Episode Transcript
<p><!--block-->Alara Sage (00:05.038)<br>Susan, welcome to the show. I'm so excited to have you here.<br><br>Susan (00:09.048)<br>Thank you so much, I'm thrilled to be here.<br><br>Alara Sage (00:13.134)<br>So let's touch a little bit on what was your story? How did you come to be an intuitive personal stylist?<br><br>Susan (00:23.96)<br>So dressing people and helping them find pieces that were a beautiful representation of<br><br>see them is something that I've always loved to do. You know, for as long as I can remember when I was old enough to start going to the mall with my friends, just picking out clothes for them and saying, know, you should try this because this feels like you to me. It's something that just felt like such a gift and felt so special. And what I learned over the years is that that was not only just my passion for helping people to, you know, explore their sense of style,<br><br>but was also my intuition, my ability to read energies, and my connection to my spiritual gifts that was guiding me on that path. So I had a little bit of an unconventional, twisty -turny path to kind of get to that point where I was a middle school music teacher for seven years. You know, even though styling was something that I always really loved.<br><br>Becoming a personal stylist was never something that I even had on my radar. You know, I didn't know any personal stylists I didn't even know that that was really a job that I could pursue and so I followed another passion of mine, which is music and Then I got into teaching<br><br>I took some time off when my son was born and when I was at home with him, that was when my life really changed in a lot of ways, you know, like it does for most new parents. But in addition to having a newborn, my husband lost his job during that time. I was struggling with my own connection within myself, within this like new form of identity with becoming a mom and with<br><br>Susan (02:10.702)<br>like and how I thought that maybe I wanted to be a stay -at -home mom but then living that life didn't feel aligned. So I went back to teaching and realized that I needed to make some big changes and needed to make them quick. So I just happened to be talking to some friends of mine.<br><br>during that time period where I felt like I need to do something different. Everything in my body, within my guides, the universe was like, you need to change. This needs to be a different path for you. You need to make a decision. But I didn't know. I had no clear direction on where to go. And one of my friends told me that she always loved what I picked out for her, even more than what she would get in her regular clothing subscription service that she had<br><br>using and she's like you should work for that we should work for that subscription service and that was truly my light bulb moment where I finally realized that I could become a personal stylist.<br><br>And so I started pursuing that. started, you know, taking courses and working with mentors, all of those things, while building my business. And then it took me a couple of years of doing that to realize just how deeply connected my intuition and my spirituality were to the work that I was doing. And it was through the transformations and the growth that I was able to help facilitate within my clients<br><br>realized was different than what just a regular personal stylist is doing, you know, like all the other personal styles that I knew they, you of course there were the makeovers that you would see, you know, makeover shows and, you know, the closet transformations and all those things that are fun. But what I really love, even now, you know, eight years later with the work that I do is<br><br>Susan (04:11.422)<br>being able to witness my clients truly go through these periods of growth and healing while their personal style is like just this beautiful outward representation of the growth and healing that they're achieving.<br><br>And I mean, a lot of that obviously can be done through therapy, but a lot of it can also be done with the support of intuition, whether it's my own or helping my clients connect with their own level of intuition, whether it's their spirit guides or my own that are also helping to of facilitate that too. It's just this beautiful soul journey that<br><br>able to be part of with my clients and it's just it's a truly beautiful gift and I love every day of the work that I do.<br><br>Alara Sage (05:07.534)<br>Hmm. Yeah, it's such a wonderful topic. It's you know, as within so without right even without as our clothing and the things that we wear and as we transform and we really connect more to that true authentic voice. It wants to be expressed and clothing hair makeup is one of those ways that we express ourselves and this has been my experience and just my own personal transformation as well as I see it happen also many times in my clients.<br><br>just naturally as we go through the process of really connecting to that authenticity. There's so much here I can share with my own personal experience. I had this one experience that really, I mean, I can remember the feelings, the sensations, all of it. It was so visceral where I was nomadic for many, years, traveling and teaching scuba diving. And I ended up on this island in Honduras.