Be Smart

We have nieces and nephews, and “adopted” children through our co-workers, friends, and extended family. Moms we are not, but doting “Aunties” suits us just fine (love em' and leave em' at someone else's home).

The demographics of women’s lives have dramatically changed. Most of us aren’t married with 2.1 children. In fact, “childless” (but child-loving) women represent more than 50% of the adult female population. Outside of Jane Austen novels and romantic comedies we’re largely overlooked and underrepresented online, in spite of our buying, recommending, and overall superpowers when it comes to the spoilage of children we love.

These thoughts combined with her own experience of becoming a doting auntie, took Melanie Notkin on a self-described "wild carpet ride" from expert interactive marketing employee to “aunteprenuer.”

Notkin’s perseverance and smarts just gave birth to online community savvyauntie.com. A year in the making, Savvy Auntie, unlike mom and parent-focused niche social networks, finds its place with women who do not (yet) have their own children, but have children in their lives.

My initial reaction to the concept was that the focus on the site would be shopping-centric on what to buy for children, but almost instantly I was pleasantly surprised to learn that Savvy Auntie is a content and community site. Sure, you’ll find lots of information there on what to get and what to give, but you’ll also have the opportunity to connect with other like-minded women.