Who the Heck is Kimberly?

My name is Kimberly Villareal, and I love technology as much as I love my family, my hobbies, social media, and food. Over 10 years ago Back in 2003, I foresaw how social media would change marketing in business and was told by a number of folks in The Corporation that I had no clue what I was talking about. (After all, “blogs were nonsense” and “only idiots read them” anyway.) Not allowed to put the passion I held for my company’s products into social media, I wrote about my hobbies instead. What I discovered is that crafts (in my case knitting and crocheting) along with food are 1) the biggest topics of discussion in the realm of social media, 2) that these social networks are ahead of everyone else, and 3) that many companies can learn from them.

In 2009 I had left my technology career of a dozen years behind to live the dream of working in my beloved hobby of fibery crafts. For about two years, I was the Director of Social Media for XRX, Inc. which was known for its eye-popping books, Knitter’s Magazine, and fun STITCHES Knitting Expositions. In the midst of the fibery world, I help companies of various sizes (local yarn shops, manufacturers, designers and distributors) gain a presence in the competitive internet world of being online. Want to know who I have as clients? Just ask me.  I have been accused of being a mercenary, because most of the time I set up the ability for a company to establish a base and then leave the shiny play-things to the owner.

You can find me quietly working behind the scenes in both marketing and in IT nowadays volunteering as a PTA Board member, User testing and feedback with Givebacks, consulting the Fibery Yarn industry with tips on marketing, and tweaking client websites like The Fuzzy EAR.

I still strive in hoping that older businesses can see the benefits of social media, and am determined in this economy to promote various companies with it. Feel free to check out my past posts, resume on LinkedIn, and definitely contact me for anything that crosses your thoughts. I love good conversation and discussing differences. =:8

Meanwhile, feel free to take a peek at my posts on Instagram.