Latest / GlowInto / The Story of Christine Blanquart
Transcript
- Jen: There is something powerful about watching a woman decide she is not finished building yet, a new idea, a new space, a new chapter, and the courage to take everything she has learned along the way and turn it into something people can see, experience, and become part of. That is what I love about the women I get to talk to through Glow and To. They're so creating, still taking risks, and still imagining what could come next. And Christine Blankert is doing exactly that. With Fountain House at the square, she is bringing a new vision to downtown Belleville, one shaped by years of experience, a deep connection to her community, and the kind of entrepreneurial spirit that keeps evolving instead of standing still. This conversation is about what happens when experience meets possibility. It's about trusting your instincts, continuing to create, and giving yourself permission to build something new and a season of life. When a lot of women are being told they should just slow down, Christine is not slowing down. She is building what is coming next, she is ready to share with you Fountain House at the square. This is Christine Blankard's story, The Making of a Main Street Visionary, and these are the women of Glowin' Two. Career pivots can look simple. A woman spends years building one career, then suddenly appears in a completely different world. From the outside, it can look like she simply changed her mind. That is rarely what happens. Christine did not wake up one morning and decide she no longer wanted to be a nurse. She had invested years becoming one, worked in critical care, trained other nurses, mentored new graduates, moved into case management, and school nursing. And even began working toward a master's degree with plans to become a nursing educator. She was good at it, loved the work, and still speaks about nursing with pride. Then another part of her life began growing. What started as something fun, vintage finds, flea markets, auctions, repurposing pieces, and renting booth space with her husband Brad, slowly became something Christine could no longer dismiss as a hobby. The creativity came naturally, connecting with customers came naturally. Teaching, mentoring, organizing, problem solving, and building community were still skills she had already spent years developing, and she did not leave those abilities behind her when she stepped outside the hospital. She had simply found another place to use them. Christine was not choosing between a career she hated and a business she loved. She was choosing between two things she cared deeply about, and asking herself a much harder question. Do I love this enough to give it everything I have? Five years after making that decision and bringing Blankerd's Vintage Market to downtown Belleville, Christine is expanding again. Just steps from Vintage Market, Christine is transforming another building into Fountain House at the Square, a new concept built around food, coffee, ice cream, gathering events, and the kind of experience Christine has spent years learning how to create. Later in the story, we will take a closer look inside the space. And the vision she is building there. Our next story takes us to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, to meet Jody Bastel of Remaking Jodi. Jodi is turning 51 and she is embracing this chapter with bold color, dopamine dressing, a little new kids in the block, and a whole lot of personality. But for Jodi, style is about so much more than clothes. For years she said she dressed with one goal in mind: look smaller, stay quiet, and blend in. And today she's doing the opposite. She's wearing the color, taking up space, and encouraging other women. To stop waiting for the perfect body or the perfect time to fully show up as themselves. Listen to my story about Jodi and remaking Jodi on September 24th. Then head on over to glowint2.com on September 25th for her full feature story with photos. Maybe this chapter isn't about shrinking at all. Maybe it's finally about taking up the space you were always meant to. Christine was born in Belleville and spent about 10 years living in San Diego before returning home with her parents. At 21, she came back to the area, met her husband Brad through a mutual friend, and eventually settled in Millstad, where they raised their two sons, Chase and Carter. Her early working life may not look like an obvious beginning of a vintage market story, although nearly every part of it prepared her for what she is doing now. And at 15, one of Christine's favorite jobs was working in an ice cream shop in San Diego. Later, she became a corporate trainer for a restaurant group and helped open roughly two dozen restaurants around the country. She was training people, opening new locations, and learning how a business operates from the inside. Leadership and teaching would follow her through nearly every stage of her life. And when her boys were young, Christine stayed home with them. And when they started school, she started nursing school. She quickly found her fit in critical care, eventually working in ICU, step down care, nurse case management, school nursing, training, precepting, and monitoring new nurses, and for a long time Christine assumed nursing would be the career she would eventually retire from. One of the biggest shifts in Christine's life came when her parents' health began to decline. Christine is an only child, and her parents were just seventeen and nineteen when they had her. I grew up with my parents, she says. Her father