About ChickAdvisor

ChickAdvisor is about helping you make better purchasing decisions on everything from electronics to electrolysis. Our members determine the hottest trends, the best local services, and the coolest products, and we deliver the location and purchase information to make getting what you want and need easier, faster, and more affordable.

In the summer of 2007 ChickAdvisor teamed up with Alliance Atlantis' Slice network to produce a series of street fashion vidcasts called "Where'd You Get That?" Ali de Bold hosts her original concept on the streets of Toronto asking the well dressed where they shop and to share their style secrets.

In August 2007, ChickAdvisor launched their first Shop Crawl on Toronto's trendy Queen Street West strip. Local boutiques provided exclusive discounts and a private shopping experience for 50 ChickAdvisor members and their friends, followed by a reception at Milestones where each shopper received a bag of goodies from participating sponsors as well as a number of fabulous prizes.

Management Team

	Ali de Bold, Co-Founder Ali is a third-generation entrepreneur with a life-long passion for media since her appearance on Global TV's KidsNews at age 11. She is a former property and casualty claims adjuster who escaped the world of insurance shortly after meeting Alex, who convinced her to quit her job and go back to school. In 2004, she began Ryerson's Radio & Television Arts program, and is currently doing very well in her 4th year. She enjoys traveling, shopping, exercise and helping the local homeless by organizing used clothing drives.
	Alex de Bold, Co-Founder Alex is a serial entrepreneur who, like Ali, launched his first company, ProfessorJones while in his 3rd year of University in 1996. ProfessorJones was Canada's most successful online student portal. He continued working the online space doing integrated marketing and CRM for leading North American companies such as Labatt Breweries North America, Centrica, and Butterfield & Robinson. He has also worked as an advisor for other startups such as RedFlagDeals, Bubbleshare and AmbientVector and served as a Board Member for the Toronto Kiwanis Boys and Girls Clubs for several years. Though Alex is not a Chick, since 2005 when he married one, he feels like he understands them more and more.
	Ahmad Nassri, Developer Ahmad is the head geek of the technology team and a gadget enthusiast. He is behind most of the applications on ChickAdvisor and is also the company exterminator when it comes to "bugs". Originally from Syria, Ahmad is addicted to Black tea, shawarma and falafels and can handle extreme heat. Harsh Canadian winters on the other hand, are another story. Ahmad enjoys photography in his spare time and is rarely seen without his laptop or his precious Bluetooth headphones.

Press Releases

• June 21st, 2007 - "Where'd You Get That?" ChickAdvisor.com and Slice.ca Team up on Street Fashion Vidcast

• Where'd You Get That? ChickAdvisor.com's street fashion podcast where well-dressed women are stopped on the street and asked to spill their style secrets was the winning pitch at the Interactive Content Exchange in Toronto this March. A favorite with the audience, Alliance Atlantis immediately stepped up to license the content for their Slice network. Six episodes will air on ChickAdvisor.com and Slice.ca over the summer, beginning this Friday June 22nd, 2007. The first episode, Style Icons, asks fashionable women whose style inspires them and how that influences their shopping habits. Viewers will be able to vote for their favorite outfits on ChickAdvisor.com.

  Where'd You Get That? is the brainchild of ChickAdvisor co-founder, Ali de Bold. "Women check out each other's clothes all the time and ask each other where they shop. It's a very common conversation" de Bold says, "yet so many shows out there judge women in a negative way and I thought, instead of making fun of people with bad fashion sense, why not highlight the ones who have done it right?"

  ChickAdvisor.com is a user driven social shopping website with reviews on Shopping, Beauty, Wellness and Restaurants that launched 9 months ago by husband and wife duo, Ali and Alex de Bold. They also feature content from local bloggers and currently have over 2700 reviews from women across North America.

• March 31st, 2007 - ChickAdvisor.com Podcast takes Grand Prize at CHUM U-Pitch at ICE
• ChickAdvisor co-founder Ali de Bold snagged 1st place at U-Pitch, a user generated content competition at the Interactive Content Exchange (ICE 2007) for her original street fashion concept, Where'd You Get That? The event took place on Wednesday March 21st at Toronto's Carlu Event Theatre. ChickAdvisor won $5,000 in development funds to produce their idea, which they plan to launch this summer.
  