<br><br>and my bags never arrived. And those bags were my life. You know, they were known, apparently I learned afterwards for stealing bags. And most of the bags they were stealing were just tourist bags that were there for, you know, short period of time, but that was everything I owned, everything. And so was a really big deal. And I had just bought a bunch of clothes in Thailand and just these clothes that I just loved and I felt so sexy and beautiful and I just loved them gone.<br><br>And I had, I went to the dive shops to get a job while I was kind of like, I was waiting for my stuff to arrive. You know, I didn't realize at first that like I wouldn't ever get it back. and this woman at the dive shop, she was so wonderful. like, I have some clothes that I'll, I'll give you. I was like, my God, thank you so much. Wow. Wearing somebody else's stuff felt so.<br><br>Like I did not feel like myself. And I remember thinking like, I wouldn't choose these clothing. was nothing was wrong with the clothing. It just wasn't what I would have worn, what I would have chosen. And I felt so awkward, like I was in somebody else's skin or something like that.<br><br>Susan (07:19.936)<br>Yeah, absolutely.<br><br>I mean, your feeling and your experience with that is so spot on and something that I witness a lot with my own clients, especially my clients who, know, their style up until the point of working with me has been curated by someone else. Like whether it's a well -intentioned family member or their hand -me -downs or something, there is this truly like lack of connection that my clients have with their clothing. And most of the time it's because of the fact that they weren't the ones to<br><br>intentional in choosing those clothes. And in addition to that, mean, everything holds energy, right? Clothes, accessories are no exception to that. They deeply hold energy as well, whether it's our own energy that, you know, we've just had our own experiences in for better or for worse, or it's someone else's. So we really have to be careful about<br><br>what we're choosing to put on our bodies, what we're including within our energetic bodies as well, because all of that then ripples outward and presents these different messages to the universe. So if we're wearing clothes that feel like you're wearing someone else's skin or you're wearing a costume or you just don't have that connection to them, then it creates this disconnect and this dissonance that<br><br>it really difficult for you to show up fully as you know your your best or your most favorite self.<br><br>Alara Sage (08:56.416)<br>I really love how you talk about the energy and the dissonance because that's so important when we are, particularly when we're working with, you know, creating whatever we desire, we're working to vibrationally shift ourselves into a new version of ourselves because if we're desiring something, we're not actually yet experiencing it, right? And so there is already a layer of dissonance between our current state of being<br><br>and that version of ourselves and we work to, you know, narrow, decrease and even eliminate that dissonance. And yeah, when we put on clothes that aren't representing that new us, that that version of us that we want to embody, then we are continuing to say yes to this old version, right? Yes to maybe something that we don't really want. Yes to, as you wonderfully put,<br><br>somebody else said, is who you are, or somebody else projected onto us, or it just kind of happened that way. It's something I notice a lot here. I live in Colorado right now, but again, I've been quite nomadic. And here it's very outdoorsy. And so everybody wears like outdoor gear. And like, I don't want to wear outdoor gear. I want to wear sexy stuff. And so I wear sexy stuff everywhere. And it's, wow, like I really stand out. And I even catch myself as these are the programs, right?<br><br>Susan (10:15.32)<br>Mm -hmm.<br><br>Alara Sage (10:23.57)<br>I'm going to children's birthday party. Well, I don't want to wear this super sexy outfit because like the other moms are not going to be dressed that way. And then I'm like, whatever, like this is what I want to wear. This is what I'm putting on. I'm headed out the door in this, but just noticing those voices in her head like, well don't wear that because the other moms aren't going to be dressed like that. And maybe you'll make them uncomfortable. It's so intriguing, isn't<br><br>Susan (10:34.36)<br>Mm -hmm.<br><br>Susan (10:51.776)<br>Absolutely.<br><br>feel that so deeply, like for myself and then also with the work that I do. I mean, I'm a mom, but you I have a bunch of tattoos, which is, I know becoming more and more the norm, but like I have a lot of tattoos. have like my septum pierced. And I also love to dress sexy because that is something that I feel like very deeply connected to. Like I dress sexy for me. It's like, this is how I feel most embodied.