About Cool Mom Picks

 Parents Magazine: "The online arbiter of cool for the swingset crowd."

InStyle: Best of the Web/Kids 2010

Real Simple: One of the 3 best blogs for parents

We're just a few moms that track down cool stuff so you can stay busy being fabulous. We know cool stuff doesn't make the mom, but it certainly helps make life a little better.

We have a soft spot for non-mainstream products and services, particularly those from indie or emerging designers and mom/women-run companies. We believe you can stay true to your dazzling design sensibilities and still support an entrepreneur, especially one trying to support her family through her work. But we can be found loving on anything that we think is cool, really. Head on over here to see more about the kinds of things we like.

While we're moms too and we totally get the budget thing, some of the things we feature do cost more than your average big box store bargain bin items. You pay a premium for quality items not made by 6 year-olds in sweatshops. We're all about promoting more responsible consumerism - buy things you truly adore that will last, and just own fewer of them.

You also won't find us ranting about items that we hate or don't work or just plain suck. We weed out those things for you because we know you don't have time to. Also, they're not cool. And this is Cool Mom Picks. 

If you have an idea or a cool client or own a company yourself, feel free to send it our way at info@coolmompicks.com. You can find more info on submissions here. 

You can also follow us on Twitter and like us on Facebook. You'll be in good company!

We aren't compensated for our reviews, so put that Ben Franklin back in your pocket, missy. But if you are interested in advertising, by all means email ads@coolmompicks.com and we'll hook you up.

Who Are The Moms Behind The Picks?

Photo: Tracey Clark

Kristen Chase, Publisher & CEO, is currently residing in Atlanta. By way of Philly. By way of Mississippi. In her former life she was a published textbook author, musician, college professor and designer shoe glutton, all of which she's traded for a satisfying new position as pilot's wife and work-at-home-parent. What she has not given up, however, is excellent taste, a sense of humor and her avid support of mom-run businesses and the online community of parents. Kristen has been seen on The Today Show and CBS Atlanta and in various publications talking about shopping and parenting culture. She's also known for her hilarious and helpful book, The Mominatrix Guide to Sex based on her popular column of the same name.

Kristen tries to stay as cool as possible (in all senses of word) while parenting her daughters Quinlan, Margot and Bridget, and her son, Drew.

Follow her on twitter at @CoolMomPicks, @CoolMomTech, @ThatKristen

Liz Gumbinner, Publisher & Editor-in-Chief, is a born and bred New Yorker but without the accent. She has a successful side career as a creative director in the Prada-mandatory world of advertising, writes some parenting columns here and there, and has been seen on the TODAY Show, ABC News, and CBS The Early Show discussing baby gear and parenting trends. She's also a contributing editor to Blogher Style, and has contributed to a number of anthologies including Sleep is for the Weak, 42 Rules for Working Moms, See Mom Run and Kirtsy Takes a Bow. In 2009 she was named to the Nielsen "Power Mom 50" list of online influencers, and cited on Forbes.com's list of 10 MommyHood Gurus. She's also been named to Forbes' list of 14 women to follow on Twitter, and the New York Post's list of 10 New Yorkers to follow on Twitter, along with Ruth Reichl and Lady Gaga.

Liz is equally at home in the boutiques of Fifth Avenue and the aisles of Target, but can most often be spotted around her Brooklyn neighborhood with the love of her life and their two daughters, Thalia and Sage.

Follow her on twitter at @CoolMomPicks, @CoolMomTech, @Mom101

Kristen and Liz are often featured in national and local media discussing gift ideas, parenting trends, safer toys, marketing to parents, organic/green products, mom-run businesses, online shopping, and parenting blogs. Broadcast appearances include The TODAY Show, CBS's The Early Show, ABC News Now, Martha Stewart Radio, ABC's The View From the Bay, CBS Atlanta, Fox 5 NY, Better.TV, and their own series of videos on the Alpha Mom cable network. They're happy to talk to you too! Really, they're very nice. Occasionally funny. info@coolmompicks.com will do the trick.

Contributors

The greatest contributors in all of blogdom, if we do say so ourselves. We couldn't do it without them.

Senior Associate Editor Christina Refford endured more than a dozen years in marketing and now spends her time outside Boston with three young children who love sushi and impromptu disco dance parties. She is on a mission to prove homeschooling can be cool. Christina loves finding great vegan shoes, meals her son will eat, and indie bands with lyrics that she can play for the carpool, which is why she reviews most of our music submissions. She also longs for a hair color she can stick with for more than 6 months.


Associate Editor Delilah S. Dawson is an author, painter, goof, geek, cupcake enthusiast, Atlanta native, mom of two, and full contact bargain shopper who believes in attached parenting without the guilt. Once upon a time, she was an art instructor/muralist, and she's married to a cagefighter/psychologist. (For real.) Her first book, a steampunk paranormal romance called WICKED AS THEY COME and the first in a series, is due out in 2012 from the Pocket edition of Simon & Schuster. It includes bloodthirsty rabbits and a hot dude in a top hat. 

Mir Kamin is fairly certain she's not cool, but as the author of one of the most widely-read parenting blogs on the web, Woulda Coulda Shoulda, the CMP editors have assured her she is. She spends her days riding herd on her son and daughter, marveling at the fact that people pay her to write stuff, and sneaking flax seed meal into everything she bakes. Mir is trying to restore global balance through support for do-good organizations (including years spent volunteering and fundraising for Big Brothers/Big Sisters), attempts to eat local and organic, and more mindful consumerism at her blog Want Not. And ice cream.

