiration to you? And how do you get inspired?

Gina McCauley-

I typically am inspired by a desire to help others which is usually triggered by righteous indignation.

SWP-Are you on a journey with destiny? What is the journey? What is your destiny?

GM-Of course I am on a journey with destiny. I think thejourney is learning to master myself. Learning to have compassion for others and making life better for someone other than myself.

SWP-Have doubt & faith affected your core/vision/mission/purpose? How?

GM- I have acted in the presence of doubt on numerous occasions. In fact, I have done things that I thought would fail, just because something was pushing me to do it. I think vision often trumps doubt if the vision is powerful

enough. Overcoming doubts builds faith. But to be honest, there have been times when I haven't had faith in my fellow man and woman, but I acted anyway and they proved me wrong.

SWP-You have an abundant plan for your life,right? How do you want to get there?

GM- I'm working on moving from a place of abundance. My advocacy tends to focus on what's wrong in the world. That can skew your vision, but I believe that what we focus on, we invite into our lives. I believe in the power of gratitude.

SWP- Is whatever you are involved with an effective tool for change?

GM-Absolutely. One of my goals is to make sure that people who look like me fully participate in the digital age.That's why for the past 9 years, I've run the annual Blogging While

Brown conference. I get to come face to face with people's whose lives have been changed because they attended that conference and plugged into our network online.

SWP- In what ways should women maximize the abilities in their vision?

GM-Be open. read. Be self aware. Seek the companies of those with different or larger visions.

SWP-When did you begin to embrace and become aware of your purpose/vision?

What was your reaction?

GM-Interesting question. I think other people saw it before I did. I was just doing what felt right at the time. I got lot of national media attention that I didn't necessarily welcome or know what to do with. I think it took me years to figure out what I was doing and what my purpose was, and that continues to evolve.

SWP-A woman's mind and soul are important? How important?

GM-What you think on is what you are. Your thoughts are invitations. You have to guard your heart and your soul and a large part of that is mastering your mind and understanding how it works and not being a slave to every thought that pops into your head.

SWP- How should our educational systems be involved in helping girls discover their purpose?

GM- I don't know that I trust our educational system tohelp girls discover their purpose. I think girls should be exposed to a wide variety of skills and experiences. We tend to push every child toward a college education, school debt,and a lifetime of working in a safe job.

My work is in media and imagery,we need more girls with creativecontrol and in decision-making positions in music, film, and gaming.

SWP-Who are (is) your mentor(s)? What have you learnt from them?

GM- I learn from my blog readers. I learn from other bloggers. Growing up, my idol was Barbara Jordan, but I tend to admire women and men who are visionaries and push build things other people did not think were possible

SWP-Those times that seem as if nothing is working,how do you pull yourself through?

GM- I don't know that I pull my self through. My vision or the recognition of a need spurs me

to act when I don't want to. So doing what I think is right and honorable pulls me through.

SWP-Any last words for women/girls out there standing by and for their dreams?

GM-If the Universe gives you a vision, the Universe will make a way.If a vision keeps comign back to you over and over again, that's a sign.

SWP-Share 5 quotes that have changed your life.

GM-Tis better to light a single candle than to curse the darkness.

Old men talk about what they've done.Young men talk about what they're doing. A fool talks about what he's going to do.

Don't wish for it work for it.

And then they came for me and there was no one left to speak for me.

Power never concedes anything

without a demand.

WhatAboutOurDaughters.com

BloggingWhileBrown.com @thablogmother

@bwbconference

Gina McCauley who is called “the Dean of Black Bloggers” and “a woman who's on the cutting edge

of the internet and social media," Gina McCauley is a lawyer turned blogger.

In 2007, ESSENCE magazine named

Ms. McCauley one of the 25 Most Influential African Americans, right after then- senator Barack Obama. That same year she won the Black Weblog Award Judges’ Award for “Blog of the Year”.

In 2009, she was the Sonya Sanchez keynote speaker at the Kentucky Women’s Writers’ Conference. In 2010, she was selected to The Root 100, The Root’s list of emerging and established leaders in the African-American community.

In 2011, she was selected as a “Digital Doyenne” by the Digital Moving Images Salon at Spelman College and Women in Film and Television-Atlanta.

In April 2013, Gina appeared on the cover of Black Enterprise's annual technology issue.

Her blog posts have been cited frequently in mainstream media,

including on CNN, Entertainment Tonight, and the CBS Morning Show, PBS, NDTV, NPR,

the Tom Joyner Morning Show, RTE Radio 1 in Ireland, and XM radio. In addition,she has written for The Guardian, The Observer, Blackvoices.com , ESSENCE.com and Essence magazine.

Ms. McCauley founded Blogging While Brown, the first international conference for bloggers of color. In addition to designing and implementing the curriculum for digital literacy training, she regularly speaks at some of the largest social media conferences in the world, including South by Southwest Interactive, Netroots Nation, Blogher,and Blog World Expo.

No part of this interview may be reproduced without prior permission.

(c)2015

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