In high school I wanted to be a writer. And a doctor, and a dancer and a boat builder and about a million other things, but writing was kind of my gig. I journal-ed like a fiend—I have stacks of books of my secrets, concert tickets, pressed flowers, fortune cookie messages.

My first love was a boy who was also a writer and together we would earnestly hunch over our notebooks, go to poetry readings and read The Best American Essay’s every year. Really, I have been reading these anthologies religiously since the 90’s.

And now, oh my land, this year, my 20-something year of loving these books, there it was:

Mamalode and my name, under “Notable Special Issues of 2012” for our CAPACITY issue. Gobsmacked I grabbed every single one off the shelf. Like 12 of them. Then after dancing around with my armful of books, I regained my dignity and put them back and bought my copy. OK, OK, I bought two, but still.

The guest editor is Cheryl Strayed. I am dreaming—in my secret heart of hearts I want to grow up to be a mix of Cheryl Strayed, Sheryl Sandberg and Shakira. I mean, you guys, this is Dear Sugar we are talking about.

Honestly, Mamaloders, this is a dream come true. And it is all because of you. Thanks for all you do to keep pushing Mamalode out into the world. Keep it up. We are on the verge of becoming a movement.

If you want to buy the AWARD WINNING (squeeek!) CAPACITY issue please do.

And big yahoo to everyone involved in that issue—team Mamalode, writers, photographers, advertisers.

Big Mamalode love to you all!

Elke

About the Author

Elke

Elke Govertsen is a entrepreneur and founder of Mamalode. She has been featured in Real Simple, Forbes, Where Women Create, Ad Tech, and listed as one of Origin Magazine's "Top 100 Creatives." She has been a speaker at The Girls Lounge, Adweek, C2Montreal, HATCH, TEDx and (her favorite) in classrooms. She speaks on a variety of topics from entrepreneurship to overcoming obstacles. She loves consulting in the areas of community design, storytelling and brand building. Her special skills include extreme bootstrapping, overcoming obstacles and creating opportunities. Of the many things she has learned by doing Mamalode, her ability to work with absolute chaos/kids/mess just might be the best. She is learning that slowing down creates more impact.