by Kemila Velan

I met Jeile Marie, co-creator of GoLiveMiami.com on March 17, 2009 (see my typed out blog entries of our series of encounters below). Last week, we “got together” virtually to discuss the Miami blogosphere. The question was: Are there other chic techies in our Magic City doing what we are doing?

Tuesday, March 17, 2009
I wake up at 3:30 a.m. PST. It is time to go back to Miami. Why? Miami 2.0 awaits. I was not meant to live in San Francisco full-time. At least not now. The math isn’t adding up. There is another story waiting to unfold in Miami. And so I get myself up from the comfy sofa of my temporary apartment in the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood of San Francisco. I climb into the Super Shuttle with one less suitcase than I had brought. I feel lighter. I am freeing myself of my baggage little by little. Soon, I will have nothing weighing me down. I can move full light speed ahead…kinda like Chakra Girl. My head is lighter too. I am still on the correct path. Nothing feels wrong. Nothing feels out of place.

The flight is seamless and before I know it, I am back in Miami, in a club formerly known as the restaurant Afterglo where they used to sell overpriced “organic food sourced from the sun.” Sharky B buys me a glass of vodka and club soda. I sit…content. Happy. On my own. I love that I don’t need babysitting. I love that I don’t feel bored. I love that I can just sit and observe no matter where I am.

Within minutes a goofy guy with a camera crew is standing in front of me. The microphone says, “Little Italy.” Yet another niche Miami TV show. The party scene. OK. Cool. Whatever. There are so many people doing this. They must blend into each other eventually. The goofy guy introduces himself and kisses my hand. I’m glad he doesn’t shine his camera on me. There are people we connect with; there are people we don’t connect with. It’s just like attending an art show…there are paintings that will move you; there are paintings that won’t.

As Sharky B and I leave the club, we run into a tall blond woman who talks fast and with a slight Spanish accent…it’s more like a Miami accent. And I wonder where she is from. Turns out her name is Jeile Marie and she is Dominican. She has her own show called GoLiveMiami.com. She is funny and smart and ambitious and I instantly love her. She is totally herself. Not trying to impress this or that person. Absolutely genuine. This is the kind of girl I could be friends with. This is a painting worth looking at for a while. She says she’s been studying SEO.

“I thought I could just click a button!”

I laugh. This girl is a star.

Eventually we find our way over to her partner – Richard, “The Woody Allen of South Beach,” Jeile Marie calls him. He is an ol’ skule filmmaker and I love how he can take an on-the-spot critique of his video editing skillz like a champ. Wow! Professionals! I am flying with Eagles, just like mom always suggested. “If you want to fly like an eagle, stop hanging out with turkeys.” LOL. I love mom.

Saturday, May 2, 2009: The BBQ Party
The day is perfect. Blue sky. Blue ocean. An iPhone playing South Beach music.

A cute yogi with fake breasts shows up first. We talk about Loren Russo’s Jivamukti yoga class at The Standard. She shows me bathing suits she’s selling. I show her the tag of my bathing suit, which was also made by a local designer. This is how it goes at a Miami party. Robert shows up with a girlfriend. She lives in Coral Gables. She sells and distributes flowers and we agree that this is a noble profession, much better than dealing in military weapons. Robert tells me he passed my name along to a writer who is looking for a team of writers for a flick he is putting together. I am flattered that he has done this. It would be nice to have regular work as a fiction writer.

Jeile Marie shows up and we are instantly connected. We talk about our trials and tribulations as bloggers. We talk about T-I-M-E as a non-linear concept…that it is just loops of consciousness and we are stars riding on them…we talk about the angels who have been guiding us and how we must listen to them, even when our egos rebel, because regardless of the path we choose, we will end up in the same place…

Wednesday, May 27, 2009
I drive down to the Brikolodge co-working space for Refresh Miami. As I drive around Midtown Miami, I am overcome with tears. I am Melanie again. I am in my old neighborhood. I wrote about this new “city within a city” when the developers were dreaming about it and talking about the kinds of people who would occupy it – creative types…young professionals. When I walk into the second floor loft, I see that their dream has manifested. Again, I have to choke back tears. It’s wall-to-wall packed with the city’s biggest geeks and future millionaires. There are at least 100 people – mostly boys with glasses and a few females here and there, including Jeile Marie. The creative energy is out there, we just need to organize and harness it.

Friday, June 19, 2009
Jeile Marie tells me she thinks I’m cool and respects me for the work I am doing. I tell Jeile Marie she is the iJustine of Miami, and her show is different because she not only shows the party Miami scene, but she also attends our city’s techie shows and makes the geekiest of geeks look cool. We video conference via Skype and try to find other females doing what we are doing.

Friday, June 26, 2009
I post the video of me and Jeile Marie talking on www.BiscayneWriters.com, along with the highlights of “Our Story,” which will certainly be an exciting evolutionary cross section of paths.

Amen. Namaste. Ciao.