Me Ra, Brian and the kids are headed to Park City, Utah this week for the EVO Conference! I love EVO’s tagline; the evolution of women in social media! It’s going to be a power packed three days, hosted by Rachael Herrscher of Today’s Mama!, and her amazing team!

Major influencers in the social media world are doing keynotes from Jon Sinclair who is the VP Creative Director at Harpo to Andrea Wishon, Supervising Producer for The Oprah Winfrey Show to Jason Pollock,  filmmaker, writer and digital producer (who has 92K plus people following him on Twitter!) to Martha Stewart’s marketing team to Johnson and Johnson’s team and MORE!  And in the midst of all these amazing influencers, our Me Ra Koh has been invited to do the Closing Keynote on Saturday evening!  Yeah Me Ra!!!!! (see her talk description below!)

But here is the BEST part!!  You can watch all the powerhouse keynotes, including Me Ra’s, on EVO’s Live View website!

CLICK HERE to watch Me Ra live on Saturday night at 5pm Central Time!

What time is Me Ra’s talk in your time zone?

Seattle/West Coast friends: 4pm PST

Utah, Colorado and all our other Mountain time friends: 5pmMDT

Texas, Kansas Wisconsin and all our other Central Time Zone friends: 6pm CDT

All our buds on the East Coast: 7pm EST

Me Ra would love to have you join the audience and already feels your support.  She appreciates all your Tweets, prayers and emails of encouragement!  Brian said she has been rehearsing her Keynote for days, wanting it to have the most impact ever!  The theme is Living a Life of Adventure! She would love people to pray that she FILLS HER SPACE and doesn’t shrink back but steps up to that stage with FULL CONFIDENCE.  Thanks for saying a prayer for our Me Ra (we know she’s going to rock it!).

CLICK HERE for the full schedule of all EVO Keynotes!  (only the keynotes will be live online)

If you are one of the 50K beautiful readers who brew a cup of coffee to meet Me Ra on her blog each morning, heat up the pot Saturday afternoon/evening or pour a glass of wine, pop some popcorn and enjoy watching Me Ra live this Saturday!  I have a feeling that it’s going to be magical.  With the conference theme being adventure, they have asked Me Ra to close out the conference with a keynote that inspires an adventurous life–who better than Me Ra?!!  See her talk description below!

See you this Saturday!

love,

Genie

Closing Keynote: Me Ra Koh (click here to see it LIVE!)

If you knew fear and doubt would always be there, regardless of what you achieved…what would you go after?  What impossible would you pursue?  In twenty years, Me Ra went from living out of her car in Seattle parking lots to inspiring millions of viewers on The Nate Berkus Show.  Fear and doubt have been her unwanted companions, every step of the way.  But the search for worthiness, worthy of living her life to the fullest, worthy of being loved, worthy of having Voice, has been the fire behind the adventure of her life.   Join Me Ra for an incredibly candid, inspiring Closing Keynote where she shares it all, the highs and the lows, (even the times her family has lived with monkeys and apes in Thailand’s jungle!), all the while empowering you to join her in living your impossible!

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Catch Julie Watts, awesome pro photographer and incredible mentor to so many, on the SOARORITY! Forum Tonight for our Ask and Learn with a PRO!  We start at 5pm PST, and you get to ask Julie as many questions as you want for two hours!  She is amazing with giving feedback on photos too, so if you have an image you’d like her to critique, be ready to upload it tonight for her!  Read more about Julie Watts here!

What are you doing in July?  How about meeting me, plus two amazing Oprah Producers (Jon Sinclair and Andrea Wishom), a few dozen powerful blogging/social media speakers and experts, plus 300 awesome women attendees!  The EVO Conference, a POWERFUL Conference that is all about The Evolution of Women in Social Media, is happening in Park City, Utah!  And I’m crazy excited to be doing one of the three keynotes!

