Wow, we have a new mom AND a new dad joining us here - we’re now up to 20 contributors, which is pretty amazing!

We also now have a Facebook group (yay!), so c’mon over and join us!

Wait, one more thing - don’t forget about our weekly contests, we’re holding one every Monday - lots of free stuff to win and they’re SO easy to enter. You can check out our past ones and the current one to see what they’re all about!

Now, meet Rachelle and Damian - we’re excited to have them writing with us!

Rachelle Beckner

Rachelle Beckner is a thirty-something mother of two beautiful, rambunctious girls, ages 3 and 21 months. She lives, works and plays in Charleston, WV, the capital city of the Mountain State, with her husband of four years.

Rachelle totally bought into that myth that you could have it all – career and family. Determined to be a dedicated mother and successful career woman, Rachelle struggles to juggle the daily demands that all working mothers face (the biggest challenge being reliable, affordable childcare.) In addition, she is always in search of good coping techniques for the all-consuming guilt that comes with being a working mother.

As the Development Director for the YWCA of Charleston, W.Va. (which can be found on twitter at ywcacharleston or at www.ywcacharleston.org), Rachelle is responsible for all fundraising activities – including a $2 Million Challenge campaign and several high-profile fundraising events.

When she isn’t giving her pre-schooler and toddler a bath, reading “Are You My Mother” for the 100^th time or cleaning crayon off the walls, Rachelle enjoys social networking through Twitter and Facebook, dabbling in online and viral marketing, and volunteering in a grass-roots organization called Generation Charleston, which has the goal of improving life in the Capitol City for the next generation. Her online presence also extends to two blogs. Rachelle created her first blog when her eldest daughter was born in 2005 so she could chronicle her daughter’s milestones for relatives and friends who live around the country.

After many therapeutic conversations with other working mothers in Charleston, Rachelle realized that it would be impossible to form a support group for these local working mommies. So she did the next best thing: created a blog where the working mothers of Charleston could continue their conversations about pediatricians, childcare, and the latest illnesses. Her new blog, Mountain State Motherhood, launched earlier this month.

How does Rachelle accomplish all this and keep a semi-clean house? Her drug of choice is a Café Mocha from her favorite supplier, Starbucks. Some believe it’s pure evil, but Rachelle knows Starbucks was invented by a sleep-deprived mommy.

Damian Bariexca

Damian Bariexca comes to This Mommy Gig less than a year after starting his own education-based blog, Apace of Change. A high school English teacher for eight years, Damian recently completed his graduate training in school psychology, and will be starting his first year as a school psychologist in Sept. 2008. Much to Damian’s surprise, working with teenagers for several years did absolutely nothing to prepare him for his new dual roles of daddy/ex-center of the universe when his son Dylan was born in 2005.

Damian and his wife Stephanie enjoyed 3am feedings and consecutive ear infections so much that they decided to have another child this year. Dylan’s sister Kiera made her debut in early 2008 to rave reviews.

Damian is originally from New Jersey, but has since relocated to Perkasie, PA.. In addition to his blog, he can be found on Twitter and Identi.ca as @damian613.

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Tags: contests, Damian Bariexca, facebook, Rachelle Beckner