When Kathryn Finney started her wildly successful site The Budget Fashionista in the summer of 2003, she had no idea she was creating the “Budget Fashion” movement.
Kathryn’s frank advice and Midwestern charm turned a small site about looking fabulous on a budget into one of the top fashion sites on the Internet, with over 10 million unique visitors a year. In 2010, Kathryn joined Maria Shriver and Elizabeth Warren on AOL’s list of the Top Ten Women in Money.
The release of her Amazon best-selling book, How to Be a Budget Fashionista- The Ultimate Guide to Looking Fabulous For Less (Random House/Ballantine Books), made her the first fashion blogger to receive a book deal from a major publishing house. The book is currently in its 7th printing.
Kathryn has been profiled and/or featured in The New York Times, O Magazine, Instyle, People, Wall Street Journal, Essence, Redbook, and over 600 other print publications.
Her October 2010 cover story for Savvy MN magazine was the best selling issue in the history of the magazine.
She’s a contributor to AOL Shopping, Lucky Magazine, and Real Simple Magazine. She’s also a frequent style contributor to television shows such as NBC’s TODAY Show, CNN Headline News, E! News and ABC’s Good Morning America and has served as a spokesperson for top brands including Febreze, Paypal, Rightfit, Marshalls/TJ Maxx and Sears.
As a top keynote speaker, Kathryn gives over 30 presentations per year, on topics such as entrepreneurship, new media and women, and challenges facing women leaders. She’s been a keynote speaker at top conferences such as SXSW Interactive, Black Enterprise Small Business Conference, Blogher Business, Women Funding Network, and Professional Business Women’s Conference.
An honors graduate of Yale University and Rutgers University, Kathryn continues to receive numerous honors for her work, including selection as one of America’s Smartest Shoppers (Style Network), Essence Magazine “Woman of Style”, one of Silicon Alley’s Top 100 People in Technology, one of the 100 Most Useful Websites by MSN Money, A Top Ten Twitter Feed by The Griot, and listed as a “favorite” blog by publications as diverse as Instyle, Real Simple Magazine, Chicago Tribune, San Francisco Chronicle, and Women’s Wear Daily.
Kathryn is a strong supporter of projects that improve the lives of women and of projects that increase access to technology in African and African-American communities. She’s a founder and trustee of the Robert Finney Technology Fund, a fund created in honor of her late father, Robert, who was an engineer at Microsoft and EMC2. The fund provides scholarships to African-American high school and college students pursuing studies in technology related fields. Follow Kathryn on Twitter @KathrynFinney.
Kathryn is a featured panelists at Blogging While Brown 2012, June 1-2 in Philadelphia at the Chemical Heritage Foundation. Her panel, "Next Level Sister Bloggers" sponsored by BlogHer, will discuss how bloggers can become entrepreneurs by building a solid brand on and offline.
Friday paydays are the perfect day to register Blogging While Brown.
