About Me | mpn-social-media

This is what I do: "Social Media for Business: Sustainability, Management, Communications"

My work trajectory in a nutshell: I studied Business Management and started my own small business consulting firm after college (Chrysalis Management Services). After five years, I was hired by Business Funding Group, a small business financing company, for my broad expertise with all manner of small businesses. While there, I transitioned from managing to financing small businesses .I then worked for the Small Business Administration, in their Disaster Relief Office, for ten years. After being let go in January of 2006, I followed a life-long interest (and regular stints as a freelance journalist and photographer), to become Editor of Business Puerto Rico, the only glossy business monthly magazine in Puerto Rico. Unfortunately, the Great Recession of 2008 curtailed advertising revenue, and by 2009 the 25 year old publication had closed its doors. At that time, I took on an organic algae biofuel start-up as development and communications consultant, and won CleanTech's 2009 People's Choice Award and $125,000; that same year, Columbia University's Earth Institute announced their new Master of Science in Sustainability Management degree; so I applied, was accepted in the first class of 2010, and graduated in 2012. I then did a fellowship as funding and development advisor to Ecoprise, a solar-energy and microfinance entity in Nepal, and a contract job as Social Media Manager for Blue Planet Environmental Marketing Services, as well as serving Culebra Elders, a grassroots environmental group, as Sustainability advisor. Currently, I am Social Media manager for The Forest Trust's global Earthworm campaign, and Chief Sustainability Officer and Communications Director of Bio-Lipidos de Puerto Rico.

For the last decade, two forces have made themselves imperative in my outlook on life: urgent concern for the environment and the emergence of social media as an essential component of business communications. So for years, I studied these subjects and embedded them in my daily life, so that by 2007 I was volunteering for community organization and environmental non-profits, and had a fledgling social media presence on the internet, which today (2013) boasts a Klout score of 63 (top 5%).

All this translates into my mantra:"Social Media for Business: Sustainability, Management, Communications"

These are examples of the social media skills I can parlay into your business success:

In order to compete for a cash award, I produced a 6 minute video at the very last minute, and won the People's Choice award in the 2009 Clean Tech Conference in San Francisco. The prize was a cool $125,000; then they posted the film on youtube, and were able to disseminate information about their work to new investors.

I live-tweeted President Obama's Environment speech because the networks were not carrying it, and because I have a large following of environmental non-profits and NGO's (non-governmental organizations, what non-profits are called outside the USA), as well as many environmental activists, that follow my tweets. By the time it was over I had enough information for two days' worth of follow-up tweets, and fifty new NGO's were following me and 20 new individuals signed up by the next day! I don't have a huge following, but my followers are chosen carefully for their relevance to my interests and focus topics.

I am working on a wiki about Environmental Heroines on wikispaces, (wikispaces is a pre-release wiki used in schools{teachers: wikispaces is a GREAT tool because the whole class can see what is being done real-time, and it is saved for posterity! You can also go back and refer to it after the class is finished, and open it up for comment}. Once I have gathered all the information I can, then I will publish my Environmental Heroines Matrix on regular wikipedia. After that, it will have a life of its own, because other people can add and correct information, making it a richer document.)

For business, a wiki page will help you flesh out your profile, in ways that LinkedIn (too narrow) and Facebook (too braod) cannot do. Also, you can use it as a place to link to all your other social media. Facebook has also launched a "Facebook for Business" site as well. So if someone googles you, they will see everything related to you (home, work, life) accessible on the first page (depending on how much Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, tricks (like using hashtags # and keywords) you use). Fortunately, there are settings on every platform so that others cannot go into pages you want to restrict, so you can be fairly sure of the way you present yourself to posterity. One caveat, everything is known in cyberspace, so you may have to get used to that. At any rate, if you have ever wanted to write your own biography, wikipedia is the place.

Through LinkedIn I can network for staff hires, expert content, your competition's latest moves. On Facebook, I can build and keep stakeholders engaged with partly business, partly fun posts, and by listening to your clients. On twitter I can live-tweet events and conferences. On Storify I can write stories about what you do, and on tumblr I can post wonderful pictures that thrill and inform your readers. With Blogger I can write in-depth articles and interviews that appeal to your clients. On Google+ I can manage your social media presence and SEO, share videos, post pictures, and do research.

With my social media services, you will have a happily engaged public that looks forward to everything your business does.

Other than social media, these are the business skills I bring to the table:

Sustainability

Management
Communications

Ethics
Research
Analysis
Corporate Social Responsibility
Editing

Writing
Public Speaking
Sustainable Development
Strategy
Start-ups
Strategic Planning
Nonprofits
Leadership

Team-building
Economics (macro and micro)
Entrepreneurship
Business Planning
Photography
Climate Change (mitigation and adaptation)
Program Management
Organization
Environmental Awareness
Environmental Issues
Community Outreach
Government experience
Sustainable Business
Business Development

Join Monica's Facebook Group for updated information, Guayaba Social Media

Blogs Produced:

Blue Planet Environmental: website, facebook, blog

Agritechture: website, facebook, twitter

Bio-Lipidos de Puerto Rico (organic algae for biofuel): website (being re-launched), youtube,

corporatewiki (under construction)

Culebra Forum: facebook

Columbia Impact Investing Initiative: facebook, twitter

http://ci3online.ning.com/ (2011-2013) Columbia Impact Investing Initiative website

http://guayaba.blogspot.com, (2003 - present ) sustainability blog

www.freewebs.com/intersectpr (2007-2010)business and environment blog

http://casabahiacaborojo.blogspot.com/