Today we’d like to introduce you to Chastity Valentine.
Hi Chastity, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
As seen on Oprah.com, The New York Times, and Elle Magazine, GarnerStyle.com was founded in October of 2008 by Chastity Garner Valentine. Through GarnerStyle, she offers inspiration and advice to plus-size women who want to achieve their best style. What began as an experiment with little knowledge as to what “blogging” even was or how it would impact social media became a platform with over 300K followers on Instagram, and get this—nearly 1 million followers on Facebook! She has chronicled her life, her clothes, travel, moving to a new city, and many other adventures through her blog and social media.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
With entrepreneurship, there are peaks and valleys. I’ve started over with different projects in the industry such as theCURVYcon. I built up a reputation in the community and thought it would be an easy lift to get the support needed to build out such an event. It was a rude awakening. I almost had to re-prove myself in among the brands that I could pull off such an event. I can say that the community backed us immediately sight unseen but the brands were slower to come on board. That proved to me the importance of community and having a tribe. Without the tribe theCURVYcon would have never been successful. It was an uphill challenge to get the financial backing needed but my business partner and I were determined. By year three we had everyone on board.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I am an influencer who specializes in plus-size fashion. Some might call me an O.G. blogger. In 2012, I spearheaded a boycott against Target and their lack of choices to the plus-size customer. Target immediately responded and I ended up working with them for a year. Target now has amazing options for plus because of that moment. This moment also catapulted and solidified my place in plus-size fashion. Additionally, I am the co-founder of theCURVYcon which ran from 2014 to 2019. The event was in NYC alongside fashion week and was a force all its own. It was a weekend of plus-size fashion, great conversation, and body positivity. Finally, designer has been added to my list as I have collaborated and designed collections with Fashion to Figure for the past three years.
Are there any books, apps, podcasts or blogs that help you do your best?
As an influencer, you need to be able to edit your content on the go.
I personally love using
VivaVideo
BigVU
Planoly
Contact Info:
- Website: www.shopgarnerstyle.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/garnerstyle
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/garnerstyle
Image Credits:
Credit: Matt Alves
