About Cool Mom Picks Social Media Marketing company in Brooklyn, United States
Cool Mom Picks was founded as a grassroots blog by entrepreneurs Kristen Chase and Liz Gumbinner, and has grown to be arguably the most influential,trusted,lifestyle platform online for parents looking for the best in gifts,gear,tech,tips,style,recipes,
Parents Magazine: The online arbiter of cool for the swingset crowd.
Martha Stewart: The best in gifts gear and everything new and cool for moms.
InStyle: Best of the Web/Kids
Real Simple: One of the 3 best blogs for parents
Babble.com: #1 Shopping Blog for Parents
What started as a grassroots labor of love from publishers Kristen Chase and Liz Gumbinner in 2006 (whoa) has grown into one of the most trusted lifestyle networks on the web for parents. And a lot of non-parents too.
Kristen and Liz are often featured in national and local media discussing parenting trends gift ideas tech and digital safety mom-run businesses entrepreneurship and online shopping. Frequent broadcast appearances include The TODAY Show CBS#39;s The Early Show The Martha Stewart Show GMA Live! ABC News Now CNN Headline News CBS Atlanta Fox 5 NY NY1 and shaky iPhone videos commandeered by our children.
We#39;ve also curated sales events product recommendations and gift guides for outlets like Martha Stewart Lucky Magazine New York Magazine Parents Gilt Group Ideeli Babycenter New York Family and Time Out/Kids.
In 2020 we#39;re making some changes though to get back to who we are and why we started this site in the first place and to better define our values for our audience.
To make parenting more cool more fun and more meaningful.
(We#39;ve clearly had a lot of years to think about this.)
- Living our values best we can in all the ways we can.
- Amplifying women sharing their voices supporting their businesses their writing and their work.
- Diversity representation and inclusion in every aspect of parenting and life in general.
- Supporting all kinds of families because all children deserve love and support. That means blended families families with single parents (or solo parents) extended families families with two moms families with two dads families with LGBTQ+ kids. Families with ten kids families with one kid. Military families. Adoptive families foster families homeschooling parents public school parents families with special needs.
The one thing our readers have in common: We believe you know your children best and you are all doing the best you can for your family with the best information you have. If you didn#39;t you wouldn#39;t be here.
- Raising children to be responsible citizens of the world. That#39;s why we love diverse books and movies family travel teaching and valuing kindness accepting facts and scientific data and encouraging kids to express their passions through charity and activism.
- Responsible consumerism: Buy things you truly adore supporting the companies that are meaningful to you. Just own less stuff. That#39;s why we have always supported small businesses and start-ups with a focus on companies run by women and people of color. While we have always shared all kinds of things that are cool and helpful to parents our heart is with the little guys (and gals). How great is it to be able to buy something you want or need that helps a thoughtful entrepreneur support her family through her work?
- Tech-positive parenting. Tech is not the end of humanity was we know it and it#39;s not going away either. Let#39;s support each other in raising responsible digital kids.
- Teen-positive parenting. Now that more of us have tweens and teens we realize how cool teens are and we want you to see it too.
- Respect for the planet: we only have one. That doesn#39;t mean we are trading our cars for bikes giving up electricity or shaming anyone for eating a non-organic strawberry but we know we can always strive to do better in both big and small ways. It#39;s a journey.
- Giving you choices not judgment. Shop from Amazon shop from your local indie bookseller or borrow from your library. Buy the shoes on sale at the big stores or the designer ones that were a splurge but give you joy every day. Feed your family plant-based organic meals or take-out pepperoni pizza because that#39;s all your kid will eat right now. We may have our own preferences but you do you.
We also believe in welcoming differing opinions. We love respectful debate. But we also know when were being trolled or are our comments being used to spread disinformation or hate toward other commenters. Then out you go!
- Helping women feel good about themselves: There are lots of ways to get there: Self-care fitness body positivity chocolate binge-watching humor. Time with kids time without kids. Date night. Girls#39; night. Or maybe it#39;s a crisp new shirt that fits perfectly or a lipstick that makes you feel like a rock star purchased without guilt or judgment.
And hey feeling good also comes down to a community of other women who support one another. Probably that most of all. (Which is also why no one gets to be a jerk in our comments or on our social networks.)
- Giving back and doing good in all the ways we can.
- Writing about topics we care about. It#39;s not just products as you can see. We write about current events social justice evolving worldviews and help provide answers and resources for tough stuff families are facing. Sometimes that even means (gasp) we talk about politics. Politics impact the choices we have as individuals and the world our kids will grow up to inherit. Politics is inextricable from parenting.
If the word politics makes you squeamish try using the word values instead. Which brings us back to the our first point.
- Humor. If we weren#39;t laughing as Kristen always says we#39;d be crying. (Well not always. But humor helps.)
While we support our team through ad revenue we always disclose our brand partnerships and affiliate links. We never review#39; products for money or stuff. We only work with brands we can genuinely support whether they#39;re start-ups or big brands making great strides to do better. We don#39;t post press releases and pass them off as our opinions.
We also don#39;t buy followers or likes Ever. Transparency and authenticity are wildly important to us.
Because this is not Meh Mom Picks we do focus on discovering and curating stuff that#39;s cool not stuff that sucks. However we always tell you what we really we think. For example the world would be a better place without boy and girl toy aisles knee-jerk social media alarmism gender reveal party stunts that maim your guests and comic sans.
If we recommend something that ends up sucking we change our post and rescind our recommendation. No hesitation.
Trust also means getting real. Like sharing personal stuff. Or posting Instagram photos of our messy kitchens and selfies without our underage circles and crows feet retouched. We find it kind of refreshing actually
We hope our longtime readers know that they can trust our recommendations. If you#39;re new to our site we hope you grow to trust us too. As we recently told the New York Times we work to earn it every day.
We love what we do and we couldn#39;t do what we do without all of you. That means readers entrepreneurs podcast fans...all of you. Join us!
Subscribe: We have some great newsletters divided by topic. You can subscribe here.
Social: You can also follow us on Twitter on Instagram on Pinterest and like us on Facebook. You#39;ll be in good company! And yes we like commenting back. (But don#39;t pitch us there. Awk-ward.)
Podcast: Subscribe to our award-winning Spawned Parenting Podcast with Kristen and Liz (that#39;s us!) on Apple Podcasts or any podcast app. It#39;s fun. And helpful. And kind of... uncensored. We think you#39;ll like it.
Pitches: If you have an idea or a cool client or own a company yourself feel free to send it our way at [email protected]. You can find more info on submissions here.
Sponsorships: If you are interested in advertising or sponsored opportunities by all means email our Director of Ad Sales and Brand Partnerships Lisa Barnes at [email protected] and she#39;ll hook you up.
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