HerProBlog.COM desires to help women create and maintain professional blogs. What better way to teach and inspire women bloggers than by being taught by professional women bloggers.

I am thrilled that our first interview with a pro blogging women is Elisa Camahort, co-founder of BlogHer. Elisa manages BlogHer events, marketing and corporate operations. Just last month BlogHer held their 2008 conference in San Fransisco. With over 1000 bloggers in attendance the event was a big success and plans for the 2009 conference are already in the planning stages.

So without further ado here is the interview with Elisa Camahort.

When did you get started blogging?

I started in 2003, purely as a personal endeavor. I got this free blogging application when I renewed my .Mac membership, so I thought i'd give it a try.

What was your first blog about?

My first blog, which is still my current personal blog is about a little bit of everything. I'll write about blogging, technology, politics, and I'll also review restaurants, theatre, books, movies...you name it. I also spend an unhealthy amount of time writing recaps of talent-based reality shows like American Idol, So You Think You Can Dance and Project Runway.

How has blogging affected your life?

It has changed it completely. I never had a goal to work for myself or to start a company, but blogging provides you with this personal platform, a personal printing press, and can have a way of changing what you thought your personal plan was!

What is the strangest, funniest or most rude comment someone has
made about you being a blogger?

Um, I'm pretty sure someone compared me to a "Nazi Abortionist" a couple of weeks ago, although they were a little incoherent, so I'm not positive. I'm guessing it's because I'm openly pro-choice, although the post in question had nothing to do with that issue.

What are some of your favorite blogs authored by women?

Oh my, I hate questions like these...because it's hard to choose, honestly. So really I'll just pick a few that I think i've never given public props to before, just to spread the love.

I'm biased, but I think Kristy Sammis, who runs BlogHer's events, is brilliantly funny: She Just Walks Around with it

Also, two political bloggers I really admire are: Talk Left

and Digby: Hullabaloo by Digby - It's notable to mention that people assumed Digby was a male blogger for years before she finally 'came out" as a woman!

Do you ever get discouraged? What do you do in times of discouragement?

Well, I used to say that I pet my amazing geriatric kitty, Samantha, but since she died at 20 years old last December I can't say I've found a great replacement. Yelling at drivers in other cars doesn't really seem like the most mentally healthy answer, does it?

What are your hopes for the future of women bloggers?

I've already seen one hope realized, because I think people don't really ask "where are the women bloggers?" anymore. BlogHer conducted a benchmark study in March 2008 that showed how mainstream blogging has really become among women...over 50% of U.S. women online participate in the blogosphere weekly! So, I think the media and the business worlds are both well-aware now where the women bloggers are: Everywhere, and blogging about everything under the sun.

My ongoing hope for the future is that blogging, and particularly women blogging, will continue to help break down barriers, cross boundaries...and smash stereotypes.

One of BlogHer's editors is a woman in her 60s who told me she enjoyed the Internet because no one could see she was an "older woman" and therefore she felt she could be taken more seriously as a technologist. But I feel like if everyone stood up and trumpeted their identity we could no longer make assumptions about identity.

Bring on the hardcore political bloggers like Digby
Bring on the senior citizen geeks like Virgina DeBolt
Bring on the parenting bloggers...who also include dads, not just moms
Bring on every bit of your identity: race, gender, age, nationality, sexual orientation, status of uterus, ideology, religion...you name it.

The blogosphere presents a tremendous opportunity to realize that our similarities are more compelling than our differences. I guess what I'm saying is that someday the wildest hope of all would be that BlogHer has to change our mission (http://www.blogher.com/node/925), because we will all have more opportunities than we know what to do with.

If you could offer one piece of advice to a brand new blogger, what
would it be?

Follow your passion and consuming interests. Blogging is best when it's from the heart and when it's something you can imagine doing for a long time...and often. Sure, I know people who have started blogs purely to make money or purely because they think blogs lead magically to some other kind of success metric they have in their head. But really, most of us, from the teeny tiny (and believe me, my own blogs get almost no traffic at all!) to the very highly-trafficked stick with it because we love it. We love the freedom of expression, we love the platform it provides, we love the community that seems to evolve naturally, and we love seeing how bloggers can really impact the world around them!

Thank you Elisa for sharing your story and advice.