Kelli M. McChesney took her first clogging class at the age of eight (in 1987) and has been a choreographer since 1992. In January 1993 Kelli became interested in teaching, and with help from her parents, Wayne and Ellen, she opened a small (15' x 15') clogging studio that she named "Kelli's 1st Klass" (since this was her first time teaching). There was barely enough room for her first class of 17 beginning students. Three months later the beginning class graduated and became the 1st Klass Kloggers.

While Kelli was maintaining her studio, she became involved with the Florida Clogging Council and participated in the organization's instructor certification program. She taught at her first workshop in July 1993 at age 14 and passed her Florida instructor certification critique at the Jacksonville Jamboree in October of the same year.

After attending other instructor programs (such as the CCI and TAP seminars) and gaining more experience with state and local instruction, Kelli was asked to teach at the CLOG National Clogging Convention in Orlando and became a national instructor in November 1995 at the age of 16. Kelli was a staff instructor for the CLOG organization for 13 consecutive years.

Kelli's other workshop appearances include the Summertime Clogging Workshop in 1997 (a workshop Kelli organized in Florida), the World Festival of Clog Dancing in 1996 (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), the 8th Australian National Clogging Convention in 2003 (Melbourne, Victoria, Australia), and many other local and regional workshops throughout the United States and Canada. In addition to local and online classes for the 1st Klass Kloggers, Kelli offers private lessons, clogging seminars, instructional videos, and custom choreography. She has been an instructor for Community Education classes at two local colleges and a guest instructor for several Florida clogging clubs. She has performed with many clogging groups and has been among the 1st place and "Best of Show" winners at Florida clogging competitions and talent shows. From 2001-2008, Kelli also served as editor and layout artist of CLOG Today (formerly known as the Flop-Eared Mule), the official newsletter of CLOG, Inc. Kelli is also a pioneer as the first person to post clogging choreography/cue sheets on the Internet in the late 1990s (her web site launched 1/1/1997!).

Kelli's future clogging goals include expanding online clogging content and teaching at more overseas clogging events.