Discover how Brooke transformed her wardrobe and built a standout personal brand as as CMO through strategic style choices.
First impressions matter. Especially if you are working to create a magnetic personal brand for yourself. First impressions are why we care about what we wear in interviews, first dates, and when we walk on stage to present. Did you know that first impressions are made in one tenth of a second?
When I spoke to leaders at Texas A&M College of Medicine last week, I invited the attendees to make a first impression of me. I challenged them to be honest and unfiltered!
To see their quick judgments of me, see this post. You won't believe the BIG DIFFERENCE in the impressions I made!!
Learn more about my Speaking & Training services here.
In your personal brand, first impressions matter
I do this exercise when I speak to help women understand: First impressions matter.
In addition, it's a great exercise to help women think critically and strategically about the message their clothes may be sending to others TODAY. And, how they may want that to change that message in the FUTURE as they work towards their professional goals.
Just like great brands, we as personal brands and leaders also need to be thinking about our visual brand.
A great example of a client who understood the power of using style to define her personal brand is Brooke.
Brooke: A Real Client Making Powerful First Impressions
The Background
Brooke, a CMO, is someone who many considered to be stylish even before we started working together. But on the inside, she didn't feel like she was meeting her style potential.
She had the “I don't know what to wear” and “nothing looks good on me” blues (her words!). After going through a pandemic where her wardrobe consisted mainly of work from home athleisure options and work-out clothes, she was admittedly in a funk!
The Goal
At the time we started working together, Brooke was working to catapult her new business, and as a marketer, she knew intimately that her style was a reflection of not only her personal brand, but of her business. Feeling confident and assured in her clothing was a necessity in order to be the face of her brand.
See Brooke's headshots before working together below.
The Work
Our initial style foundational work was powerful and important, where we defined when Brooke felt most confident, and visioned a new future for her style. She articulated her 3 personal style words to highlight where she was going: memorable, sophisticated and charismatic (“Elegant Badass” for short!)
We also identified ways in which her clothing choices were working against her natural body shape. As a result, we changed up the silhouettes of the clothes she wore (especially jeans!) to highlight her naturally straight body and accentuate her features.
We looked at pieces she had in her wardrobe in new ways, discarded ones that no longer fit her style vision, and added in new pieces that would help fill in the gaps to create a powerful wardrobe that worked for her personal and professional life.
See a sample of photos of Brooke in outfits that we created together.
The Transformation
In the end, she had plenty of style boards (aka, head to toe outfits) on her personal style site that took the guesswork out of getting dressed, and showed her new and interesting ways to wear her clothes that she never could have imagined!
Brooke and I continue our work together today - making it a multi-year style partnership - where we continue to refine and elevate her newfound and powerful style. We have been through job changes, big work opportunities, personal trips, and so much more! Each season, we add new pieces in to keep her wardrobe fresh, while also re-styling pieces that she invested in during past seasons. Always with an eye to re-use and elevate to keep her wardrobe relevant.
And Brooke's take?
"The real win here: I have never felt more beautiful and confident in my clothes! There are so many things that I never would not have picked out on my own, but now have the courage to wear with Ellie's expertise and guidance. You have to hire her. Immediately. Her passion is helping professional women look and feel their best at work and play. She does virtual appointments, so no excuses there!"
About Ellie
Ellie Steinbrink is an Ex-Marketer turned Expert Stylist, Personal Brand Coach and Speaker, empowering women through style to go after whatever it is they want, and look amazing while doing it. Working virtually out of her home in Omaha, NE, she started her business, Style Decoded, to help women define and embody a signature style brand, aligning their insides with their outsides, all while feeling 100% confident in their own skin.
Styling is her passion but it hasn't always been her job. Ellie spent 20 years of her career in client service, advertising, developing brands, blogging, podcasting, and creating marketing and social strategies for clients, ranging from Fortune 500 giants to individuals building their personal brands online. To say she knows a thing or two about marketing and branding is an understatement! In 2020, she had the opportunity to merge her professional experience and her passion into a personal styling business. Now, Ellie loves teaching women how to define and own their unique personal brand through style.
Interested in working with Ellie to craft a powerful & enviable style that's all your own? Learn more about her styling services here.
Connect with Ellie:
Sign up for my weekly Style News: Style tips & coaching for professional women, from an ex-marketer turned expert stylist.
Commentaires