Staff

Founder/President
Marlynn Jayme Schotland

photo by RLP Studios

Marlynn Jayme Schotland is committed to providing services and products that help enrich the lives of families everywhere. As owner of Urban Bliss, a graphic design + creative strategy studio, she creates modern | fresh | fun designs and communications strategy for families and family-focused businesses throughout the globe.

An award-winning public relations professional and former broadcast journalist, Schotland's last "corporate job" was as Director of Public Relations for The Art Institute of Portland, where she also served as National Public Relations Council Chairperson for its parent company, Education Management Corporation (EDMC). Prior to that, Schotland was the weekend anchor/weekday reporter for the NBC affiliate in Medford, Oregon.

Throughout her career, Schotland has been an active member of several non-profit organizations. She has served on the Board of Directors of the Pearl District Business Association, the Oregon Columbia Chapter of the International Association of Business Communicators (OCIABC), and the inaugural SIGGRAPH Cascade Chapter. She also has served on committees for the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) and has been a member of the City Club of Portland. She currently is a member of the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO), Oregon Association of Minority Entrepreneurs (OAME) and the Asian Pacific American Chamber of Commerce (APACC). She is a former S.M.A.R.T. (Start Making a Reader Today) volunteer and 3-year Race for the Cure Team Captain.

Married with two young children, Schotland is passionate about structuring her business life around her family life, and is an active voice in the mom community throughout the nation. Marlynn is passionate about helping moms build their businesses while also raising their families. She has more than 15 years of professional public speaking experience and enjoys speaking at business conferences, professional organization meetings and moms group meetings throughout the Pacific NW.  She is also available for business consultations. You may reach her directly via email marlynn (at) thepowermob (dot) com if you are interested in booking a speaking engagement or consultation.

When she's not writing, designing, or championing the causes of mom business owners, she can be found organizing anything & everything, baking, building sand castles at the beach, singing loudly in the car or building forts with her silly family, kickboxing, or enjoying a glass of Oregon Pinot Noir or pint of NW microbrew with friends and family.

Executive Coordinator
Tara Hipps

Tara Christensen Hipps was born and raised in Reno, Nevada.  Deciding that life is the best educator, she graduated High School as a Junior, lived and worked in Germany for approximately 1 year, and then attended the University of Nevada Reno studying social work and child psychology. After moving to Oregon, she began a career track which ultimately provided her with 15 years experience in the Administrative side of the Medical Field. This includes experience in Marketing, Program Development, Public Relations and Consumer Satisfaction and 5 years Clinic Management. She also enjoys volunteering her time to work with organization such as CAAW (Committee to Aid Abused Women), Meals on Wheels, and various Disabled Sports organizations.

She has now embarked on her new career as "Mommy" to her rambunctious son Andrew, who was born June 5, 2007. She and her husband David make their home in Portland.

Prior to changing her career path, Tara was managing a busy Urgent Care Clinic which served over 100 patients per day seven days a week. In this position, she was responsible for 5 departments, including in-house billing, and supervised 50 employees including 5 doctors and 2 physician assistants.  Her 15 years of experience have helped her to develop her natural aptitudes for leadership, conflict resolution and vision and organization.  She feels that her new career as "Mommy" requires all of her previously acquired skills and then some. At times, "Mommy" can be a much more difficult job. But it is always more rewarding and she loves every minute of it. In her spare time, whenever that is, she enjoys meditation, yoga, reading, hiking and running. Tara and her husband are avid travelers and enjoy exposing Andrew to the world and all walks of life.  He of course teaches them as much if not more about how to really "see" the world.

Tara appreciates and understands the struggles of motherhood, as well as the demands of running a business. As a staff member of Mamapreneurs, Inc. she is able to bring this understanding plus her previously acquired skills to benefit the organization and all its members.  Tara is able to combine her natural people skills and relationship building abilities with her understanding of marketing and public relations, administrative support, organizational requirements, community relations and community participation to help benefit Mamapreneurs, Inc.  She is proud to be a part of this exciting and dynamic group of Mamapreneurs.