Queens Mamas is a Mamas Network Website

Queens Mamas is an online resource and social community built by parents for parents. Through our website, events, and social media hubs, we have built a community where parents can connect with their neighborhood. We use local experts and real parent reviews to give you the inside scoop on what is the best in your borough.

What you will see here: All things Queens. Events, local businesses, resources in Queens, classes, parks, schools, you name it. If there is a resource in Queens we want to know about it. If you have a resource that we should know about please email: mama@queensmamas.com

Through our community, we hope to encourage support of our local businesses. Spending money locally is good for the environment and the economy.

So Who are the Mamas?

 

With Rodney and Max

Leni Calas – Founder – The Mamas Network

Leni is a New York native currently living in Astoria with an unconditional love for the larger city.  After a long career in the Film and Television Industry, she started The Mamas Network, a blog-turned-smash-hit of a website and hyper-local guide for parents navigating New York City’s larger boroughs.  Frustrated with the lack of a regional one-stop guide when she was raising her older daughter, Leni saw a gaping hole in the community that she could fill. The Mamas Network now receives hundreds of thousands of visitors per month and is the publisher of Queens Mamas, Brooklyn Mamas, Long Island Mamas, and creator of the Mamas Expo.

In running The Mamas Network, Leni is focused editorially on a single goal: buckling down on local neighborhood hotspots, tips and events while making the family lives of thousands of readers more manageable and fun.

Leni pushes her websites and events as a vehicle for long-term investment in all NYC neighborhoods. “The social responsibility element to what you do as a media company is encouraging growth through local business. We’re trying to encourage people to keep their families and their money close to home, so that economically—ultimately—the neighborhoods will be better.” Upholding her golden standard of homegrown content, she has hired mommy wordsmiths to inject regional perspective into parenting in Long Island, Queens and Brooklyn. “Each website has its own editor and local contributors who give it the local flavor that moms search for online.”

Leni is the 2010 1^st place winner of the Queens Economic Development Corporations StartUP! Business Plan Competition. In addition to Queens Mamas, The Mamas Network also publishes the websites Brooklyn Mamas and Long Island Mamas. See more about Leni here: Queens Ledger, The Daily News, New York Family, and WNYC.

Jesseca Stenson – The Queens Mama

Jesseca first encountered Queens Mamas as she searched online one day for something to do with her family. She was immediately hooked, and became a contributing mama. Now, she’s thrilled to be the editor of the site.  She lives in Queens, where she was born and raised, with her fantastic family. She is a freelance writer, has a Bachelor of Arts degree in English, and she is trying to save the sanity of parents everywhere, one article at a time.

Randi Madrid – Advertising Genius and Party Girl

Randi was born a Manhattan girl, raised in Greenwich Village, and moved to Queens when she was old enough to know better.  She lives in Kew Gardens with her sweet husband and very adorable 2 year old daughter.  With a BBA from Baruch College, Randi has worked in sales for most of her adult life, more recently as the VP of Sales at Bridge to Bali, a small women’s clothing company based in the east village.    Randi’s dream has always been to have an office with her baby’s crib in it.  Now that she has a daughter, she realizes how incredibly insane that is, but is thrilled to be a mom working from home with the crib in the next room!

The most important lesson that Randi has learned about mommy-hood is that it is exponentially easier when you have a support system of other parents around you.  So, for mostly selfish reasons, in her two years as a mother, Randi has created a music class from her home called “Homemade Music” and an online group for the parents in her area.

To inquire about advertising, marketing and events opportunities with QM, please email her at randi@queensmamas.com

Jennie Abrams-Rosenberg – Contributing Queens Mama

Jennie Abrams-Rosenberg was raised in Queens and currently resides in Forest Hills with her husband and three year old twins.  Jennie has worked as a NYC based entertainment publicist for over 15 years and currently works full-time at a public relations firm.  Striving to make the most of her free time with her family and enjoy all the family friendly activities in Queens, Jennie began researching all-things kid around town to help her and her friends take advantage of all the fun and educational resources her neighborhood has to offer.

As a freelance writer for The Forest Hills Patch, she reports on local weekend activities, neighborhood deals and discounts, and parenting issues affecting the community. She is thrilled to join the fabulous Queens Mamas to report on a variety of topics which explore the neighborhood, share the information that makes life better and easier for families, and uncover some of the true hidden gems around our wonderful town.

Allison Casal – Dunn – Contributing Queens Mama

Allison Casal-Dunn was born and raised in Flushing, Queens, but now lives with her family in Jackson Heights.  Allison is a full time special educator with the NYC Department of Education and first time mother to her one-year-old son, Wesley. Like most first time moms, Allison relied heavily on “mom blogs” to answer the thousands of questions that plagued her new mommy brain. She is now very happy and excited to help contribute to a wonderful resource for all Queens moms.

Sandy Jimenez – Contributing Queens Mama

Sandy is a Queens gal, who was born and raised in Woodside. She is a full-time Trainer and Educational Counselor at the Options Center in Manhattan. She is passionate about education and about exposing her toddler to the best Queens and the rest of the city have to offer. She also believes that Queens Mamas was created just for her.

Christine Concetta Gibson – Contributing Queens Mama

Christine Concetta Gibson was born and raised in Flushing. She got her BA from American University in Washington, DC and her MA from the University of South Florida. After traveling to Latin America and Africa as well as working in the domestic non profit sector for a few years, she became a stay at home mom to Henry in 2008 and is expecting number two in December. She’s passionate about homebirth, breastfeeding and other stuff that she never thought she’d care about until she became a mom. She knows the importance of having the support of a great moms network and is lucky enough to get together with other mom friends at least a few times a week. She dreams of one day returning to work full time but in the meanwhile would settle for reading the newspaper and having a cup of hot coffee in peace. Check out her Etsy shop – Queens Babies – for one of a kind, handmade baby items!

Vivian Cardinale – Contributing Queens Mama

Vivian was born and raised in Queens.  She received a degree in Art History from Boston University.  After moving back to NY she worked as a teacher for the NYC Department of Education, and taught cooking classes with her husband.  She currently loves being a stay-at-home mom to her son, dreaming up new recipes, and trying every restaurant in her neighborhood.  Vivian writes about food at Italy in the City.  She is working on becoming a certified natural childbirth instructor and is excited to help other women as they enter mommy-hood.

Kelly O’Neil – Contributing Queens Mama

Kelly O’Neil is a native New Yorker raised in Jackson Heights.  Her passions consist of travel, sampling new cuisines, and discovering all that the city has to offer. She has volunteered for both AmeriCorps and the Peace Corps, where she spent two incredible years teaching in a rural Quechua-speaking community in Bolivia. After completing her service, she traveled by land all over South America. Upon her return to New York in 2003, she earned a masters in bilingual education at Teacher’s College of Columbia University and began her career as a New York City public school teacher. At present she resides in Sunnyside with her husband, two-year-old daughter Aislinn, and her newborn daughter Xela. She is thrilled to be on child care leave, enjoying her adventures exploring the city with her children. She is always on the hunt for the most economical, interesting, and off-the-beaten-path kid friendly places and activities all around the city. Her friends have come to call her “The Mom in the Know” and that is how she came to write for The Mamas Network!

Megan Ross – Contributing Queens Mama

Megan Ross is taking a hiatus from teaching high school English to be a private tutor for her 22 month old daughter, Leora, who is usually a cooperative pupil. She is an avid hiker, a nature lover, and an amateur photographer. The one thing she misses most from her pre-baby life is the ability to go to yoga classes whenever she wants, but does enjoy taking Leora to mommy-toddler yoga. It’s all about compromise, right?