<br><br>I also get caught up in that sometimes too where I'm like, ooh, yeah, if I'm going to a school event or if I'm going to pick up my son, should I? And I'm like, no, no, no, hold on. No, this is just me. What I'm wearing is not offensive. It's just showing my true self and it's not allowing me to hide because I think that especially for moms, especially for parents, once we kind of step into that role,<br><br>Alara Sage (11:46.264)<br>Yes.<br><br>Susan (11:53.47)<br>Lot of us or even caretakers too. I see this a lot where a lot of us have this shift where we go from being About ourselves and about our own identity to the shift becoming about someone else which is normal and a completely understandable part of becoming a parent however even though your priorities might have shifted your You know focus may be primarily about someone else doesn't mean that you have to go into the background<br><br>It doesn't mean that you have to hide. It doesn't mean that you can't stand out because of these roles that you now have in your life. And you can still fully embrace yourself and your identity and who you love to be and also be.<br><br>a good parent or be a good caretaker or go to a kid's birthday party and be, you know, supportive individual there. You know, there, there's so many things that can coexist that I think we often tell ourselves that they can't when we actually take that step back and we say, hold on.<br><br>where did that rule, using air quotes there, where did that rule come from that says that moms can't be sexy or that you can't live in an area or part of the world that's typically outdoorsy and lives in like LLB and Columbia and Patagonia, but you wanna be hot and those brands might not feel sexy to you.<br><br>Alara Sage (13:04.185)<br>Mm -hmm.<br><br>Alara Sage (13:08.451)<br>Yeah.<br><br>Susan (13:22.966)<br>Those you can coexist and be yourself while also living in those environments or you having those roles in your life for sure. And that's something that I feel like I'm explaining and giving my clients permission to really sit with and process and feel deeply. It's that permission to just say, you know, well, hold on, where did that come from?<br><br>Why are we thinking this? Because we just default to be like, yeah, yeah, no, that's what I have to do. I'm a mom, mom's gotta be covered up because any bit of sex appeal has now died because I have given birth to a child. It's like, whoa, whoa, no, no, that is crazy. Like absolutely not the truth, like no way. So yeah.<br><br>Alara Sage (14:06.816)<br>Yeah, crazy.<br><br>Alara Sage (14:13.858)<br>Yeah, it's so interesting how these programs just kind of, we just find ourselves thinking these thoughts. You know, I've never been like a traditional mother ever, not since the minute I got pregnant, but yet I still find myself having these thoughts. And, know, I also think it goes hand in hand with getting older, right? And, you know, sexy may mean to some people revealing more skin, other people, it may not.<br><br>Susan (14:30.307)<br>Mm -hmm.<br><br>Susan (14:34.69)<br>Yes.<br><br>Alara Sage (14:40.984)<br>Like sexy is our own thing, right? And yet we have these beliefs that like, yeah, you can't reveal skin after a certain age or like you said, well, I gave birth to a child, so now I have to cover up. Like absurd belief structures that are so ingrained from society that we just kind of find ourselves, I'm just moving along with the belief structure. I don't even know why I'm doing this.<br><br>Susan (14:41.198)<br>Try<br><br>Susan (14:54.508)<br>Right.<br><br>Susan (15:06.082)<br>Right? Exactly. I know, like, I had a moment, you know, it was, again, like after my son was born, where I just felt myself going through the motions of accepting these societal beliefs. And then thankfully, you know, whether it was my spirit guides or just my own intuition kicked in, it<br><br>But you're not happy like this like this is not for you This is not the messaging that you were meant to receive and embrace so it's time that you start unpacking that and unlearning all of it and It was not an easy journey as you know unlearning usually is not one that's an easy journey to be on but it's so necessary and<br><br>I found that by doing my own work of unlearning and questioning, that's really what's been able to help me to facilitate and hold space for so many individuals so that they can really just sit in the quiet and ask themselves, who am I?<br><br>because it's not really something that a lot of us, right? Like it's it's something that so many of us, especially the older that we get, we don't really ask ourselves that question anymore. You know, when you're growing up, when you're little, you're constantly being asked about, you know, what's your favorite color? Like, what do you like to do? All of those kinds of questions.<br><br>Alara Sage (16:25.282)<br>Such an extraordinary question.<br><br>Susan (16:44.598)<br>And then we get settled into adulthood. You know, maybe we become parents or we get situated in our jobs or we get married and we just say like, okay, I checked my boxes on my lifetime line and now I'm just going to coast. But the reality of it is that you're not coasting. You're still changing. You're still developing parts of you. Whether or not you're fully aware or connected to it, you are. It's happening.