The introduction of Henry Ford’s automobile a century ago changed the world. The development of TV a half century later fully changed it again. Now there's the the Internet and all these www’s in our lives.
They’re changing everything.
Like, Kristi Stalter.
By day, she is a bright, energetic 24-year-old who teaches second grade at Stevenson Elementary in Bloomington, a lifelong Twin Citian who went to Bent School and University High before moving on to a liberal arts college in Indiana.
Then there’s Kristi by night and weekends.
That is when, while quietly seated behind a laptop in her Bloomington home, out of the glitz and lights of such worldly fashion capitals as Paris, London or NYC, Kristi runs a highly popular fashion blog.
It attracts up to 20,000 views a day, has sponsors, gets her free clothes, counts notables and celebs among its “fans” (Emily Maynard, most recently of ABC’s “The Bachelorette,” is a regular visitor) and more recently led to a series of tweets, posts and even a blurb on the sports-gossip site www.terezowens.com that romantically linked Kristi to Clay Matthews, the star linebacker for the Green Bay Packers.
Kristi poo-poos the Matthews’ assertions. “I’m a Packers’ fan and I was at the game that was referred to (on terezowens.com),” she says. “But that’s about it. How that got out I have no idea.”
There’s no denying, though, it’s a brave new world on the Internet and that entrepreneurs like Kristi Stalter are mining dividends.
“One of the aspects I enjoy most,” she says, “is being able to interact with girls and women from all across the country. Who would have ever dreamed that only a few years ago?”
On paper, Kristi manning a popular Internet fashion site doesn’t seem very “dream-able” either.
She went to a Mennonite college in Indiana. Conservative. Rarely mistaken for its fashions. And she lives in Central Illinois.
Calvin Klein will probably never hang out at Lucca and Liz Claiborne will probably not be spotted at Eastland Mall slyly scoping out the window at The Limited.
Even the name of Kristi’s blog, www.thecoralcourt.com, doesn’t sound much like the land of corn and beans. (Coral Court, she explains, is a place where she used to take family vacations that “was absolutely beautiful and has many pleasant memories.”) Her mom is a B-N gynecologist and her dad a “stay-at-home professional.”
On the other hand, the success of “Coral Court” is perhaps because it is so counter to conventional wisdom on “fashion.”
Kristi’s blog is not about glitz and high glamor, but instead work-a-day wear and simply looking nice. Or as she puts it, “creating an environment for positive female relationships ... and being confident in life, including how you dress.”
In fact, that’s how it all began.
Out of college where one of her classroom requirements was to do a blog. She continued, blogging about the travails of being a young teacher and in doing so, developing a kinship with other teachers across America. That’s when one of them also asked in an online post what Kristi wears in the classroom.
Fashionable, savvy and one who undeniably “loves to browse and shop,” she began taking pictures of her outfits and posting them.
Others began responding and while devoting her week days to school (“my full-time job is teaching”), Kristi began spending weekends, planning out fashion installments for the next week.
In time, online companies like Stella & Dot, a San Francisco-based website for women, began sending her items to style and wear in exchange for her posting where viewers could buy them.
And so now her Coral Court blog updates every week day.
Visitors and readers of the site post daily, too.
At Stevenson School, fellow teachers and staff “know if I tell them that I like what they are wearing and ask where they got it, they now know that it could end up on the blog.”
Says Kristi, “The overwhelming support from people whom I have never met has been so rewarding. I have been able to create a community and make friends from across the world.”
Move over, Henry Ford.
The Kristi Stalters are carving out all-new trails in this new-fangled world. Or is that now spelled wwworld?
Bill Flick is at flick@pantagraph.com
https://www.facebook.com/thecoralcourt
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