Speakers

As a full time family manager, Jen Schmidt balances and embraces both the beauty and bedlam of daily life. As a motivational speaker and writer, Jen shares with humor and authenticity on a myriad of topics, many which fall under her passion to embrace, “It’s the little things that are the Big things.” She shares these at her blog, Balancing Beauty and Bedlam, as well as at her newly launched food blog, 10 Minute Dinners. Her practical frugal lifestyle ideas encourage others to save money where they can, so they can spend, share, and give, on what’s important.

Jen loves time with her family, but she regularly dreams about a clean house, couponing, meal planning, home schooling, DIYing, thrift store hunting, or the next treasures she’ll score for her Frugal Fashionista wardrobe.

Jenny Martin is the writer behind SouthernSavers.com, one of the leading frugal living websites in the South. Her goal is teach a purposeful, relaxed approach to saving money on almost everything you buy. As a mom of three little girls six and under, Jenny’s focus is on finding ways to coupon, deal hunt, and shop in the quickest, most time conserving manner – that way you can get back to whats truly important, like playing games and coloring with the kids!

While running a large community takes a lot of time (and help), Jenny balances blogging time with puzzles and dress up. She is passionate about mom’s not getting lost in coupons and forgetting their focus. Really anything you start doing to save money is better than what you were doing, so come and learn the simple and rewarding method to shopping!

Coming from a long line of Southern cooks, Christy Jordan was raised to appreciate the real wealth in life : Family, Friends, Faith, and Good Food. She started Southern Plate to share all the great recipes she learned from her Mother and Grandmothers.  Her blog then lead to her first book, Southern Plate, Classic Comfort Food That Makes Everyone Feel Like Family, and since has lead to being an editor at Taste of the South Magazine.  Her second book, Come Home to Supper, debuts this fall. Christy feels that mealtimes should be important to us all, because it is through our mealtime conversations we learn who we were, where we came from, and what was expected of us as we go out into the world.

 

Mixed Media artist, Angela Statzer loves to incorporate just about anything into her work. Ranging from recycled materials, vintage items, wood, jewelry, other people’s junk, buttons and fabric, her style is fun and diverse. Her company Button Bird Designs, is about finding, creating, and redoing. Her passion is finding that thrift store cast off, adding some paint, and making it into something beautiful and useable. You can find her smiling at any yard sale, thrift store or flea market. A mom of two amazing children and wife of one hot husband, you can get to know her better at Button Bird Designs.

As a mother of eleven children (yes, 11!), Rachel Van Eerden knows what it means to be intentional about living life to its fullest.  Her passion and zeal for mothering as an epic calling is contagious.  From stories of sending her oldest off to Marine Officer Candidate School to the stories of her youngest – a recently adopted son from Ecuador, who has Downs Syndrome — you will laugh and cry with her in wonderful ways.  When Jen (Balancing Beauty & Bedlam), who is Rachel’s sister-in-law, asked Rachel what she wanted included in her bio, she said that the highlight should be that “The kids’ bathrooms are perfectly clean at this moment.”  Indeed, she knows that sometimes, mothering is just about taking it day-to-day.

Rachel will share on Creating Purposeful Moments in your Mothering: Casting a Long Term Vision.  Whether you have one child or a houseful, understanding the blessing of vision in your home is a necessity.  As Jen can attest, Rachel lives that calling well.

Ruth Soukup is a writer, photographer, DiY-er, homemaker, and homeschooling mom to two girls.   Her blog Living Well Spending Less follows her adventure of finding the Good Life on a budget, and features household tips, recipes, thrifty crafts, frugal party ideas, and more.  Ruth’s passion is her family and creating a home filled with joy and purpose, and her philosophy is that a life well lived is not about what we have, but who we are.   Over the years, Ruth has learned that sticking to a budget allows her to be even more creative than when money is no object.

Her favorite pastime is planning beautiful celebrations for her friends and family, and she is excited to share her tips on how to host a fabulous party on a tiny budget.

