In the summer of 2011, while I was in the paralegal program at Duke University, I sat in class and realized that I was feeling compelled to go in another direction, completely away from the law.  I loved the law, but I had so many signs that I was headed in the wrong direction for me and that what would ultimately make me happy was my passion to help women to look and feel their best. Sometimes it takes other people to help us see what it right in front of us.  

 

When I initially enrolled in the program, a friend’s mother asked me why in the world I would want to become a paralegal when it is evident that I wanted to become a wardrobe stylist?  I didn’t even realize that anyone might have noticed. After all, it was only a pipe dream.

 

During the course, several people in the class asked me same thing even though I was excelling at my coursework.  The final sign was when a woman mentioned that Stacy London did a course in New York City for aspiring stylists. Rather than paying attention to real estate law, I literally spent the rest of our class time that day on my laptop trying to find out how to get into that course.  I’m pretty sure that I even booked my flight and hotel while sitting in the classroom.

 

I graduated with my certification in July and a week later I was sitting in the ballroom at the W hotel in NYC, waiting for Stacy to begin the course.   I was over the moon that I might just be at the beginning of living out one of my dreams.

 

This was just one of the many ways that I have started over in my life.  It was the beginning of yet another metamorphosis for me. It also fueled my passion to help woman even more because I wanted to do whatever I could to help other women overcome some of the challenges that I have had in my life with as few casualties as possible.  

 

As a result of regularly starting from the ground up and adapting to change, looking and feeling my best became a matter of self-preservation and not vanity over the years.

 

You see, I am a former plus size, a size 26 when I got married in 1998, and like so many of us, I live with what can be paralyzing anxiety.  Add to the mix that we’ve moved 15 times in the past 22 years so I have had to constantly start over again and again.

 

For example, when I was a size 26, it was imperative that I learn how to put myself together so that colleagues, prospective employers, and new friends saw ME rather than my size. Feeling confident in what I was wearing not only fueled my confidence but also reduced my anxiety in a world of constant change.