About kirtsy

kirtsy is a social media platform of pure goodness. A plaza for the peachy. A portal to the pretty. A place to find cool things. To read smart scoop. To connect with fab ideas, exceptional people, useful information, excellent products. All of it. And more.

kirtsy is just like that friend who always finds the best stuff. Only better.

The kirtsy start

It all began in the middle of the Super Bowl 2007. While Peyton Manning was scoring points, three chicks across the US had a conference call about an idea. You see, they were looking for an online spot where they could find a collection of content that was interesting to them. It didn't seem to exist, so they created it.

And kirtsy was born.

Who's behind the kirtsy?

Gabrielle Blair is a designer and mother of five, who also goes by Design Mom and keeps a popular blog by the same name. She loves really good ideas and pretty paper products, and spends a part of each day investigating, writing about, and giving away all things well-designed. Formerly an art director at an ad agency in New York, she continues to design for a variety of clients, to create luxe stationery and wedding invitations, and to do ridiculous amounts of laundry. She currently lives in New York with her super-cool husband, Ben and their super-cute kids: Ralph, Maude, Olive, Oscar, and Betty. In fact, Gabrielle and Ben recently bought a trampoline and now consider the bulk of their parenting obligations fulfilled.

Laura Mayes spends her daylight hours working as a VP at an ad agency, where she writes for a variety of Fortune 500 companies and metaphoric rock stars. A lover of great finds, bargains, and design, she also writes for a variety of new-fangled blogs, review sites, and publications including The Queso and Cool Mom Picks. In her 128 hours of weekly spare time, she enjoys hanging with her brilliant husband, chasing their energetic son around the house, and destroying food for dinner parties. She also really digs enchiladas and Elvis and would be extremely happy to talk to you at any given moment about the benefits of New York, British music, design magazines, and carbs.

Laurie Smithwick was a bona fide tomboy who didn't voluntarily wear a skirt until she was in the 7th grade. Now she has lovely twin redhead daughters who wear nothing but skirts and dresses. That's called irony. Laurie occasionally blogs at Upside Up (where there is no dress code), and in her free time she and her clever husband run LEAP Design, a can-do graphic design studio in North Carolina. She likes collecting good things, telling good stories, being amazed, and jumping into cold water without feeling it first. She does not like to brag. Nonetheless she is very proud of having been nominated for a Grammy award in 1998. She didn't win, but she got to wear an awesome purple velvet dress that made her feel real girly.

Gwen Bell is, first and foremost, a teacher. She loves sharing what she has learned. In October, 2008 she was named one of the 50 most powerful women in social media, primarily because of her love of sharing what she knows with others. She started her career journey in Japan where she taught English to elementary school kids. Her combined love of teaching and living in Japan led to the formation of her first business, a yoga studio (now in its fourth year). She loves speaking about finding balance in life, online and off-, as she did on a panel at Blogher 2008. She loves sharing stories, which is why she fell in love with Kirtsy and the Kirtsy Chicks in July 2007. She's a partner at Kirtsy with a lot of goals, the most important of which, to her, is sharing. Sharing stories, how-to, tips, and resources. If you have a question, please always feel free to ask (at a conference, on the site, on Twitter or Get Satisfaction). She's here and ready to help you. She also loves hedgehogs. And can live out of a carry-on bag for a month (ask her how). She's married to a very handsome software developer she met on Twitter, Joel Longtine.

Who are the editors?