Edie is a writer and blogger at the lively and eclectic lifestyle blog, life{in}grace. She is a chaser of truth and beauty and enlivens her home and world with the vibrant and colorful textures of life lived to the fullest. Her passion to serve others and her a heart for hospitality provide the perfect backdrop for her creativity to overflow. She writes with wit, fervor, and honesty, and hopes to inspire women to love and care for their homes and families, while fully embracing their unique giftings and imperfections.”

 

Barbara Hemphill, our keynote speaker for this year,  is passionate about helping people eliminate the physical, digital, emotional and spiritual clutter that prevents them from accomplishing their work and enjoying their lives.

Frequently referred to as “The Paper Tiger Lady,” Barbara started her company in 1978 with a $7 ad in a New York City newspaper. As her business grew, so did her vision. She wanted to be able to offer others the same opportunity that she had: a business of their own that could provide a lucrative income with flexible hours, doing something they love.

Today, Productive Environment Institute includes a growing team of Certified Productive Environment Specialists whose mission is helping clients organize and manage information, ultimately transforming how they work and live.

A respected expert in paper, information & time management, and work/life balance, Barbara’s books include Kiplinger’s Taming the Paper Tiger series, Love It or Lose It: Living Clutter-Free Forever, Bushido Business, co-authored by Stephen M.R. Covey, Tom Hopkins, and Brian Tracy, and her newest release, Organizing Paper @Home: What to Toss and How to Find the Rest.

Spanning a 35-year career on the cutting edge of what USA Today called a billion dollar industry, Barbara has appeared on the Today Show and Good Morning America, in Reader’s Digest, USA Today, Kiplinger’s Personal Finance, The New York Times, Real Simple, and Guideposts magazine. She is past president of the National Association of Professional Organizers, a winner of the Founder’s Award, and a two-time winner of the President’s Award.

An adventurer as well as an innovator, Barbara has lived in the West Indies, India, New York City, and Washington, DC. While living in India in the 1970’s, she adopted three children. In addition, her family includes two stepchildren, four grandchildren, and her beloved one-of-a-kind husband Alfred Taylor, with whom she shares their own Productive Environment™ near Raleigh, NC

Marian, aka Miss Mustard Seed, is a wife, mother, lover of all things home and an accidental entrepreneur, author, freelance writer & photographer. In addition to running her business and authoring this blog, Marian is a freelance writer for HGTV.com and have contributed articles to CountryLiving.com and  Cottages and Bungalows magazine (DIY Essentials Column 2010-2012.) and been  to  featured in Romantic Homes (January 2011), Flea Market Style (Spring 2011), Flea Market Finds with Matthew Mead (Spring 2012), Flea Market Style (Winter 2012), Women’s Day (Nov 2012), Better Homes & Gardens Decorating Ideas (Winter 2012), and more.

Annie Omar is the owner of Maison Blanch Paint company, mom of four, proud wife of an ex-Army husband and purveyor of paint. After years in the business world, she jumped the proverbial corporate ship and went back to her creative roots through decorative wall and furniture painting. As a renowned decorative painter who has run a successful paint contracting business and decorative paint training center in the Dallas area for many years, Annie’s ultimate dream is to be able to help other women begin their own journey towards financial and creative freedom. A southern belle at heart, her paint colors have been inspired by her South Louisiana, Cajun & French Creole heritage.

Sisters, Courtney Brown and Brennan Lau are the heart behind the fashion accessory company, Cents of Style. They started the company in early 2007, when they took their love of fashion and bargain shopping and began an accessories company.

Cents of Style lives by two mottos. One, you do not have to spend a lot to look great, and two, when you look good, you feel good. With these principles in mind, Cents of Style offers women the latest fashion accessories meant to enhance any wardrobe and confidence level.

These Idaho raised sisters are the mothers of 5 “littles” combined. Other than their mutual love of fashion & family, Brennan loves health & exercise, while Courtney loves butter and diet coke.

Dawn Camp  is a  mother of eight who lives life with a camera in one hand and a glass of sweet tea in the other. A Photoshop and Lightroom enthusiast, she is an “evangelist” for the National Association of Photoshop Professionals. Seeking beauty in the mundane is her goal as a photographer, and she loves to encourage others to do the same. You can find her blogging at My Home Sweet Home and tweeting as @DawnMHSH. Check out her online store at Dawn Camp Photography and Design.