i'm an expert.

I'm headed to the Blissdom conference in Nashville on Wednesday.  It promises to be a lot of fun.  Great location (Opryland hotel), fun people (like Julie Cole) and interesting topics to discuss.  I'm mostly going for the fun people though.  I was doing some research on the different workshops and speakers last night and there are definitely some sessions I will be sure to check out.

What I found most interesting was reading the profiles of the people who have been selected to present.  For the sake of full disclosure, I should tell you that I threw my name in the hat and submitted a proposal to participate in a panel and was not selected.  I am completely fine with that and will attend the panel all the same.   Back to these bios though.  As I read through them I thought to myself "very few of these people have any more experience in writing or social media than me, yet they are experts".  I'm not holding myself up next to Brené Brown by any stretch, but I am certainly comparable to the vast majority of speakers.

So, what makes someone an "expert" anyhow?  From what I can tell, and this has been my opinion for a very long time, it is that you feel confident enough in your skills in an area to call yourself an expert.  The end.  You don't even need someone else to call you an expert first.  Just start calling yourself one and others will follow suit.  So, I'm a social media expert.  I am.  Feel free to refer to me as one.

To back up my claim I wrote up a little bio for myself:
Katrina writes for the award winning website Fickle Feline which she founded in 2004.  Her candid writing and bare bones honesty have won her accolades from both the Mental Health and Autism communities.  She is an Autism advocate and is currently documenting her Autistic son Max's journey for a book she is writing on how to achieve a best outcome for Autism through early intervention and intensive therapy.  She is a contributor to websites Sew Sew Def and Traveling Mom and has provided content for WonderBra, Mabels Labels,  FedEx, Bell Sympatico, American Express, Air Miles, Royal Bank of Canada, Purolator, Sprite, CVS Caremark and Microsoft.  She is also a social media consultant, specializing in helping businesses use social media in relevant and cost effective ways to build customer loyalty and strengthen relationships.  Katrina thinks raisins are just rotten grapes and is not afraid to share pictures of herself looking completely ridiculous.  She hates her cat and very much looks forward to the day that her two year old daughter turns 18 and moves out.