Today we’d like to introduce you to Reiko Foster.
Reiko, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I’ve been an educator for over 18 years, mostly as an English teacher in and around the Houston area. While teaching, I began a style blog called God’s Favorite Shoes where I would share my outfits with doses of my everyday life. The entire time that I was a content teacher, the one thing that was always consistent was my goal to “not dress like a regular teacher.” I was the teacher who always tried to wear something interesting that honored my spirit and students and my colleagues took notice.
The more I continued to write for my blog, the more I realized that it wasn’t just teachers struggling with their sense of style but women of all walks of life were as well. That’s when I started focusing on teacher style and sharing what I wore every day for a year.
The feedback and fellowship from those educators ultimately led to me creating a space online for them to get ideas on work-appropriate style as well as creating an E-Style Workbook, “How To Avoid the Dreaded Teacher Uniform.”
I still work in education as a program advisor while I moonlight as a writer and style strategist for educators.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
It has not been a smooth road mainly because everything is trial and error. There is no concrete formula to follow to guarantee success. Turning your social media likes into sales is not an easy process. Figuring it out is half of the battle.
Please tell us about Reiko Foster Creative Services.
I offer online style strategy sessions for educators who want to invest in their personal style as a form of self-care. You can also book me to be a presenter at your next educational professional development event. Imagine teachers being able to sign up for a professional development course on campus all about investing in their style! It’s unheard of in the education field.
I share tips from how to shop your own closet to how to master “re-styling” some favorites. I find often that we already own great pieces in our closet already, we just don’t feel confident when it comes to wearing it on the body.
I also have an E-Style Workbook, “How To Avoid the Dreaded Uniform.” This is an easy read that allows you to walk through identifying your style and easy actionable steps to make changes in your style immediately.
If there is ever a need for someone to feel confident as they teach students, it’s teachers. Teachers deserve to feel their best at all times, the E-Style Workbook offers support in doing just that.
And if that’s not enough, my family…specifically my two children, are now the inspiration behind our newly launched “bounce house” rental business, House of Zees ! Being the parents to 5 year old Zara and 3 year old Zavier, we are in that season of life where kid birthday parties are simply part of our social life. So we decided to embrace it.
House of Zees offers affordable and fully insured party rentals for your child’s (or adult..that’s a thing too) next birthday party!
Every other weekend we would attend a child’s birthday party and would literally cringe at the questionable conditions of some of the bounces houses. We decided that we would go out of our way to provide clean and sanitized bounce houses rentals that you could trust while your child plays.
Ah. The life of a serial entrepreneur!
If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
Hmmm. I think identifying and accepting my niche’ a lot sooner would probably have allowed me to be further along. I ran away from embracing my years as a professional educator for a long time until just recently. Identifying a niche’ allows you to at least know exactly who your customer/client will be.
Pricing:
- You can purchase a workbook for $15 to help you assess your closet and identify what you can do to honor your spirit and advocate for yourself.
- Contact me at Reikogfoster@gmail.com for speaking events that double as “professional development.” Trust me, teachers will love it as an option!
Contact Info:
- Website: reikofoster.com, houseofzees.com
- Instagram: @reikofoster, @houseofzees
Image Credit:
Lacoste Photography
Getting in touch: VoyageHouston is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
