Hi, my name is Lea and I'm a Social Change Marketer!

I just returned from an international social marketing conference in Toronto. Like other attendees, I'm still basking in the glow and contemplating everything I absorbed while there.

We social marketers have this tendency to ' examine our navels' when we gather and share our angst about people not understanding what we do. We get confused with social media and people think we only work with Facebook and Twitter. Not true although there was a fair amount of tweeting going on! The word 'marketing' sometimes makes people think that we're about manipulating others as in 'sleazy marketer'. Not true. The folks I've met in this circle of change makers certainly reflect long and often about their work and their impact on the world - which is probably why we're always navel gazing when we get together.

One young professional speaking on a panel with other young professionals both chastised the old folks in the field for not changing enough or changing quickly while at the same time professing that she doesn't tell people that she's in social marketing up front, rather slipping that nugget into the conversation.

I say we start calling ourselves social change marketers and that we do it boldly, that we walk into the room with our heads high and shoulders thrown back and announce to the world "I'm a social change marketer and I make a difference in the world"!