has always been her first phone call. Even after a massive stroke left him paralyzed on one side, he continued to show the toughness and determination Christine had always known in him, caring for himself and maintaining his independence. During the same period, her mother's health also began declining. And later she passed at sixty-five. The roles began to reverse. Christine was helping care for her parents while raising her own family and working in health care. Friends told her she needed to meditate. Christine laughs at that suggestion now. I can't meditate. I start thinking of a thousand things I can do. Her version of meditation became auctions, flea markets, antiques, salvage pieces, and repurposing old furniture. That hobby became a booth. The booth became another booth. Then came a bigger idea. What if I owned it? Entrepreneurship was already part of Christine's foundation. Her father was a business owner, while her mother was deeply creative working as a floral designer and wedding coordinator. Christine seems to have inherited pieces of both. I know how to make money. I can always figure out a way. When Christine compared the cost of booth rent and storage with the mortgage on a small commercial property, ownership suddenly made sense. Their first building was a small garage on Lebnan Avenue. They closed on it in February of twenty twenty, and about thirty days later the world shut down. Jennifer Joyner: Coming soon to Glow and Tell and to Glow and Two, events created specifically for women after 40. Glow and Two will be bringing women together through events inspired by the same pillars you already see throughout the stories, podcast conversations, and contributing voices on Glow'2. We'll talk about style that evolves and what personal style looks like as we move through different seasons of life. Through What Shapes Us Now, we'll bring women together to talk about podcasts, books, media, conversations, and ideas influencing us today. And inside the workplace, we'll focus on what women over 40 are building, changing, leading, and navigating in their careers and businesses. And it will all lead to a larger longevity event where we'll bring together a panel of experts to talk about health, wellness, strength, and lifestyle issues. That matter as we think about living well for the decades ahead. Those won't just be events to sit and listen. They'll be opportunities to connect, learn, meet other women, and have the kinds of conversations we don't always make room for. So more details are coming soon. Keep following Glowin' too because I think these are going to be events you'll want to be a part of. Jen: Christine and her husband Brad were both working in healthcare during the pandemic, while the vintage business opened one week in a month. The concept worked and people started encouraging Christine to think bigger. Bellevelle Main Street. Business owners such as Benny of Benny's Pizza and Andrea of Circa Boutique encouraged her to come downtown, and her father-in-law from Blankard's Jewelers, whose family's jewelry business had deep Main Street roots, supported the idea too. Christine was still hesitant enough to ask Benny. How he had found the courage to expand. His advice was simple, just do it. The only thing I regret is that I didn't do it sooner, she says. By the time Christine finally called about the Main Street building she had been watching, it was already under contract. She thought she had waited too long, and within about a week, her father in law called to tell her the for sale sign was back in front of the building. For Christine, that moment became symbolic of far more than a real estate transaction. It wasn't a no, it was a just not yet. At nearly the same time Christine and Brad were preparing for Main Street, nursing was offering her several of the jobs she once would have considered dream opportunities teaching, clinical instruction, and nursing education. Her mother's health was also deteriorating, and one hospital experience brought Christine's years in nursing full circle. Her mother suffered a major cardiac event. And several of the nurses who had stayed to care for her were nurses Christine herself had trained. One joked that if anything went wrong, it was because Christine had taught them. In the middle of an incredibly difficult night, Christine saw something she had believed for years play out in front of her. The effort you put into people matters because someday the person you train may be the person caring for someone you love. I always told my boys, give 100%. Whatever you do, Leave it on the field. And Christine had security experience, strong income, and a career she loved on one side. On the other was a business that had begun as a hobby and was now demanding her full attention. Whatever decision path I was going to make right there, I was going to leave it all in the field, and I wasn't going to fail at it. And she chose the business. Christine still keeps her nursing license current and speaks about the career with genuine pride. The business simply grew to the point where she could no longer divide her full attention between both worlds. Much of what made her successful as a nurse now shows up in the way she runs vintage market. Critical thinking, leadership, training, mentoring, high expectations, and the ability to see potential in other people. Her restaurant experience came with her too. So did the Creativity she learned from her mother, the entrepreneurial mindset modeled by her father, and the resourcefulness developed while raising her boys. And none of it disappeared