WordCamp Chicago

Margaret Roach is a writer, author, editor, internet consultant, blogger and a very generous sponsor of WordCamp Chicago.  I’d like to extend a great big thank you to Margaret for helping us make this happen by offering you, our readers and attendees, the opportunity to get to know Margaret a bit more through her work on the ‘net, and beyond.  Margaret’s journalism career has included positions at The New York Times, Newsday, and Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, where she for many years was Executive Vice President/Editorial Director.

You can find a portal into Margaret’s world at her website here: http://margaretroach.com

There, you will find Margaret’s various efforts in writing, gardening, sisterhood and charity work.  Margaret has a profound quote on the front page of one of her websites: http://openyourhands.org/ and it goes like this: “They who give, have all things.  They who withhold, have nothing.” –Hindu proverb  .. words to live by.  That site, OpenYourHands.org, is a a collaborative project with the School Development Committee of Birta Deurali V.D.C. and the residents of the entire village to provide aid in the form of educational materials and equipment, school renovations and maintenance, and teaching stipends for educators and their assistants in rural Nepali schools.  Margaret is the Vice President of the Open Your Hands project.

The Sister Project is another project of Margaret’s which is, as stated on the web site, “a network of blogs about the many facets of the word sister, and the concept of sisterhood. A sisterhood of sister blogs, you could say. Whatever sister means to you, from identical twin to sister-in-law (or in-friendship or in-feminism), we’ll make room to listen in about it or express it on TSP. Like the slogan up top says, “Don’t you have something to say to your sister?” We’ve got galleries of art and literature by and about sisters, and a Sisterpedia of sisterly trivia…but now we’re getting ahead of ourselves.”

A Way to Garden is, as stated on the web site, “… the latest horticultural incarnation of me, Margaret Roach. My life list also includes stints as garden editor at Newsday in New York, one of the country’s largest daily newspapers, and Martha Stewart Living, where I was the magazine’s first garden editor and until 2008 was editorial director over all of the company’s content: magazines, books, and internet.”

Margaret Roach is currently the Senior Internet Consultant for Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, advising their digital group on how to best translate the Martha brands—Living, Everyday Food, Weddings, Body+Soul—and the company’s 17-year archive of multi-media content into compelling internet tools and features.

Margaret’s current bibliography includes:

A Way to Garden: A Hands-On Primer for Every Season, Named Best Garden Book of the Year by Garden Writers’ Association of America.

Groundcovers – part of the Burpee American Gardening Series.

Co-authored with Ken Druse The Natural Habitat Garden

Thank you, Margaret, for extending your generosity in helping sponsor WordCamp Chicago!  Please visit Margaret’s various sites to learn more about all of the wonderous projects she’s involved in.  See you in Chicago!