By Vicki Matranga, Design Programs Coordinator
The four days of the 2015 International Home + Housewares Show will be packed with events and educational sessions. To help you plan your valuable time at the Show, we preview the 21 presentations that will take place in the Innovation Theater in the Lakeside Center. Don’t miss the chance to meet the speakers in person and for the opportunity to ask questions relevant to your work. All programs are audio-recorded and will be available on www.housewares.org after the Show.
Ree’s Reach: An Informative Conversation with Ree Drummond, The Pioneer Woman
Sunday, March 8 11:30 a.m.—12:20 p.m.
Innovation Theater, Lakeside Center, Room E350
The Innovation Theater is pleased to present two dynamic women who are pioneers in developing content and connections via social media. Joining Oklahoma and Scotland in Chicago—and the realms of home and business—The Pioneer Woman Ree Drummond will chat with Katy Lynch, head of business development at Manifest Digital. Katy will engage Ree in conversation about the stunning growth of her internet celebrity and how she has nurtured her online community. Find out how Ree shapes her brand, creates content for her platforms and how she interacts with her fans.
Ree Drummond is an award-winning blogger, best-selling author, food writer, photographer and television personality who lives on a working ranch outside of Pawhuska, Okla. She began blogging in 2006. Her blog, The Pioneer Woman, describes her daily life as a ranch wife and mother of four children. Her stories about her husband, family and country living and her step-by-step cooking instructions, along with her inspiring food photography, quickly attracted a huge audience. In 2009, TIME magazine named her “Confessions of a Pioneer Woman” as one of the “25 Best Blogs” in the world. By May 2011, the site attracted approximately 23.3 million page views per month and 4.4 million unique visitors. Since then, her presence on Facebook and Twitter has grown exponentially.
Ree has appeared on major network programs such as Today and Good Morning America, and has been featured in numerous popular magazines. She published her first cookbook, The Pioneer Woman Cooks—Recipes from an Accidental Country Girl, in 2009 and her second, The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Food from My Frontier, in 2012. Her television series on The Food Network, The Pioneer Woman, premiered in August, 2011.
Getting Social with Katy
Born in Edinburgh, Scotland, Katy Lynch was the president and founder of SocialKaty, Chicago’s largest independent social media marketing agency. Founded in 2010, SocialKaty boomed, offering varied services to a portfolio of more than 60 clients, including AAA, Spartan Race, Beanie Babies, and Firestone Tires.
In July of 2014, Katy announced the merger between SocialKaty, Inc. and Manifest Digital, a Chicago-based user experience design agency. This combination has created one of the largest social and content marketing teams in the U.S. Katy currently sits on the board of TechWeek, as well as female entrepreneurial groups including, MsTech. She was named a Top 50 Tech influencer by Crain’s Chicago Business and placed on Thrillist’s Top 50 Twitter Feeds To Follow.
Ree Drummond appears at the 2015 International Home + Housewares Show courtesy of Gibson Overseas, Inc. in the South Building, Booth S103. She will be in the kitchen in the Show’s Cooking Theater on Saturday, March 7 from 2:30 to 3:15 p.m.
Katy Lynch presents “Engaging Consumers through Social Media” at the Inventors Revue in the North Building Booth N7366 on Monday, March 9 from 2:15 to 3:00 p.m.
Manifest Digital staff is stationed in the Social Media Central booth in the Show’s North Concourse Lobby. Learn more there about how to harness the power of digital media to grow your business.