<br><br>Alara Sage (17:07.265)<br>Absolutely.<br><br>Susan (17:14.434)<br>You know, even with just things going on in the world changing around you and impacting you, it's so crucial to take that time to check in with yourself and ask yourself that question of, am I? And I love beginning the work that I do.<br><br>by asking my clients to just describe themselves, not the roles that they have in their life, although we do address that too, because it's important with your lifestyle and how clothing interacts with that. But more importantly, how would you describe yourself excluding the roles that you play in your life? Especially I think for older women.<br><br>Alara Sage (17:53.036)<br>Right.<br><br>Susan (17:56.27)<br>It's, and I say older, I use that term very loosely because I would really say older women meaning beyond 35, not older as in a certain age range, but I think that 35 -ish is when we can kind of start that coasting path. And when we really take that time to say, on, wait, who am I?<br><br>because it's just easy to default to the roles and be like, well, I'm a mom, I'm a personal stylist. know, like, this is, I have two dogs, you know, just defaulting to like all of those things. But that tells you a little bit about who I am to other people, but that doesn't tell you about who I am. And if I don't have that connection, if I don't have that sense of self,<br><br>then I'm not showing up in different opportunities in my life in a way that's allowing people to really see me for who I<br><br>And being able to do that, being able to walk into a room, you know, it can be any room. It could even be a kid's birthday party. But walking into a room and knowing who I am and knowing the kind of person that I want people to see me as is one of the biggest superpowers that I think you can really hold.<br><br>Alara Sage (19:23.202)<br>Yeah, I mean, it's authenticity, right? And I feel like a lot of people, I mean, I remember myself thinking I knew who I was, but the evolution that I've gone through and who I've stepped into and is very similar to the person I was, but, you know, more expansive, deeper, more expressive, more creative. And I wasn't connected to some of those attributes of self before.<br><br>before I had really connected to that authentic self. So I think in and of itself, it is a journey. it's interesting because we have our spiritual. Our spiritual development happens 35 and beyond. Regardless of sexual identity, that's when the more feminine energy turns on. We move out of the masculine driven ambitious. We move more into.<br><br>being and receiving. And there's a lot of spiritual growth that happens for, again, all sexes in those older years. And then women have this beautiful initiation through menopause that just isn't even spoken about, but into their wise, powerful selves. And I feel like our society just kind of goes, you're getting older. You go over there and you.<br><br>You become bland and now just blend in with the background. Like we just want the young folk, you know? And it's like, no, it's time for all of us, particularly those of us who are beyond, you know, 35 or whatever age doesn't really matter. But, you know, to say, no, screw you, I'm not going to blend into the background. I'm going to stick out and stick out in my own way, stick out through my own authentic expression because we all need this individuation, right? We need this<br><br>Susan (20:54.158)<br>Exactly.<br><br>Alara Sage (21:20.12)<br>We need this self -expression. Our society needs it so strongly, but it's so interesting because I agree with you that we tend to kind of just fall into these roles in our older years. And yet that is when we are also given the opportunity of massive spiritual development to answer that question of who am I truly in my most authentic, purest essence of<br><br>Susan (21:48.28)<br>Exactly, absolutely. I think once we have that, go ahead, sorry.<br><br>Alara Sage (21:53.356)<br>Yeah, I was just going to say, I find that people, it's hard for people. Like just like with me, I didn't understand what I, you know, we don't know what we don't know. We don't remember what we were always. So my question for you is, do you find that people kind of like, I mean, it's a little bit of a journey, of course, but what is that kind of first process that you find for people when you start to move through this? Because I would imagine they don't really know<br><br>Susan (22:11.608)<br>Yes.<br><br>Alara Sage (22:22.717)<br>really lights them up as far as clothing.<br><br>Susan (22:26.845)<br>Yeah, it's really fascinating because...<br><br>Often, I know people don't. They might have a little bit of a sense or they might be able to see things on other people and be like, I like that. But they struggle with bringing that connection back to themselves and seeing how it can really integrate into their life and their body. And that's where a lot of those limiting beliefs can come up too, because sometimes my clients will see something on someone who's a different size or someone who's a different age than them and be like,<br><br>well, I love that. I wish I could wear that. But then they also get caught up in, but I can't because, you know, I'm and they fill in all of these descriptors. like, well, it doesn't have to be like that. Like, why? Again, like, who said that that's how has to be like?