Back when I first started blogging in 2009, the Bronx pretty much just had a couple of active bloggers — the original BoogieDowners Erin and Lou Cicalese who started actively blogging in 2008 and Nicole Perrino, founder of BronxMama who also started in ’08.
The BoogieDowners were my inspiration to start Welcome2Melrose and begin to tell the narrative of our neighborhood which was being highly distorted negatively by the mainstream media as well as global awareness of the South Bronx.
When Erin and Lou Cicalese made the tough decision to leave the Bronx to be closer to family, they transferred the blog to a new owner (who subsequently transferred it again).
Unfortunately almost immediately the quality of the blog dropped so much that I took the opportunity to expand and began Welcome2TheBronx to create a borough-wide platform with a global reach to continue the success of Welcome2Melrose.
The success of Welcome2TheBronx these past several years has been phenomenal. We have produced dozens upon dozens of stories that eventually were taken up by the mainstream media (Mott Haven Herald, Bronx Times, News12 the Bronx, NY1, PIX11 News, New York Times, Daily News, The Gothamist, Curbed, and the Real Deal just to name a few) and broadcasted to a much wider audience. Positive stories about our borough and its citizens.
During that same time, several other Bronxites, also tired of the negative stereotypes of the Bronx, began their own endeavors in the blogosphere.
Bronxites such as Shannon Lee Gilstad, founder of Bronxcentric, Morgan Powell, founder of Bronx River Sankofa, and Adam Levine-Peres of ProjectBronx just to name a few.
From a few voices, we have grown to well over a dozen and we couldn’t have done it without you, our readers.
That being said, please join us tonight for a networking event sponsored by many of your favorite bloggers, including yours truly, at The Gun Hill Brewing Co. for a networking event. We’ll even have food from Tosca’s and snacks from Pretzel Crisps who have both generously donated to sponsor the event!
The event will be held from 7pm to 10pm and Gun Hill Brewing Company is located at 3227 Laconia Avenue at Boston Road just one block south of Gun Hill Road.
Hope to see you there!
