I went to the here in Chicago today. I partly went as a function of work (I’m an editor for two concrete trade publications), as well as personal interest. Unfortunately, the show didn’t have much that fit my industry but was so much fun to walk around as a citizen and consumer. All kinds of industries were represented—food, skin care, clothing, home building, activism, energy-savings and much more.
I was seduced by the To-Go Ware—a utensil set made of sustainable bamboo in a handwoven carrying case. The purchase goes to a great cause. The cases are made by the Karen refugees on the Thai-Burma border. It also reduces the number of plastic cutlery thrown away. I’ve taken to sporting my set everywhere I go.
I also discovered some wonderful organic tea from a local vendor, Light of Day Organics. Let me tell you, this stuff was seductive. Of course, almost all of the flavors I wanted to try they weren’t able to bring with them but I did snag some Hummingbird Nectar that I brewed and iced and tasted delicious. I also snagged two organic cotton t-shirts, which have now become my most comfy shirts.
The show featured an all-vegan menu with recyclable cutlery and folk singers to serenade you during lunch. Mayer Daley was there talking about his various citywide initiatives to make us greener. At the end of the show, you received a free compact fluorescent light bulb to help reduce our carbon footprint. I look forward to next year’s show, which I’m hoping will be a little larger and include more home building aspects.
Be inspired.
Kate did and excellent job with our website. We have received several compliments on how nice it looks and how easy it is to navigate. She also went above and beyond to make sure that we were able to update and the website ourselves through Wordpress. I cannot gush about how awesome she is and how happy we are with the site and her dedication to the project.
One of the best things I've ever done in my career is work with Kate Hamilton. Her enthusiasm for all things editorial, not to mention her energy and passion for any project she's involved with, is contagious. In addition to being a natural born leader, she's also a creative type, a thinker, a stickler for details, and someone with incredible vision and the drive to get things done. I always marvel at how she is constantly teaching herself new things. She always seems to be ahead of the curve on anything related to social media, and she also has an eye for design. This lady rocks! And she continues to be a mentor to me and others in journalism and communications.
Kate is a real professional and a pleasure to work with. She is a great communicator and always put her client's (my company) interest first. She is tremendously personal and had a great understanding of our business and how she could help it. She is great and is a tremendous asset to any company.
Kate has been a fantastic resource for all things digital, whether redesigning my website on Wordpress, fine tuning my social media profiles, or understanding Google Analytics. She's an excellent communicator, and I will absolutely hire her again in the future.
Kate has an incredible amount of drive when it comes to LoganSquarist. In the six months that I’ve been involved, I’ve watched the site grow from a pet project to a respected community publication. This success can be attributed to Kate’s technical and leadership skills. From building out the site to off-hours community management and a consistent flow of content, the site improves by leaps and bounds on a weekly basis. When it comes to team management, Kate delegates tasks in an organized and efficient manner, making her an all around great and inspiring person to work with.
I worked with Kate during my time as a community manager at Lightspan Digital while Kate was my direct manager. Kate’s communication practices really taught me how to navigate the sometimes complicated agency world. As an account manger, Kate smoothly orchestrated 10+ accounts at one time as well as help me manage and prioritize tasks in my role. Kate was a role model during my first few years in the professional world and continues to be so to this day.
Kate is a wealth of knowledge who served as a tremendous mentor for all of our team members while constantly improving processes and workflows. She’s a tremendous project manager, pays great attention to detail, and is able to demand results from her team with respect. At LoganSquarist she has built and led a team of dozens of volunteer contributors committed to her vision of a community resource. I would happily work with Kate again anytime!
I met Kate through the Association of Women Journalists (AWJ) and immediately was impressed (and inspired) by her creativity, drive, work ethic and use of social media. Her passion for journalism, digital media and communications overall is evident in the projects she takes on, including LoganSquarist, an online news outlet that she founded that uses social media to socialize the neighborhood. What I admire about Kate is her vitality as well as her desire to keep learning and growing personally and professionally. Kate is a modern-day renaissance woman who is multitalented (ask about her travel, knitting and marathon exploits!) and who brings instant value to any team or organization.