Cynthia Closkey is a writer, entrepreneur, and co-organizer of PodCamp Pittsburgh, an annual "unconference" on social media held last month at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh. Closkey is president of Big Big Designs, a Web site development and marketing firm, and a founder of Fat Plum, a consulting firm that helps writers reach their goals. Closkey also maintains a personal blog, My Brilliant Mistakes.

Having worked at high-tech companies like NeXT Computer, Oracle Corporation, Gensym Corporation and elsewhere, Closkey regularly speaks to businesses, schools, and other organizations about blogs and social media. She is a member of Rust Belt Bloggers, and chair of the Promotions Committee of Butler Downtown, a program working to revitalize the downtown district of her hometown of Butler, Pa. Since moving back to Western Pennsylvania in 1999, Closkey has focused on bringing the benefits of Web technology to the area, as well as building awareness of Western Pennsylvania to a larger audience.