  ChickAdvisor is a social networking and shopping launched in September 2006, by husband and wife team, Alex and Ali de Bold. It is a user-generated website for women to rate the products and services we use every day. It features products and local services ratings across North America and has members all over the world.
  
  Companies were given 3 minutes to present their concepts and were selected by a panel of industry experts hosted included:
  • Maria Hale, VP Content Business Development, CHUM
  • David Crow, VP Business Development, Radiant Core
  • Cate McQuillen, Co-Owner, mememe productions
  • James Lewis, Editor, Canadian New Media (Decima Reports)
  
  The CHUM U-Pitch was hosted by CITY News New Media Specialist Amber MacArthur
• Sept 28th, 2006 - ChickAdvisor™ Launches First Social Shopping Service for Women
• Toronto-based Web 2.0 service lets women review, rate and share favorite products and services. ChickAdvisor (www.ChickAdvisor.com) has launched the first social shopping service for women. The service allows members to upload reviews, rate products and services, and select their favorites to share with others. A platform for women to discuss everything from fashion to healthcare, and from spas to supplements, ChickAdvisor lets women air their likes and dislikes and share the best deals in their cities on the site, as well as on their blogs and social network pages -- including the popular MySpace.com.
  
  TORONTO (PRWEB) September 28, 2006 - ChickAdvisor (www.ChickAdvisor.com) today announced the launch of the first social shopping service for women, which allows members to upload reviews, rate products and services, and select their favorites to share with others. A platform for women to discuss everything from fashion to healthcare, and from spas to supplements, ChickAdvisor lets women air their likes and dislikes and share the best deals in their cities on the site, as well as on their blogs and social network pages -- including the popular MySpace.com (www.myspace.com).
  
  Where can I get my hair done in Chicago without spending a small fortune?
  "Women make up over 51% of the online population, yet women and women's interests are underserved on the Internet," said ChickAdvisor co-founder Ali de Bold. "Our goal is to provide a place for women to feel at home online, a place where every point of view is valuable and relevant in some way."
  
  Analysts have noted that social shopping sites like ChickAdvisor get consumers engaged and informed prior to purchase. Because reviews are submitted by peers, rather than by merchants and vendors, participants tend to trust it as less biased and higher value.
  
  According to de Bold, by providing women with a platform where their opinions and expertise are valued and highlighted, women become more visible as they look to one another as trusted, go-to sources for information on a range of topics.
  
  "Across blogs and social networks, through audiocasts, videocasts and beyond, women and men are already having conversations about products and services that are important to them," she said. "If ChickAdvisor can act as a way to connect women with trusted sources, to put conversations around products and services that matter to women into context and help them save money, then we're doing our job."
  
  The sites's local features have launched in Toronto and rolling out to Vancouver, Chicago, Boston, New York, and most of California. Women who register with ChickAdvisor can create their own profile page, write reviews and upload pictures of products and services they care about, and provide online and offline pricing and purchase information. They can also rate the items, choose favorites for their hotlists to share with others on their blogs, use the "blog this" feature to share the reviews they create with readers on their own sites, join ChickChat to talk realtime with other members, and read advice from Ms. de Bold – or Miss Chickie as she is known on the site. The site's City Editors contribute local product and service information and deals. At launch, the site has nearly 600 product and service reviews submitted by women.
  
  A third-generation entrepreneur with a life-long passion for media, Ali de Bold founded ChickAdvisor with her husband Alex de Bold, who launched Canada's most successful online student portal in 1996, ProfessorJones.com. And what about guys? According to the de Bolds, men are welcome too. A special "Advice for Guys" section called the Dude's Corner is available in the site's forums, and women's hotlists make shopping easier for the men in their lives.
  
  "The site is about empowering women," Alex de Bold said, "and men can contribute to that mission too. With that said, we aren't about to lose sight of our goal: helping women share information on products and services with other women."
  
  As part of the launch, the de Bolds are making an active contribution back to the community they hope to serve. ChickAdvisor is recognizing key charities, donating part of the site's future profits to organizations focused on women's issues, such as breast cancer research, The Heart and Stroke Foundation, and charities dedicated to ending violence against women.