when Christine changed careers. It became the foundation underneath the next one. Christine does not simply ask what someone can sell. She asks what they want. Is this a hobby? Is this something they want to build into a business? Where do they see themselves going? Carlin Slayton was given space to expand her styling and color analysis work with a pre-loved clothing boutique on the top floor, giving another business level to KS signature. Trish, with Ragsta Relics, has been able to sell jewelry, clothing, and handmade pieces, in addition to other local artists, vintage sellers, creators making old signs, stained glass salvage windows, furniture collectibles, dog treats, and sauces that have found a place inside Christine's shop. You can do business on your own, but you're not meant to, and you don't have to, Christine says. Some have been with her five or six years, others have grown into their own events, brands, or businesses while remaining connected to vintage market. Christine refers to them simply as her vintage family. Have you ever had a business idea or even an established business, and you realize you're not quite sure what the next move should be? That's where Shannon Shores of Bertie Mae Consulting comes in. Shannon works with business owners who need clarity, strategy, accountability, and a trusted thought partner to help them step back, look at what's working, identify opportunities, and create a more focused plan for moving forward. Whether you're trying to refine your direction, make sense of too many ideas. Or figure out what growth should actually look like for your business. Shannon brings together the pieces and turns them into actionable next steps. Sometimes what you need isn't another idea. You need someone who can help you decide which ideas are worth pursuing and how to move forward with them. Learn more about Shannon Shores and Bertie Mae Consulting and discover what a little more clarity can do for your business. Walking through Blankard's vintage market is less like moving through a traditional retail store and more like moving through a collection of stories. There are vintage finds that can even stop someone in their tracks because they recognize something from another part of their life. My items people have a connection with. They see it, it brings up nostalgia and it brings up memory, she says. Christine wants people to wonder, discover something they are not expecting. And find a memory they were not necessarily looking for. The whole building tells a story. The items in here tell a story, and I'm a storyteller, Christine says. That philosophy is exactly why Fountainhouse at the Square makes sense. Christine gave Glow and Two an early look inside Fountain House at the Square, the new business taking shape just steps from the vintage market. The spaces being designed as more than a place to grab something to eat. Christine wants it to function from morning into evening as a place for coffee, breakfast, lunch, dessert, work, conversation events, and gathering. The first floor includes a Main Street walk-up window, a commercial kitchen, and plans for early morning service. The menu direction includes bakery items, personal pizzas, loaded hot dogs, ice cream, milkshakes, specialty toppings, seasonal treats, and a hot chocolate bar. Christine wants the food to be fun, fast, and visual. Upstairs she envisions a different kind of experience. Tables near the windows, overlooking Main Street, themed rooms, workspace for laptops, room for meetings, pop-ups, book launches, karaoke, private gatherings, and evening events. Gaming is one possibility, though Christine is clear about the bigger vision. The gaming is really just a bonus. I'm not about building a business around that. I'm building a business around creating an experience. The details reflect Christine, and they are black, pink, gold, raspberry tones, retro influences, neon photo moments, and a playful mugshot wall where customers can pose with coffee mugs in front of famous celebrity mugshots. Fountainhouse at the square was not initially Christine's plan. When the neighboring business closed, she spent time trying to convince other operators to fill the space. Then one Sunday morning, while driving to an event, something clicked. Why am I telling everybody else to do it? Why don't I just do it? Once she asked the question, the pieces lined up quickly. The teenager who once loved working in an ice cream shop, the restaurant trainer, the nurse, the mentor, and the business owner. all had something to contribute. Christine's interest in real estate began as a practical calculation. Over time it became part of how she thinks about business. The first garage helped make the next building possible and ownership created options and those options helped Christine keep expanding. Today she owns three buildings on the same downtown block. Belbo remained home even when other communities were possibilities. Christine wanted to be part of improving the place she belonged to. She has seen how one successful business can create traffic for another and how one person taking a risk can quietly give someone else permission to try. During another glow in two interview, Kim Kilgore, a paper moon in Mescuta, spoke about Christine as an inspiration for what she wanted to create in downtown Moscuta. Christine had never known. My whole life, I had not known that somebody would look at me that way, she says. Christine believes something interesting is happening among women in this stage of life. Women in their 40s, 50s, and beyond are changing careers, launching