Instead of this being a HUGE blogging conference with thousands of attendees, the EVO Conference takes a different approach.  Last year was EVO’s first year, and Jon Sinclair and Andrea Wishom did the Keynote.  They were so inspiring and awesome that they are back by popular demand, and the authenticity of all the speakers and attendees created an unforgettable conference that was life changing for so many!  Part of the magic behind EVO is that they limit registration to a few hundred (versus thousands) to help nurture some serious sisterhood, networking and CRAZY FUN together!  Seriously, I’m counting the days!  But not just me, our whole family!

Brian and I are going to bring the kids because the masterminds behind EVO (Today’s Mama and Mom it Forward) have thought of EVERY THING that a mom would want for a summer conference which includes the COOLEST DAY CAMP ever for kids!  So while the kids party, dad is going to go explore, hike (pretty much play!) and mom is going to be rocking it with 300 awesome women!

Register Here Today!!

This is the Keynote Speaker line up.  (Yes, I’m elated and incredibly honored!)

Keynote Speakers

Me Ra Koh

Me Ra Koh loves cameras, kids, and empowering women: she spends her life bringing them together. She is the regular photo expert contributor for The Nate Berkus Show on NBC, and her work and photo-recipes have also been featured on The Oprah Winfrey Show, Lifetime Television, and VH1. She is the author of the bestselling book, Your Baby in Pictures; The New Parents’ Guide to Photographing Your Baby’s First Year (Amphoto, 2011).  Her CONFIDENCE Workshops for women have sold out nationwide for the last four years, empowering women to take their creative passion and fly. Me Ra is proud to be one of the SONY Artisans of Imagery, as well as host her annual SOAR! Scholarship Program for aspiring women photographers. She often shares with her audiences how she did not find photography, but photography found her. And then it healed her. She brings her inspiring story to EVO this year.

Twitter: twitter.com/merakoh

Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/MeRa-Koh/209564791813

Jon Sinclair

As vice president of development and creative services at Harpo Studios, Jonathon Sinclair works to create and promote new shows, series and specials that continue Harpo’s legacy as the most successful production company in daytime talk and expand its content across other platforms. In his role, Sinclair has served as part of the team that developed syndication’s newest hit talk show, “The Dr. Oz Show,” and is also working to launch the upcoming “Nate Berkus Show” this fall. Based at Harpo Studios headquarters in Chicago, he is also responsible for the creative services team that produces episodic promotions and marketing materials for both “The Oprah Winfrey Show” and “The Dr. Oz Show.”

Prior to joining Harpo, Sinclair was a writer and producer of special projects at WDTN-TV in Dayton, OH where he was awarded a Regional Emmy and Iris Award. He is also the recipient of multiple Telly Awards.

Twitter: twitter.com/jonnysinc

Andrea Wishom

Andrea Wishom is a Senior Supervising Producer and 17 year veteran of The Oprah Winfrey Show, the number one daytime talk show for the past 24 seasons. She’s produced some of the shows most high profile interviews and highly rated large scale productions (Wildest Dreams Come True, Welcome Home Olympic Athletes, Oprah’s After Oscar Party) In that time she’s also worked on Primetime Specials – “Oprah’s Legends Ball” “Oprah’s Primetime Oscar Special 2010? and “Christmas at The White House.” Aside from producing memorable and top quality programs for Season 25 (the farewell season of The Oprah Winfrey Show), she also oversees high profile bookings, including headliners, newsmakers, celebrities, best-selling authors and top selling artists. On Sunday nights you might catch a glimpse of her on OWN in the docu-series “Season 25: Oprah Behind the Scenes.” She considers herself a fan of blogs and is always looking for new ways to combine her love of social media with her television experience. Prior to joining Harpo, she attended The University of California at Berkeley and spent a summer at the famed Radcliffe Publishing Course in Cambridge Massachusetts. Andrea lives with her husband and three children in the Kenwood/Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago. She too has a dog, a cocker spaniel named Webster.

