Military households will get to cheer for considered one of their very own when a Navy partner competes for the $250,000 grand prize on the "Project Runway" tv present.
Katie "Happy Color" Kortman, one of many 16 contestants on the Emmy-winning present, lives in Japan alongside together with her husband and 4 children.
She's a self-taught clothier who crafts clothes with distinctive mixtures of brilliant colours. Kortman went to high school for artwork, however since her college did not educate trend design, she painted footage of trend as an alternative. She then began designing cloth, purchased a stitching machine, and taught herself to stitch. She's been sporting her personal handmade garments completely for about 4 years.
Once "Project Runway" representatives reached out to her by way of social media and invited her to compete for a slot on the present, she immersed herself in preparations, saying, "I didn't know how to design from scratch, but I wasn't going to let this opportunity pass. I ordered textbooks, watched YouTube videos, and got some private lessons."
Kortman wasn't positive how it could work out since her household was stationed in Yokosuka, Japan, with 4 younger children, however her husband, Lt. Cmdr. Francisco Kortman, was all in. He informed her to say sure, and so they'd work out the right way to make it work.
"She has always had a sizable following on Instagram and my shipmates would tease me as being a husband of Instagram," Lt. Cmdr. Kortman stated. "Now, I'll be a husband of 'Project Runway,' too! Hooyah, Katie!"
When it involves who's her No. 1 fan, it is just about a tie between the "Happy Color" designer's husband and her mother.
"I think me going on the show fulfils my mom's lifelong dream," Katie laughs. "When we found out I was going to be on the show, she was jumping up and down screaming. We had watched the show together for years and for me to actually go on the show was amazing."
Katie feels showing within the nationally syndicated present sends a constructive message to different navy spouses.
"I hope that by me being on the show they'll see [that] you don't have to put your dreams on hold just because you move around all the time. There are ways this can happen," she says. "Part of the reason I got this experience is [that] while moving all the time I adapted and learned new skills."
Watch Katie within the premiere of Season 19 of "Project Runway" on Oct. 14 at 9 p.m. on Bravo within the United States or on the American Forces Network at 7 p.m. on Oct. 16 on AFN|prime in Japan, Korea and Central Europe. For AFN viewing occasions in different elements of the world, go to www.myafn.internet.
