This post really isn’t about the car, but about a woman who isn’t beyond some self-care and “me” time, which is so important in any relationship, or even if you are single and child-free.

While I do agree she could have made this less about the car and more about the story (that’s just an editorial/style issue), I would like to tell the world how awesome Ana is.

Ana is a visionary, a pioneer in the self-publishing/entrepreneurship field and a whole-hearted supporter of other bloggers and entrepreneurs, their causes, their events and their visions, too. She’s like the sexiest Mother Teresa for lots of Latina bloggers, putting her heart and soul into creating an amazing network and supporting all her sisters in a new way of feeling fulfilled in our careers while we tackle family responsibilities. (Even if you don’t have kids and aren’t married, you still have them, trust me.)

I know first-hand that creating a professional publishing network entails so much sacrifice WITHOUT sponsors. So why do we blame publishers for having sponsors? Do you think twice about Oprah having ads in her magazine?

Look, there’s no one who hates a sponsored/paid review/affiliate blog more than I do if that’s all it is. Then it’s just SPAM. But Spanglish Baby isn’t that.

But sometimes a girl has got to do what she’s gotta do, and if done the right way, it’s OK. This is a field that is still figuring itself out. If you work really hard at something, why should you do it for free?

I do not monetize my blog at all, but I got a car from Ford during the first Ford Fiesta Movement for 8 months and guess what? I produced AMAZING content because of that. My readers loved it. I went geo-caching. I helped build a house for Habitat for Humanity. I even went gator-wrestling! Had anything to do with the car? No! And I never felt one iota of “oh-my-god-I’m-being-a-shill” guilt for it. Because that car afforded me opportunities to create great stories for my readers and to develop my talent in my vein of adventurous travel stories.

How is this any different than a documentary filmmaker getting support from a corporation? When you see a PBS documentary are you annoyed by the sponsor credits? Yeah, I know, there are *some* differences, but think about it. The State of Florida visitor’s bureau paid for my car when I did my travel excursion Trail of the Pirates and was that a “brand” thing? No.

When Chevy gave me a car to go to the National Association of Hispanic Journalist’s conference in Orlando, was that a shill event? No! Guess what … thanks to that sponsorship, I was able to bring my followers great info on the state of blogging, journalism, ethics and so on. Yeah, we talked about the car in some of our tweets, but that was never the real point.

Sometimes brands do work very organically with content producers. And that’s the big difference here. I am happy Ana got a day to herself in a cool car. Why not?

We never think twice if Eva Mendes, Eva Longoria, Salma Hayek does an advertisement for a cosmetics or fashion brand. Why should it be different with bloggers if you know that it’s helping put bread on the table for the other things they do? And if you utilize the sponsored product/thing for good purposes?

Ana does way more than what you see represented in this post. She supported my HeartCamp event two years in a row with donations. What I’m trying to say is that you won’t find a more authentic voice that sometimes just needs to get additional support from other businesses. It’s not that big of a deal. Ana isn’t just about her, but she’s a great supporter of other women’s voices. And you know what? If she needs to pimp a car every now and then to do that, I’m OK with it.

Ana is in no way a shill. She is a real, authentic person doing a great labor of love for so many of us in our journey of entrepreneurship. I don’t know Roxana, by the way, but I know they are aligned in this project.

Anyway, peace and love to all. We are living in a great time to express ourselves and it’s all good.

You are right in saying there’s more articles written from moms than from dads, but two moms (Roxana and myself) started the blog and it’s always been meant to be a serious resource while at the same time a place to find personal stories of parents raising bilingual kids and the joys and challenges that come with it.
We had our first open call for paid contributors 3 years ago. We got an overwhelming response from moms — not a single one from dads.
We also have an ongoing open call for guest blog posts (http://spanglishbaby.com/become-a-guest-blogger/) and we’d love to have dads submit a guest post, but none have yet. We have reached out to several dad bloggers and writers and some have been able to submit a post, but none have been able to become a regular contributor.

We actually had a whole week to celebrate bilingual papis — you can easily find them by putting the word “dad” in our search bar) or going here: http://spanglishbaby.com/2011/06/spanglishbaby-dads-celebrating-papas/
http://spanglishbaby.com/2010/08/the-new-anglo-latino-household-or-colombia-90210/

We’ve also addressed dad issues and questions from dads in our Ask an Expert section: http://spanglishbaby.com/ask-an-expert/

And our contributor Chelsea put out a call to the dads:
http://spanglishbaby.com/2012/02/ser-papa-bilingue-where-are-all-the-dads/

These are just some highlights, but we have a lot more content.
Would love to have your story featured here anytime!! Send me an email to ana(at)spanglishbaby.com

My honest opinion is that the site would be better served by highlighting the role of both parents in this challenging process of raising bilingual children in a monolingual environment. I understand that it was started by two mothers, but it reads more like a “Mommy” blog than a serious resource for parents.

Please be more inclusive of dads!!!