Twitter: twitter.com/hydeparkmom

Blog: oprah.com

To read about all the other amazing speakers, CLICK HERE!

So are we going to party in Park City this July?! 

xoxo,

m

We are not guests on Oprah today.  Someday!  SOMEDAY!  But not today.

However, our work is going to be spotlighted again!  And that is still SUPER COOL!

On May 25th, Oprah is going to do a special show to kick off designer guru, Nate Berkus’s, new show.  The Oprah team called us last week and got re-releases to spotlight our studio’s canvas again.  Nate requested a LARGE canvas be made to hang in the wonderful home of Kari and Dave, our Mamabloo.  Yes, Mamabloo had her house rebuilt, redone, redecorated by Oprah’s team!  And we had the privilege of having our photography spotlighted in their home’s new decor!

It all started as a joke when Mamabloo won our Running on Empty Contest a couple years ago.  When we did introductions for the workshop, she said she’d never won anything and decided to enter to win the home makeover with Oprah and Nate!  I still can’t believe they actually won!  It was AMAZING!  You can read that whole story HERE!

Thus, we were invited into a whirlwind with Oprah’s team.  It was so much fun!  They wanted to spotlight the family portraits we’d done for them over the years.  Mamabloo even said that when they went to the studio, the portrait images were hanging on stage!  So fun!

Roxanne, of Pixel 2 Canvas, is the mastermind behind that amazing, HUGE, GEORGEOUS canvas in their dining/living area—you’ll see it on the show!  And I heard it from the source, Mamabloo and her family got to do a catch up live chat!

That’s the scoop friends!  Oprah.  May 25th.  Be inspired.  Be entertained.  Enjoy!

xoxo,

Me Ra

p.s.  Lots and lots of Behind the Scene Photos from this weekend’s CONFIDENCE Wkshp coming up tomorrow!

I am not exaggerating when I say that every week, I get 3 or more emails of wonderful stories from blog readers who at some point say, “you must be on Oprah.”

But how does one get on Oprah? Their website, I guess! Kari is our living proof that it worked!

So I’ve got a big favor to ask! Will you help us get on Oprah! What do I mean by this?

I have a vision for an Oprah show that is all about empowering women to use their cameras, start their own part time businesses, even going to women with children of different ages and teaching them how this big, black thing works, and also sharing my story of how I literally came from a hopeless place to where I am today. Wouldn’t this be the coolest Mother’s Day show!

A few fun stats to share with you. We started our photography business six years ago as a side hobby for me. In six years it grew to national fame with Brian and I traveling all over the world to shoot weddings at $15K plus. We have been featured on VH1 and recently asked to be icons for Sony’s new camera line. In November 07, our DVD series hit the market like a whirlwind (being the first to speak to women in plain language about how to use their cameras). And the most fun stat of all, our blog has grown in one year from having 200 unique visits a month to 10,000 UNIQUE visits a month! Isn’t that insanely wonderful! Thanks to all of you!

The best part is I get to be myself and share this with all of you. I get to be the woman who was released from a psych ward fifteen years ago (yep, my 15 yr. anniversary is coming up in May 08), who survived being date raped and losing a child, who fought through many storms. And these days I am pinching myself because my heart feels as if it’s a garden ready to explode with new life and color, despite the pain and loss.

“Me Ra Koh Photography” is fresh in the mind of the producers at Oprah after finishing up Kari’s show with them. So will you help us jump on this opportunity and visit this link on their website? By telling them about what you think of me and Brian, our blog, our DVDs, our story, etc. You can help us get on the show! I know they get thousands upon thousands of emails like this, but hey, what do we have to lose–especially in this special window of time we’re in!

One of the producers told me on the phone that this method really does work!

What do you say we overwhelm them with emails! Here’s the link to put your submission in! Click Here!