Stephanie Slate lives in Ontario but doesn't say "eh." Before children she was the book buyer for a national toy retailer. Now she spends her days as the book reader for a very local toy-playing duo, and as a contributor to Celebrity Baby Blog knows more than you'd ever want to about strollers of the rich and famous. Don't let the chic exterior fool you though - she's the kind of crunchy that gives the thumbs up to home-birthing, co-sleeping, EC-ing, babywearing and breastfeeding until the children are 47. And, yes, she makes her own granola.

Roxanna worked in marketing in the beauty industry before leaving it all behind to live the glamorous life of a blogger. Her writing on stylish living can be found all over the internet and at her blogs -- Everyday Treats and The Frog & Snail, a lifestyle blog for parents of boys. She's obsessed with beautiful details and is passionate about enjoying the little pleasures in life -- like naps, pedicures, peonies and the adorable little people she gave birth to. We like to think of her as an international woman of mystery -- she has lived in the Dominican Republic, Spain, and has worked her way up the big cities on the east coast of the United States. She currently lives in Boston with her Austrian husband and their three sons. That means she's always shopping for boots, coats and robots. It's a tough life, really.


Lexi Petronis traded in her Manhattan magazine editor lifestyle (but not her magazine editor shoe collection--let's not get crazy, people) and headed west to her hometown of Albuquerque, NM, where she has since saved a fortune on anti-frizz hair treatments. She spends an unbelievable amount of time putting on puppet shows with her 3-year-old daughter and attempting to coax her infant son's hair into a perfect point on the top of his head. She writes and blogs for Glamour, and is married to a professional violinist and classical conductor--so she tries to keep her addiction to "Glee" and bad '80s music on the downlow.

Melissa Schweiger Kleinman (who now goes by the name "Jonah's Mommy") is a Brooklyn-based writer/blogger/Wet Ones addict. Before earning the title of mama, Melissa was a fashion editor at Marie Claire and Seventeen magazines.and authored Sephora: The Ultimate Guide to Makeup, Skin and Hair from the Beauty Authority. She still writes about fashion and beauty for AOL StyleList. When not removing her 2-year-old son from precarious looking tables, chairs and bookshelves he has climbed upon, she can be found surfing the web for cute little boy clothes, eating stinky cheese, buying expensive skincare products, and doing battle with leaky sippy cups.

Susan Wagner is likely to wear a dress to the little league field and a cashmere sweater to the grocery; she is almost always the most dressed up person in the room, and she likes it that way. Susan collects vintage watches and has an unhealthy obsession with the J. Crew website. She lives in Oklahoma City with her badly -- but comfortably! -- dressed sons, Henry and Charlie, and her very dapper husband. Susan also happens to write the Working Closet column for Work It Mom.


Los Angeles mama Eva Glettner cannot escape the infinite amounts of testosterone that surround her. Having four brothers was not enough of a challenge, so enter three sons born in three and a half years. (Do all boys play "Rock, Paper, Scissors, Toilet?") To maintain some semblance of sanity, Eva teaches parent and me classes and blogs at www.minivanblues.com where she shares her love for great kids music, handmade toys, awesome books and organic snacks. (Westside!) She also loves to run because the endorphin high is as fabulous as finding the right pair of jeans.


Barbara Card Atkinson gets emotionally involved over soft, high-quality baby clothes, well-thought-out cookbooks, ridiculous socks, and anything handmade. She's one of those moms who knows lots of stuff about lots of stuff, and has written about everything from the benefits of prenatal belly dancing to the details of Dr. Phil's private life for places like Salon.com and Nerve and Hooters Magazine. (Seriously.)  You can also find her in Literary Mama: Reading for the Maternally Inclined and It's a Girl: Women Writers on Raising Daughters. Barbara lives in California with two kids, one husband, four junk drawers (filled with assorted rubber animals), one angry turtle, and what often feels like fourteen dogs.

Stephanie Mayers is a Philly native now living in North Jersey and commuting daily to Brooklyn to help save the world through music--Stephanie has a sweet gig as the head of marketing for Dan Zanes, and is also an executive producer of the Kindiefest family music conference. She is a self proclaimed foodie who doesn't get out to eat much but watches a lot of Top Chef and believes strongly in coffee, red wine and anything parmigiana. In the years before her music industry career she managed a gallery of artistan crafts that cemented her lust for handmade jewelry. She never tires of hunting down the perfect accent pieces for her earth toned life, and for shoes that fit. When she's not working, she is at home with her cranky dog, hippie husband and scrappy 2 year-old daughter.

Other Important People

VP of Operations Julie Marsh is a project manager by trade and a mom of three, which means that she alternates between kicking butts and wiping them. A military veteran and survivor of the music industry, she reluctantly moved to Denver from New York and subsequently discovered that she actually likes playing outside. When she's not ensuring that CMP staff are toeing the line, she's sewing, baking, vacuuming, or training for her next triathlon. (We weren't kidding about the butt kicking.) She also likes rap music and skateboarding fashion. Email her at Julie@coolmompicks.com.


Kari Dahlen saves our lives on a regular basis with all sorts of magical html know-how. She's a dancer turned neuroscientist turned hockey player turned Northern California mom of two boys. She once appeared on an Argentine soap opera, but her only television appearance filmed in the United States involved a broken sewer main and her subsequent admission to all of Manhattan that she couldn't flush her toilet.

Laurie Smithwick of Leap Design makes everything look oh so pretty on these pages. She also doesn't get mad when we call her frantically at midnight. We love her.

Lee Heidel of Heidel Design manages website development, corrects our coding mishaps, and can hack Moveable Type with the best of them. We love him.