Recognize this smiling face? You ought to. This is Gabrielle Blair: blogger, mother and entrepreneur extraordinaire. Over the last year, you might have come to know her as DesignMom. She’s also one of the superstars behind the newly-launched and uniquely female-oriented Sk*rt site, where you can get your fill of the Internet’s best bits of info, all determined by women like you.

Gabrielle and her professor hubby are now bonafide New Yorkers. But she was raised in your favorite winter getaway, St. George, Utah, and attended BYU where she got a BFA in graphic design. Before all this blogging and full-time mom business, she worked as a graphic designer and an art director for an NY advertising house. She “formally” stopped working when baby number four arrived (she now has five), but she continues to freelance … and blog … and manage Sk*rt.

Gabrielle says she started DesignMom because, as she says, “I was itching for a creative outlet that wouldn’t require me to get out of my pajamas, as I like to keep things low-key after having a baby.” She thought about starting a blog, but found the thought of writing essays to be a bit intimidating. But when her sister (see Oh Happy Day) started her blog, she found herself officially inspired. “She wrote about her ideas and life in little blurbs instead of essays and I thought, ‘Hey, I could do something like that.’ It was just the creative outlet I was craving.”

Today, DesignMom offers a unique perspective on the intersection of design and motherhood. “As a professional designer, I find I put every parenting decision I make through a design filter. Things like what kind of family car we should drive or what kinds of sneakers my kids should wear.”

Gabrielle had been introduced to sites like Stumble Upon, Del.icio.us and Digg, but could never “wrap her heart around the content”—largely because she felt the content was aimed at “techie men.” It was at this point that her techie-man brother and technology coach asked her, “Why don’t you start something similar for women?” So Gabrielle contacted two of her fave bloggers, Laura and Laurie, and Sk*rt was born.

Gabrielle’s five kids are Ralph, Maude, Olive, Oscar and Betty. You might not know that she bought her prom dress in Las Vegas and that she prefers caramel to chocolate. Here’s a little more from this once-Utah lady. (Gabrielle, we’re curious about Dooce’s house, too.):

Name: Gabrielle Stanley Blair

Occupation: Mother/Designer/Blogger/Internet Maven

When I grow up, I want to be: A textile designer.

The best thing about growing up in Utah was: Driving by the sign on I-15 that says, “Grand Canyon, Zion National Park, Lake Powell, THIS EXIT.”

If/when I have 24 hours in Utah, I always:

• In St. George: Cruise the boulevard and look for cute guys to make out with on the red hill.
• In Provo: Get a lime freeze from Ripples. And chocolate milk from the BYU Creamery.
• In Salt Lake: Drive around the avenues and look for Dooce’s house.

Utah has the best: Letters on mountains

Now I live in: Westchester, New York

Westchester has the best: Garbage removal. The trash workers come five days a week and bring your can from the side of your house to your curb. No joke.

If I could be anywhere right now, it would be: At a flea market in Paris.

Five hearts:

• Carrot juice
• Sparklers
• Target
• Sleeping
• Ben Blair

Five hates:

• Slugs
• Traffic Jams
• Sweet pickles
• Poison Ivy
• Dolores Umbridge

I can’t live without my: DVR.

The last party I went to was: A barbecue at a friend’s house.

And I wore: My current favorite jeans (Levi’s Rigid), turquoise cap-sleeve tee and polka-dot flats.

Favorite product on your site: Impossible to choose just one.

Favorite planet on earth: Vintage Toyota Landcruiser.

  

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 30th, 2007 at 7:55 am and is filed under Hatched In The Hive. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.