Guest post by Carla Molina Martins 
Before I had my daughter in the summer of 2007, I thought that I lived life to the fullest. Her arrival, however, made me realize everything before her was a far cry from living each day to its full potential. Motherhood has put life into focus for me and I’ve taken stock of what I want and how I want to achieve those goals. I now live each and every day with those goals, and my family, in mind. One of the things I put at the top of my goals is to become a better writer and use that to develop a career I’m passionate about. I wasted no time and started my personal blog,
Mama Hearts Baby. Late last year, I had mentioned to a friend some of the goals I had for focusing on the Latina mom market and a few weeks later she approached me about blogging for Latina magazine. I’m now their mommy blogger at
The Mami Diaries. I took the end of 2008 to plan my action plan for 2009 and the ball is already rolling for some amazing collaborations with some great Latina bloggers. In addition to wanting to work with the Latina mom community, I discovered a passion for supporting mompreneurs and signed up for The Mogul Mom’s Helping Out Directory. As a result, I’ve been lucky enough to write press releases for several mom owned business and taken on a few clients to help with them with social media marketing. It’s a great feeling to be able to develop my own skills and help other moms out in the process. I have a lot to learn and I’m willing to ask the people I look up to for their input. I’m such a curious person that I decided to start a series on my blog called
Interviews to Inspire where I talk with someone in social media who I’d like to learn from and I post their interview for all to benefit. It’s my way of giving back to the incredible community of moms who have helped me to realize my vision. My plate is full and I’m glad to have it that way. I’m enhancing my skills and building a solid foundation for the goals I have set for myself. In my personal life, I love to enjoy life with my family. From a walk in the park to a road trip into NYC. I savor every moment we have together. I make sure that when I’m with family nothing else is on my mind. I value every second and being a parent has made me realize how quickly time flies. I focus on the activities we are doing in the moment. I try not to rush through anything. I plan a lot, which may not seem very fun, but it allows us to enjoy our time together to the max. Enjoying my family gives me a greater drive and appreciation to go after what I’m passionate about. Motherhood has been the best kick in the pants to get my life started!
Guest post by Carla Molina Martins. Carla, a Jersey girl at heart, is a freelance writer and aspiring social media maven living in the Ocean State. Carla blogs at MamaHeartsBaby and The Mami Diaries for Latina magazine. On her blogs, you’ll find Carla interviewing mompreneurs she admires, writing about parenthood, social media and featuring products and services that make life as a mom a bit more fun and a bit easier. Carla also does social media marketing for small mom focused businesses. When not freelancing, blogging or working at her full-time job, Carla spends her days playing with her husband, daughter, their kitty cat and new bunny rabbit. The family will be adding a new little girl to the clan this Spring! Would you like to
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LIFESTYLE, living life to the fullest 
Linde Hyder
Carla, I read with great interest your recent post on “Living Life to the Fullest.” I actually have a 19-year-old daughter who is now a junior at FIU in Miami. I worked full time from the time she was 6 months old until just recently. I can honestly say I have no regrets as I couldn’t be more prouder of having raised such an independent, responsible, smart young lady. I also have an 8-year-old son (I know quite a time lapse!) and also worked full time shortly after he was born until March of this year when I was laid off.
I can’t tell you what a sigh of relief that layoff was for me! It is true what they say about one door closing and another opening. For the past 10 years I have wanted to pursue my passion for writing. But, of course, after working a 40+ hour job, running to soccer practice, cooking dinner, cleaning up, homework, bathtime and bedtime who has any energy left to write? Being without a job — and having a very understanding husband — allowed me to pursue that passion. That plus, a dear friend of mine who is an awesome ‘life coach’ gave me a few complimentary coaching sessions which further inspired me to write.
Basically I always wanted to write about the things Erma Bombeck wrote about: the pain, the laughter, the fears, the heartached, the joys and the struggles we Moms face everyday. Her columns made every mom who read them think, ‘she wrote that about me’. The kind of stuff we can all relate to. So, I began writing for a few blogs and even landed a small part time job writing the Parents’ Blog for i9 Sports. More importantly, however, is that I have been able to spend more time with my son. I already knew he was a pretty amazing kid–but now I know all the reasons why. In fact, he’s the subject matter of many a blog!
Best of luck to your continued writing success.
Kudos to you Carla