Natalia Zelmanov well deserved her title as Miss Second Life 2007, and she continues to live her Second Life in such a way that she shows off all the best features of a Second Life resident: she is gracious in chat, in her blog and in her tutorials, she is faultlessly pleasant to be around, even to those whose intentions she does not appreciate, and she creates content.

She has poured herself into Second Life as people do when they have found something they love to do, and she has thereby produced a multitude of blog entries and tutorials about Second Life, and a veritable asset server's worth of clothing and hair. All this, and a gorgeous mermaid who not only runs a business, but who has even finds some spare time to roleplay!

Zelmanov was, as so many of us are, introduced to Second Life by a friend; curiosity got her inworld, but it was a break-up with her partner at the time that led her to stay in the early days. To this day she has maintained a "no relationships" policy regarding anything other than friendships; so please, if you read this article, don't go bugging her for a date!

Early on in the piece, when she had gained enough knowledge to do so, Zelmanov started giving classes in shoe design and manufacture; these days, her business keeps her too busy to give classes, though she has recently started having a Q&A Dance Party at her business premises, in which she hopes to answer questions arising from her tutorials (check her blog for details of the time and date).

Instead of taking classes, she tends to write tutorials in her blog; it gives her an unrushed space in which to go into extensive detail, which she prefers to the hectic pace of a class, in which things must be simplified, both to cater to the lowest common denominator and to fit within the time frame. Ideally she would like to see people taking an inworld class to get the basic knowledge of a topic, and then to move onto her tutorials, so that they get the best of both styles of teaching.

Zelmanov's tutorials are a great place to pick up information. She has written them for two reasons: the first, because she found it difficult to source all the necessary material for the topics (it was present, but tended to be scattered all over the place), and secondly, because she found each other topics hard to grasp herself. The tutorials are being upgraded and improved all the time as Zelmanov's knowledge grows, and with the input of other residents, who are quick to let her know when tutorials are incorrect or difficult to understand; Zelmanov appreciates all the feedback she gets from residents for this reason. She's also curious to know what people want to learn about, and what tutorials she can add to the mix.

Zelmanov's blogging output has been tremendous since she began it, though she is being forced to reduce the amount of time she spends on it, both because her creative efforts are taking more time, and because her mother has threatened to kick her out of the house otherwise! Writing the blog has really kept Zelmanov motivated to continue her activities in Second Life: creating or putting together a new outfit each day, and her traveling adventures. Exploration is still her favorite pastime in Second Life, though obviously she is focusing more on her business these days, and does not get to explore as often as she used to. Likewise, in the early days of the blog, Zelmanov made a habit of selecting a new outfit every Second Life day, and then blogging about it in text and image; this too has been scaled back somewhat to make way for the creation of more items for her business.

Zelmanov's business is all about image: providing clothing and hair that project style and sophistication. She get most of her fashion inspirations from real life magazines, movies and television; she'll grab any idea that catches her eye, which is why her range shows such variety. As far as hair accessories go, she has been making items that she often wears in real life - hair clips, pins and bands. It can take up to six to eight hours to create a single outfit; though this seems high, one must remember that Zelmanov's clothing, like her tutorials, is superbly detailed, and tends to comes with multiple attachments. Hair will often take up to eight hours to make the shape; then there is the time taken to texture and otherwise ready the item for sale. Once she tried to keep to the rule of creating on outfit a day; now that the focus is more on hair and hair accessories, a day is some times not sufficient.

Zelmanov devotes more time to the business now than she once did; she finds the process of running a business to be intriguing and motivating. Her words of advice to those looking to start a Second Life business are twofold: it takes more time than you expect to get a Second Life business up and running; also, the pay is often smaller than you hope it will be, as compared to real life.

Skin is the one thing that Zelmanov would like to be able to make in Second Life, but is decidedly daunted by; while (in her copious free time) she would like to learn to make skins herself and then to translate the experience into a tutorial, her great hope is that someone skilled in making skins will put out a tutorial that she can link to (and perhaps learn from herself).

Purpose. Fun. These are the two most important things in Second Life for Zelmanov. To live with a purpose for doing the things she does, and to have fun while doing them. Perhaps fun is the most important: again and again, the underlying theme in both the interview and in her blog is that if you're not having fun in your Second Life, something is wrong.