<br><br>You know, let's unlearn that let's unpack that so the way that I like to really step in and Start to kind of guide them through that discovery process is by starting out in their closet You know starting out with the clothes that they already have<br><br>and asking them to not just tell me about the pieces that they don't like because that's easy, right? It's easy for a lot of us to go through our own closet and say, okay, like this no longer fits me, this piece has seen better days, or, you know, I just don't love this, this clothing doesn't light me up, and getting rid of those pieces. But what's equally important...<br><br>Susan (23:56.706)<br>is for you to take note of the pieces that you do love or that you did love at one point. So they might still fit into one of those three categories of not fitting, seeing better days, you know, but it's still important to look at that piece and say, but why did I love this or why do I love this? Like, what is it about it?<br><br>because at that point we're getting information, like you're collecting data really about yourself and about your style, about what's important to you within clothing, because it could be that you love the way that it looks on your body.<br><br>It could be that it highlights certain parts of your body in a way that just make you feel good or that made you feel good when you would wear it. It could be that maybe it's really soft and it just feels comforting but luxurious and you just love how it feels when it's touching your skin. Or it could be that it has a really vibrant color or there's something about the color to it that always just makes you feel so lit up and like you're<br><br>when you're wearing it. So again, like all of those are different data points that you are gathering that you probably never thought about, you know? We just think like, that's my favorite shirt. I like it, you know? And thought. But when we challenge ourselves to kind of go a little bit deeper there,<br><br>Alara Sage (25:16.056)<br>Yeah. Right.<br><br>Susan (25:22.516)<br>that's where we start to get information that we can then apply to our own personal style, right? Because if something like the way clothing feels in terms of the fabric is important to you, then that immediately cuts out a lot of types of fabric that you don't even have to think about because they're not going to have that same kind of soft quality, that comfort, that, you know, luxurious feel. So immediately your shopping gets easier.<br><br>or if it's how it fits on your body, then we know that we wanna look for clothes that highlight similar parts of your body in that way, because the silhouette, the cut and all of those things is something that's important to you. So again, like having that information, even from our first touch point together, our first session, is so helpful.<br><br>in terms of the work that I'm going to be doing on my end, but also for my client too, because<br><br>you know, with my teaching background, it's impossible for me not to teach my clients along the way. And I love to say that the work that we do together is intentionally sustainable in the sense that, you know, while I have clients that I've worked with consistently for years, and I love the relationship that we have, most of my clients, you know, I want them to be those baby birds that leave the nest that can fly and do this on their own. And I can just be that mama bird like cheering from the nest.<br><br>Alara Sage (26:55.886)<br>Absolutely.<br><br>Susan (26:57.56)<br>like, you look amazing, you know, and loving that they're able to do this for themselves. Because it's so much of that like self discovery, and that coming back to who you are, and then using clothing and accessories and everything as just the beautiful outward representation of all of that. So if I can give the gift to my clients to be able to do that on their own,<br><br>then that's, I mean, that's really what I love to do. It's the best.<br><br>Alara Sage (27:32.514)<br>I love the beginning into the questions because when we ask ourselves questions, right, we become curious and we contemplate, we step into awareness, right? And so just what you were saying, all of these things that you hadn't really thought of, now you have awareness of what is it about this shirt that I really like? And I imagine you could even do it for other things. Like you were saying, it reminded me as you first were speaking about like what, like the, really liked that on that other person.<br><br>Susan (27:43.448)<br>Yes.<br><br>Susan (27:52.6)<br>Yeah.<br><br>Alara Sage (28:01.858)<br>I had this woman come up to one time I was wearing this really bold necklace and she was like, that looks so good on you. I could never.<br><br>Alara Sage (28:16.912)<br>how funny, now there's two of you. Okay, can you hear me?<br><br>Susan (28:19.786)<br>Okay. Yeah, I can hear you. Sorry.