Who Is Lara Kulpa?

Welcome to one of many sites I’ve got, the one where I talk about things that don’t really fit anywhere else!

My name is Lara Kulpa, and I’m a self-proclaimed “Girly Web Geek.” I’ve been dipping my fingers into the internet since 1994 when the only real thing to do was get on the AOL chat rooms. Nowadays you’ll find me blogging, designing web sites and blogs, playing around in social media, and being a virtual assistant and web consultant.

Ginkgo Consulting – This is my web consulting firm. It’s where I’ve worked with some of the most amazingly wonderful clients a girl could ask for, including Darren Rowse from ProBlogger, who is one of my long-term clients and a very dear friend. I also love working with people to help them realize their internet dreams, be it to give them that extra bit of one-on-one training they need, or to design their “presence” on the web.

I’m also the Assistant Editor for TwiTip, a blog about Twitter, and am the Community Manager for ProBlogger.COMmunity, a blogging community set up by Darren to help bloggers connect with others in their niche, learn, share, teach and explore.

Luna Fabulous – This site has always (until recently) been the place where I spoke of having been a plus size model who was on a quest to lose weight (and not be so “plus” anymore). Since then, I decided that because I was no longer modeling, the site should focus more on life in general and living fabulously. I recently was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes, which has made the need to finally lose the weight a dire one, but I didn’t want to take away from everything else life has to offer. Living fabulously, one pound at a time, is the site’s new motto.

I’ve got a few other web projects going on, along with a few I’ve partnered up on with some friends and colleagues. I love working online, if you haven’t figured that out by now!

The Not-So-Official, Official Story

I didn’t grow up imagining I’d be doing what I’m doing today. In fact, I firmly believed from the time I could speak that I was the reincarnation of Dian Fossey. You might remember her name from the movie Gorillas In The Mist? Yeah, that Dian Fossey.

After graduating high school in the mid-90s, I went to college to become a certified zookeeper. My plan was to do that while I continued on to get a PhD in Animal Behavior. Of course, what I didn’t realize at the time was that as a single zookeeper, I’d need a second job. No time for more school, bills needed to be paid.

So I went to work for Neopets.com – it’s a cute community site, mainly geared toward kids nowadays, but started out for college kids. (In fact, I’d been working for them while I was still in college, but continued on afterward out of necessity and admiration.) I was senior site monitor there, so my main job was to keep the baddies out. No pervs stalking little kids, no “adult language”, that kind of stuff. I got to do other cool stuff like design items in the game, beta testing, all that. It was great. And got me into web design.

After September 11th, my world as I knew it really crumbled. Tourism shot down so the zoo thing was on thin ice, and Neopets wanted some security for their company and had asked me to move to California (I was in Florida at the time) and I just wasn’t ready to do that so I had to decline. Now, without a good second job, and the risk of walking in to work one day and not having a main job anymore, I moved home to New York feeling completely empty and confused.

I held several jobs then, ranging from being a 911 dispatcher to a lab tech in a biotechnology company. (I was also a fitness trainer at Curves for Women, a retail store assistant manager, and a few other short lived things I can’t remember.) I took what I’d learned by working with Neopets and tinkering with web design, and started building sites for family and friends. It was kind of cool, because as much as I was into animals, I’d also always been a creative geek, and loved computers and programming.

So I found a guy who had an internet marketing and SEO company who was looking for someone with web design experience, but could be trained on SEO. It was a neat gig, but after 6 months he “restructured” and laid off all but two of his employees.

I then found another SEO company who took pity on me and created a special position just for me, also doing SEO. After about a year, she came to me and told me she felt I’d be better suited to go into business for myself, and with her blessing, off I went.

I had my first paying client only two months into it, and they’re still my clients today. For a while, I had been blogging with b5media, a company co-founded by Darren Rowse. Darren and I quickly became friends and he’s by far one of my most favorite people on earth. Over the past 3 years, we’ve grown our friendship and working relationship to the point where I’m now involved in almost all of his projects to one extent or another. I love working with Darren, and being a part of what he’s doing.

So in short, (finally) over the past 5 years, I’ve built hundreds of websites, met thousands of people, and have truly become very happy with what I’m doing. I’m in a place where I’ve got amazing clients, great friends, and am eager to see what the next decade of my life will amount to. It’s not Gorillas In The Mist, but it’s my life, and I love it.

A few of my favorite things…

In no particular order, here are some of my interests, hobbies, and favorite places on the web:

• My retired racing greyhounds and the rescue groups I belong to.
• Being one of two department photographers for the best damn fire company in Montgomery County, NY.
• Photography, in general.
• Really being in love for the first time in my life. (Yes, I’m a mushy girl. Sue me.)
• Crochet, painting, sculpting, beading, making art.
• Michael Bublé, Motown, Classic Rock, and The Rat Pack. Okay, music in general. I love it, almost any kind.
• White tulips. Lots of ‘em. In a short vase.
• My parents are the best friends a girl could ask for.
• My friends are the brothers and sisters I wasn’t born with.
• My big, loud, wonderful Italian (mom’s side) family is AMAZING.
• My grandmother is the only grandparent I have, and she’s pretty wonderful.
• Riesling, guacamole, good chocolate, sugar snap peas, in-season-and-super-ripe watermelon, peanut butter.
• Sushi. Like, to the point where I think I could live without the previously mentioned foods, for the rest of my life, if I got to eat sushi daily.
• I’m addicted to HGTV, TLC, and crime dramas. I’ve recently discovered Tosh.O on Comedy Central and am obsessed. Wish it were on every single night! Oh, and Ugly Betty, too! Dammit, why do they have to cancel all the shows I really love?
• I’m also still kind of addicted to Neopets, though I don’t have as much time for it as I used to.
• Coffee. Any kind, any flavor, any size. Wait, that’s wrong… make mine an extra large!