Mamanista Mamanista.com is dedicated to bringing you the fabulously chic and irresistibly practical–shopping around to compare products for the hip mama on a budget. Featuring chic gifts, hip styles for moms and kids, essential baby gear, educational toys and products, exciting contests, amazing deals, and children’s and women’s charity profiles. The editors of Mamanista.com have been friends since college, bonding over an interest in philanthropy, women’s issues, and education…and chocolate. When Candace’s daughter was born with a congenital heart defect, these college buddies decided to collaborate again to share their favorite baby products and raise money for heart charities.  Combining Candace’s career in writing and Debbie’s experience in online marketing and their passion for motherhood, they launched Mamanista.com. Check out our Press section for media mentions of Mamanista!

Candace Lindemann, Editor Covering the chic and the (attached-at-the) hip, Candace leans towards Attachment Parenting. Former teacher, part time educational consultant, full time mama. Read more about Candace’s career as an educational consultant and freelance writer or find her on Education.com as a “JustAsk Expert“. After graduating from Yale University and earning her Ed.M. from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, Candace gained hands-on educational experience teaching in the classroom. Currently, she works with school districts around the country to create custom strategies, textbooks, and lesson plans that promote and support each district’s education standards and objectives. She has created materials for the California PASS Program, Kaplan K-12, Pearson, Thomson, and others and her articles have appeared in Learning Through History, Calliope, Military Spouse Magazine, and other publications. An active volunteer, Candace has earned awards for her work with military spouses (during her husband’s deployment to Iraq), at-risk youth, and the local historical society.

Debbie Bookstaber, Editor After graduating from Yale with her B.A. and M.A., Debbie launched a successful career in online marketing, joining the team of a small smart-up, which was later acquired by Travelocity. She worked at Travelocity for several years and eventually became an executive at Expedia.com. Debbie is currently a partner at Element Associates and the Social Media Director at Child’s Play Communications where she handles online advertising, social media, affiliate marketing and search engine optimization for their clients. Debbie helps organize SheCon, and she is a frequent speaker at social media and tech conferences. In 2011, Debbie spoke at SheCon, Type-A Parent, BlogHer and ASTRA Marketplace. In 2012, Debbie will be speaking at BlogHer, SXSW and SheCon. She serves on several charitable boards, focusing on education and at-risk students. She was elected to a position on her local school board in 2007. She also serves as a board member of Postpartum Progress.

Julie Livingston, Writer is the Director of New Business Development and Accounts at Child’s Play Communications.  Previously, she was Senior Director, Public Relations for the Toy Industry Association (TIA). A noted toy and youth entertainment expert, she has appeared and been widely quoted in the Associated Press, The New York Times, Dallas Morning News,  The Early Show, CNN Headline News, Weekend Today in New York (WNBC-TV), WABC-TV andWCBS-TV. Prior to TIA, she was a Director of Corporate Communications at Scholastic, Inc., the global children’s publishing and media company. Julie received her M.S. in Communications Management from Syracuse University/Newhouse School in May, 2010.  She also blogs at The Playtime Mom (www.theplaytimemom.com) and lives in the NYC metro region with her husband and two sons.