<br><br>Alara Sage (28:25.432)<br>So this woman came up to me one day and she said, I was wearing a bold necklace and she said, that looks so beautiful on you. I could just never get, I could never wear that. I could never get away with it. I think she said, and I was like, what are you talking about? And so I imagine just what we were talking about of like these belief structures. You could also take, well, I really like that on that other person. Well, why, you know, why do you like that on that other person? What is it about how they look?<br><br>that really lights you up, you know, and you can also use that contemplation because awareness is so huge. Once we have that awareness, it really expands our consciousness. You know, now you can go shopping with that level of awareness. It's really going to shift your way you're perceiving the clothing and just how you're going about the shopping process. I would imagine. Do you find sometimes<br><br>people get the clothing and then they don't wear it or they struggle to wear it or like there's a little bit of like, okay, sweetheart, you bought the stuff, put it on, right? Because I found that in myself and particularly because I work from home for many years, you know, my mind was like, well, nobody's going to see me. So I don't need to wear anything special. And I started to say, no, screw that. I'm going to wear like I'm going to go to my closet and say,<br><br>Susan (29:29.964)<br>Yes.<br><br>Alara Sage (29:48.344)<br>What do you want? Sexy AF self, inner queen, what do you want to wear today? And I put on whatever she says, no matter how practical, impractical, comfortable, uncomfortable, like I put it on and I wear it. But I'm curious if that's the what you see in clients where they buy the things and then they don't wear them.<br><br>Susan (30:09.206)<br>Yeah, so first I want to say that I love love what you're just saying about how you show up into your closet and ask, know, your sexy AF self and you're like, what do I want to wear? And then you choose it. That is some of my favorite advice to give people when they kind of get caught up in the decision fatigue and you know, because your intuition and connecting with your intuition and experimenting in that way where you're just going to your closet and you say, what do want to wear today? And you pay<br><br>to where your focus is drawn and you choose that piece. It doesn't matter.<br><br>what it is, because by choosing that piece, your intuition is telling you something. It's telling you that there's a reason that this is the piece, this is the outfit that you're being connected to. And then it's important for you to kind of pay attention and observe how your day progresses and maybe what it was about that piece<br><br>Alara Sage (30:51.79)<br>Yes.<br><br>Susan (31:09.312)<br>was the right choice for that day, and why you were drawn to it. Maybe it was that you needed to be a little bit softer or more gentle with yourself, or maybe it was that you needed to own your power and go into your day with that strength. It could be a variety of things, but having that awareness and while trusting your intuition at the same time, it's just, you're doing so much work in such a very easy little<br><br>size that you can do every day or just on days when you're feeling a little bit decision fatigued. Either way, it's okay. But going back to your question.<br><br>Alara Sage (31:49.237)<br>Yeah, and you're building that intuitive sense because when we listen to our intuition, we take action on it. Hey, guess what? It shows up more frequently.<br><br>Susan (31:59.498)<br>Exactly, exactly. It's a really easy way to just start practicing and trusting your intuition and not letting your ego or your logical mind come in and be like, but should we really wear that? It's like, no, no, no. You're not invited to this conversation.<br><br>Alara Sage (32:16.802)<br>Exactly. You're not invited to the party.<br><br>Susan (32:20.18)<br>Exactly. Like, where's your invitation? You need to leave, please. You're not on the list. going back to your original question of, do I see clients that purchase clothes and then end up not wearing them? What's interesting is, yes, that is something that I do see from time to time. And it's usually not a lot of clothes. It's usually, you know, like a couple pieces. And it's from our earlier sessions together. And it's before they really learned<br><br>to fully trust themselves.<br><br>What I like to tell my clients is when we have an at -home shopping session or whether I'm working with clients virtually and they're purchasing pieces that I've already selected for them, I always challenge them to try everything, even if it feels like something that they would never dream of wearing or that they think is gonna be a no, to try it on and see how they feel about it because you need to trust the process and sometimes they don't always see my vision right away.