businesses. Rebuilding after loss and discovering parts of themselves they may not have fully used before, and what she values most are the women who support rather than compete with one another. A phrase from her friend Latanya Duncan has become one of Christine's favorites. We ride at dawn. It means if something happens, the others are coming. They have your back, we're not done. Christine is quick to acknowledge that none of what she has built happened alone. And Christine's husband, Brad, has supported nearly every dream she has brought home. While his more conservative nature balances Christine's instinct to move quickly, their sons have also become part of the foundation, too, especially during the loss of Christine's mother. Her buildings have even become part of family life, hosting holidays and gatherings because they are easier for her father to access. The deeper pattern in Christine's story is reciprocity. She has spent much of her life pouring into patients, nurses, her sons, her parents, vendors, employees, friends, and fellow business owners, and the people around her have poured back. What Christine would tell her twenty one year old self is that she wishes she could remove some of the doubt that followed her into adulthood. If you were questioning at any time, if you have what it takes to do everything. all the things you want to do, I promise you you do. Don't doubt yourself. And she would tell that young woman that leadership is already part of who she is. You were meant to be a leader. You're going to have big ideas. Just embrace the courage to do them. And she would tell her something that may have taken even longer to understand. One day you're going to be surrounded with people that pour love into you just like you pour love into others. Don't give up. Christine is not starting over, she never really was. Each version of her life has prepared the next one, and each opportunity she received seems to have strengthened her desire to create opportunities for someone else. Now inside Fountain House at the Square, those pieces are coming together again. Christine's story is also a reminder of something I have come to understand more deeply with every glow and two interview. Your story is part of your brand. People may discover a business because of a product, a service, social post, or even a polished website. Yet what often makes them stay connected is the person behind it. Christine's years in nursing help expand the way she mentors people. Motherhood helps expand her resourcefulness. Her parents help explain the combination of creativity and entrepreneurship. And a restaurant background subtly makes sense inside Fountain House at the square. And those pieces reveal something else. They reveal Christine. Christine has always had a thing for vintage crown pins, which feels fitting now. With three buildings on the same downtown block, Blankard's vintage market continuing to grow, and Fountainhouse at the Square taking shape, you could make the case that she is well on her way to becoming the Queen of Downtown Belleville. Christine would probably laugh at that. The crown represents what she has built around her. A business where vendors become family, a place where artists and entrepreneurs are given room to grow, a network of women who support one another, make introductions, share opportunities, and show up for each other and believe there's enough room for more than one person to succeed. Christine's strength has never been about spotting an opportunity for herself. She spots possibility and other people too. She has taken encouragement she received throughout her own life and turned around and offered it to someone else. She has created space, opened doors, supported neighboring businesses, brought people together, and helped others imagine that their own ideas might be worth pursuing. That's the thing Christine is building on Main Street. Not three buildings, not another business, community. In town after town, women are not simply working on our main streets. They are opening boutiques, restaurants, studios, salons, markets, creative spaces. And businesses build from ideas they may have carried for years. Many of them are women over forty, bringing decades of life experience, previous careers, relationships, losses, lessons, and hard earned confidence into what they are building now. Christine is one of those women. And the more of them I meet, the more I want to know their stories. Who are the women behind the storefronts? What did they do before the sign went up? What made them finally take the risk? What are they bringing to their communities and what might not exist without them? Those are the stories Glow and Two will begin exploring through The Women of Main Street America, a new series featuring women-owned businesses and the women behind them. Because when you look closely at the Main Streets of America, you may find that some of the most interesting chapters are being written by women like Christine, who are only getting started. There's so much more to Christine's story, and you can read the full feature at glowin' two.com. And if you're in downtown Belleville, stop by Christine's vintage shop on Main Street, explore what she's creating there, and keep an eye on Fountain House at the Square as the next chapter comes to life. Christine's story is such a great reminder that we don't have to know exactly what the next chapter will look like. We just have to be willing to keep creating it. So thank you for listening to Glowin' Two and And until next time, keep glowing into who you were always meant to be.