In the blogger community, it is easy to forget there is a face behind the pretty pictures. Christina Coker, creator of Champagne Taste Beer Budget, doesn’t leave room for misconception.
Coker moved to San Antonio from Germany eleven years ago. Five years ago, Coker decided to make her blog a business and create something that could support her and her four children. She describes her blog as “life and style,” because she doesn’t want to confine her posts to just one aspect of her life. Coker said “San Antonio quickly became home.” She has since found inspiration in what she refers to as the culture community, because “all of the art, food and fashion communities intertwine.”
In the San Antonio blogging community, she has experienced immense support from other women in her profession. As the followings of their blogs grow around the world, creators can forget about the original intention for why they started out. Coker said “the only numbers I really pay attention to are the number of women who directly reach out to me.” Hearing from women shows the direct impact she’s making. As a single mom of four and a successful blogger, she always gets asked ‘How do you keep it all balanced?’ Coker described her life as “just my kind of crazy. I kind of thrive off chaos, and we are definitely a ‘get up and go’ kind of family; we don’t really like to sit still.” Coker’s days are filled with client meetings, giving back to the community and spending time with her kids, she refers to as her “entourage” or “the minis.” Each day is packed with fun for her and the kids, whether it be photoshoots, TV segments, going to one of the many museums in San Antonio, having one-on-one mommy dates or Friday movie nights. Coker and the minis try to give back to the community in as many ways as they can such as volunteering at the food bank, fostering animals or going to the fire station and handing out cupcakes.
“I hope that doing these good deeds with my kids ingrains in them to pass on the kindness and continue to treat people how they want to be treated.”
Her number one priority is guiding the minis through life and teaching them about the world. “My kids are very aware that they are privileged and what that word means,” Coker said. To her, the biggest part about being a mom and an influencer is empowering people and surrounding herself with “like-minded people and go-getters.”
Coker strives to empower her children and push them to be whatever they want to be. She said “I always tell my kids–dream all you want to dream, but don’t let it stop there. You have to go after it, you can’t just have a dream and think that’s it; you have to chase it down. Can’t is not a word I really allow them to say, because there is always another way.”
The message Coker wants to send with her blog posts is that she is just like the rest of us, and although she is an award-winning blogger, she keeps it real and states that “even in my house there are dinosaur chicken nugget nights.”
As readers, we have to remember that there is a person with real world problems, and that nobody has it all together all the time. Coker looks at the life she adores and says, “I definitely found myself a little later in life, and I wish someone would have sat me down when I was 20 and told me all of the things I know now. And doing what I do is my way of giving back and telling my younger self and people like me, ‘you got this girl.’”