<br><br>There are a lot of things that can come up or sometimes it's just a piece that they end up not liking and again like that's okay but it's important for them to try and explore but what happens sometimes is they might feel a little bit of a disconnect or a little bit of like discomfort with something but they don't always feel comfortable saying that or communicating that right away<br><br>even though I try to create this very safe space where I want them to voice their opinions, sometimes we have it so deeply ingrained of that people pleasing tendencies that we feel like they need to just default to my response. And.<br><br>Susan (34:12.926)<br>My response always, initially, is like, what do you think of this piece? How does this piece make you feel? Before I voice any opinion, sometimes my clients know this, I can't control myself, I see something on them and I'm like, my gosh, you look amazing. And then I have to rein it in, they're like, how do you feel?<br><br>So for the most part, it's that safe space of allowing them to voice their opinions because we often don't get that opportunity, whether we're shopping in stores and there might be a sales associate with, again, the best of intentions, but that sales associate is sharing their opinion before you even get an opportunity to even look at yourself in the mirror. So already that voice, or if you're shopping with a friend, the same thing might occur.<br><br>and you don't even have the opportunity to check in with yourself without any other external influence.<br><br>So what I like to really help guide my clients through is to develop their voice and their comfort in saying like, no, I do love this, or, you know, this just isn't for me. And that's okay. Like that's completely okay. It's all part of it. Because having a personal style is a unique representation of who you are as an individual.<br><br>It doesn't have to be a specific genre. It doesn't have to fit into like a neat, tidy little box. It just has to be an authentic representation of you. And you are different than I am, different than any other person on the planet, which is what's beautiful about it. You know, no...<br><br>Susan (35:58.326)<br>personal style, like no two personal styles are going to look the same and as they shouldn't. So I find that when clients do purchase things that you know they end up not wearing, it can be because they maybe didn't feel completely comfortable owning that you know, you know, I don't really like this or like this doesn't feel like me. It can also be because they might need to just sit with it a little bit first and just kind of get used to seeing that there<br><br>something about it that made them buy it, something that they connected to, but there has to be a little bit more growth that happens first. And I mean growth obviously from like an internal perspective rather than an external, like they need to kind of become ready to embrace it.<br><br>Alara Sage (36:41.901)<br>Yes.<br><br>Susan (36:47.432)<br>And sometimes it takes a minute and that's also okay. Sometimes I just kind of have to get used to seeing it there. I mean, like, yeah, I love that. And that's in my closet right now. Like that's for me. And then they wear it and they're like, who's this like bad B? Like, I love this for me, you know, like, check her out. And then their whole vibe changes. And then that is like this major door that opens<br><br>Alara Sage (37:06.486)<br>Ahahaha!<br><br>Susan (37:18.06)<br>where they have just given themselves this tremendous gift of permission and their whole world opens up. It's beautiful. It's absolutely beautiful.<br><br>Alara Sage (37:31.608)<br>Yeah, again, because it is our expression. And I think it's really, I feel really underrated, this personal style, this really connecting to what lights you up as far as clothing. Because sometimes we think, well, it's superficial, but it's not. when we understand and really connect to, wow, this really expresses, I really feel like this expresses who I am. And that could be also who I am today, right? Because as you said,<br><br>Susan (37:59.341)<br>Right.<br><br>Alara Sage (38:00.928)<br>Our style doesn't fit into a box and so it can really have quite a variety of expressions. So today this is my expression and just how that feels. You know, it's just it really amplifies our sense of self and amplifies, you know, again, the vibration, the energy that we are desiring what we're feeling in that day, what we're desiring to bring into the world that day. It's just so powerful. And I love how you brought up. Yeah,<br><br>sales associates and friends because I had a client the other day who's doing this with herself. You know, she went to the mall with some friends and her friends were like, my God, that's so you. And she was like, no, it's not. And she like told me this because she found it so intriguing that they were both like, my God, yes. And she was like, no, hard no. Like it was a hard no. And you know, I can't say she didn't say whether the earlier version of her would have said yes.<br><br>But it's very easy for us before we start to really know who we are to be like, right. Yeah, it does look good. Doesn't it? Right? Yeah. -huh. Okay. And then you get at home and you never wear it, you know, or you end up returning it or, know, because it wasn't really your opinion. And I think that's really great advice too, for if you're going along with somebody's shopping, you know, give them that spaciousness to feel something first before<br><br>Susan (39:13.784)<br>Great.