Thanks so much!

fyi…When you fill out their submission, be sure to include these links too:

our blog address: www.merakohblog.com

our DVDs and Workshp Site: www.refusetosaycheese.com

our portfolio and about me page: www.merakoh.com

FYI #2–All submissions are in, and we will soon be posting the Five Finalists for the “Love Themed Photo Contest”! Tune in to see if you or your friend made it to the top Five Finalists! xoxo!

I had to share a little fun back story with you because I still can’t get over it! And, I’m secretly hoping Kari reads today’s blog and comments on “her” version of how all this went down!

Meet Kari!

Kari nominated herself for the Running on Empty Award last fall. This award is something Brian and I do where we give a free pass to a mom running on empty. She gets to come to our Workshop for Women-free of charge, and she also receives a free night’s stay in the Villa B&B. It’s all about getting away from the daily grind and taking a minute to breathe and not feel so empty. This is the nomination that Kari posted to our blog for the contest. This is her beautiful story.

As you’ll see today, Kari and her family won their Dream Home Makeover! Can you believe it!! I still can’t believe this all happened to her and Dave!

So without Kari knowing, the Oprah producers contacted us for prints of the family. I had done a photoshoot with them when Ty was only six months old. But Gina Sook, our wonderful Associate Portrait photographer,

had done a session with them after they got the girls. Nate Berkus and his team wanted to display lots of prints, but the coolest part is they made a 4 ft by 5 ft canvas print of a specific shot Gina took!

We were so excited but given strict instructions to keep it a secret the last few weeks! I felt horrible b/c I couldn’t return Kari’s call for fear that I may let the secret out. She was probably wondering what a nut I was and why I wouldn’t call her back!

A little more back story on all this, Kari, Dave and I all went to graduate school together. We were in the same teaching program together. Kari and I were each other’s Peer Coaches when we had to do our student teaching in the local junior high and high schools (yes, it was brutal ). This was years ago, and she and Dave have remained dear friends–always supporting us through their prayers and encouragement.

When we heard what she and Dave were going to do by adopting her nieces, I was speechless. Can you imagine anything more giving?

This all makes me excited for our 2008 Running On Empty Contests–yes, we’re bringing the contest back for the upcoming workshops! We’ll be choosing one winner for the workshop in San Diego and one winner for the workshop in Sonoma! Be thinking of moms you can nominate who need a break because they’re running on empty! In March we’ll announce the contest start date for you to post your submission and all the guidelines! For more info on past contests, click here!

Kari, you and Dave deserve all the goodness the world has to give! We are so excited you were picked by Oprah and Nate! Brian and I love you both!

To all our readers, if you have a minute post a comment to congratulate Kari and Dave!!!

Don’t miss the show! Click here to find your local show time of today’s Oprah!

Tune in tomorrow, we have a special request that we want to bounce off all of you!

To find out what time The Oprah Winfrey Show is playing in your city, CLICK HERE!!!

Tomorrow we’ll give you the fun back story on how this all happened!

Oh my gosh, you can’t miss it! Can someone record the show so we can get it up on the blog?! Are there any rockstars out there who can do this?

To see the trailer, ***click here!!!***

We love you Kari! We’ll all be watching on Monday!!!

Tune in to Oprah this Monday, February 11th 2008, to see some of our studio’s photos on the show, presented in a way that may make you cry!!!

The back story on how our images ended up on her show is so fun–I’ll be sure to tell you more after the show airs!

I would love to share it now, but I don’t want to ruin the show for you!

But I’ll give one hint!

If you were in our October 2007 Beginner’s Workshop for Women in Seattle, and met Kari Hale, one of the attendees AND one of the winners for the Running On Empty Award, YOU WANT TO BE SURE TO WATCH!!!

Be ready with your Kleenex box because the Hale family is the most dear family ever! You won’t want to miss this show!!!

To find out what time The Oprah Winfrey Show is playing in your city, CLICK HERE!!!