Paradigm Shift Winner:  Tina Sharkey

April 6, 2009

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Pregnant women and new mothers all over the world share a set of common experiences. By fostering those deep personal connections, Tina Sharkey has developed a leading online community while building BabyCenter into a powerful parenting brand.

“BabyCenter is a virtual tribe of moms,” says Sharkey, herself a mother of two. “It’s people who share a moment of time. We start with the birth date of the child and build an experience around that, developing consumer insights and offering marketers an  ecosystem of engagement.”

Through social networking, advice columns and page after page of original content, BabyCenter has become the top global interactive parenting network, with a 78 percent share of the U.S. market, a national Hispanic site and operations in 18 countries worldwide.

Sharkey says BabyCenter has been able to unlock the global platform of moms, creating an environment of trust, credibility and engagement. “The open rates on our emails are off the charts because we’re giving consumers what they want, when they want it,” she says.

Sharkey was a pioneer in creating online communities with iVillage in the early 1990s and later guided AOL’s social networking initiatives. She joined BabyCenter in 2007, injecting her passionate spirit into the Johnson & Johnson brand and moving the company from a direct marketing model to a digital media platform.

“Consumer adoption of new media is the most seminal change of our time,” says Sharkey, “and we must create new ways for consumers to enhance their lives.”

For Sharkey, the universality of motherhood and parenting gives BabyCenter an opportunity to improve lives in all types of real-world communities. One example: texting weekly pregnancy information to pregnant women in rural India with cell phones. “Helping to lower the infant mortality rate is one part of our global vision,” she says. “If BabyCenter can help moms around the world get support and advice, we will have achieved our larger mission.”

For more Changing the Game Awards Winners:

Paradigm Shift Winner: Tina Brown
Paradigm Shift Winner: Esther "E.T." Franklin
Paradigm Shift Winner: Anne Bologna
Quantum Leap Winner: Nancy Smith
Brainwave Winner: Sue Bostrom
No Apologies Winner: Dr. Jane McGonigal