<br><br>Alara Sage (39:29.732)<br>tell them your opinion or if they ask you say well how do you feel it even reminds me of a woman the other day who posted on Facebook and she was like which one of these outfits you know blah blah blah blah and I was like well how do you feel in those two different outfits you know like what is your feeling in them and her response was like wow I didn't even ever think about that<br><br>Susan (39:52.386)<br>Yeah, it's so incredible how oftentimes people don't even give themselves that opportunity to think about how they feel in something. They're like, okay, well, I get caught up in the occasion or the expectation, the dress code. There's so many things that factor in first that people tend to shift their focus towards. Is this appropriate? That's one that I hear.<br><br>Alara Sage (40:07.981)<br>Yes.<br><br>Susan (40:19.452)<br>so often is, is this the appropriate thing to wear for this event? It's like, okay, well, I mean, we can talk about that in terms of dress code and the expectations of how people are going to be arriving to that event, but one, we have all of that taken care of.<br><br>Alara Sage (40:22.274)<br>Yes.<br><br>Susan (40:39.456)<br>you still need to come back to, okay, well, which one do you feel the best in? know, which one makes you feel the way that you want to feel attending that event? Because that's something else that's really important to kind of circle back to is like when you're showing up somewhere, how do you want to feel when you're there? know, beyond like comfortable or beyond, you know, professional, things like that, you want to really check in with yourself and say, you know, do I want to feel like<br><br>can really command a conversation. Don't want to feel like I look really approachable or that I give off this warmth or just all of these different things that you can really check in with yourself and reflect on and then figure out what clothing that you have or what you might be shopping for that can help you to achieve that feeling.<br><br>Alara Sage (41:38.57)<br>Yeah. And you know, can really with women specifically when we're still cycling, we can really change emotionally. Right. And so when we're in, you know, our follicular and our ovulatory phase, we're really much more extroverted and about like bringing ourselves out. And then we go into Latile and bleed and it's more internal. So it'd be interesting also to kind of play with that of like just the curiousness of the awareness<br><br>how we change, how we want to show up when we're in one part of our cycle versus the other without judgment, of course, and just the curiosity of it. It just came into my awareness as I said that. So, so wonderful. This has been such a delightful conversation. I knew that it would be really fun for me. I hope it's fun for you. I'm having a lot of fun. So tell me how can people find<br><br>Susan (42:23.062)<br>Me too, absolutely. Me too.<br><br>Susan (42:31.348)<br>My website is definitely the best way to get all sorts of wonderful information. You know, I have really fantastic resources on my website and as well as really great newsletter that I put out monthly and it's SusanPedroneStylist .com. So nice and easy. And also Instagram is probably where I am the most active in terms of social media and it's me that runs the account. So if there are any questions<br><br>You know, if somebody has been listening to the episode and they're like, my gosh, I just have to shoot Susan in a message, please do. It's me reading them and responding. So I'm always happy to have, you know, continue the conversation in the messages. And my handle on Instagram is Susan Pedrone underscore stylist.<br><br>Alara Sage (43:19.64)<br>Fantastic. Well, my love, thank you so much for coming on the show and inspiring the guests to connect intuitively to their clothing and also let them know what you do and how you can support them. It's like I said, just been a delightful conversation. Thank you so much.<br><br>Susan (43:35.064)<br>Thank so much for having me. It was a pleasure.<br><br>Alara Sage (43:39.042)<br>And absolutely to the listeners, yeah, reach out to her. And I believe she even has like a free connection call that you could jump on with her, get a vibe for her, feel how she can help you. And of course, as always, share this episode. I don't think there's a woman on the planet that can't benefit from this conversation because there is so much stigma. There is so much subliminal social programming.<br><br>Like we were talking about we just kind of subscribe to and we feel all of a sudden we're moving with this flow That we were like wait. Why did we even say yes to this? It's so important and it's so important that we all own our unique sexy AF self So that we can come into the world with that unique expression that the world needs the world needs your unique expression my love Thank you all so much as always. I love you. I cherish you until next time much<br><br>Alara Sage (44:35.96)<br>Yay!<br><br><br></p>
