Chicago Man Inspired By Harry Potter Conjures Up Career
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Millions of fans couldn't be more excited with the opening of the final Harry Potter film.
That includes one Chicago man who has taken that potter magic and turned into a decade-long career.
Harry Potter hasn't just worked his magic in the world of wizardry. It has also transformed the life of Emerson Spartz, a 24-year-old who has 21 people working for him.
Spartz created Mugglenet, dubbed the number-one Harry Potter website by millions of fans, including author JK Rowling.
"JK Rowling, without intending to, was providing moral guidance for a generation," Spartz says.
The Indiana boy was just 12 years old when he got the idea for the website.
"I had just started home schooling, and I was bored out of my mind and I thought it would be fun to make a website," Spartz tells CBS 2's Vince Gerasole.
A dozen years later, Spartz's River North company creates lots of websites. He's publishing books, too, that celebrate the human spirit.
"There is no greater way for someone in their early 20s to change the world than to use the Internet and the power of social media," Spartz says.
His relationship with Harry Potter has also turned into a love story. At Notre Dame, Spartz met finacee Gaby Montero, who also started her own cute animal website when she was 12.
His office will be attending a midnight show of the last Potter film, but a sentimental Spartz is holding off for now.
"I'm not in a rush to close this chapter in my life," he says.
