SHOCEO® Reading for Success: 5 (Five) Minutes.  YouTube Interview: 45 (Forty-Five) Minutes.

For this edition of the She’s Her Own CEO^® Interview Series, we are excited to introduce you to Conscious Wardrobe Stylist, Carol A. Hanson!

Carol Hanson has helped hundreds of female entrepreneurs feel and look fabulous every time they get dressed since starting her personal styling consultancy five years ago. Carol’s passion for helping women to feel confident about their bodies comes from a personal struggle of having battled and overcome a 20-year-old eating disorder.

She trained as a personal stylist in 2015 when she became aware of just how many women struggle with body confidence issues. In 2018 while researching the environmental cost of fashion for a blog, she rebranded her business to make sustainability the heart of her work.

Carol is a regular guest on podcasts, TV, and radio shows. She regularly speaks about her personal journey and about creating more awareness of the impact of fashion on the Planet.

 

Kathryn Brooks, She’s Her Own CEO^®: Hi Carol, thank you for joining me today from the UK! Please share some of your early career experiences that have contributed to your entrepreneurial success.

Carol Hanson, Wardrobe Stylist: Hello, Kathryn, thank you! I inspire women who have a wardrobe full of clothes but nothing to wear. I help them discover their sense of style and claim their identity. I want them to feel confident every time they get dressed.

As a Personal Stylist, I have helped hundreds of women look and feel fabulous every time they get dressed. I empower women to feel confident about their bodies. I help them to acknowledge there is no, “one size fits all” or ideal body shape.

 

Kathryn Brooks, She’s Her Own CEO^®: I love your empowering attitude, Carol! On ShesHerOwnCEO.com, we often talk about how one can best Lead, Provide, and Create™. Each of us, in our respective world, has opportunities to Lead Ourselves, to Provide for Others, and Create for the Larger World.

Please share with me your favorite example of how you Lead, Provide, and Create™ in your professional and/or personal world!

Carol Hanson, Wardrobe Stylist: I started my business as a personal stylist on the back of a less successful business.  In 2013 I bought a business.  It was an online boutique. I’d bought it with no experience in fashion, e-commerce or marketing. Like many new entrepreneurs, I thought,  “how hard could it be?”

As I worked on building the brand online and offline, I found I was attracting women who told me that “they weren’t right for the clothes out there.” I heard other comments such as, “no one makes clothes for me” and “nothing works for me.”  I started to do some thinking and some research and realized that the issues were not so much the clothes, but the confidence the women lacked in their own bodies and sense of their identity.  By training as a personal stylist, I realized I would be able to help them reclaim their identity and their confidence.

My personal journey of overcoming an eating disorder means I can truly understand any woman who says, “I hate my body.” Now fully recovered, I am able to help women recognize they don’t have to look a certain way to be beautiful.

 

Kathryn Brooks, She’s Her Own CEO^®: Being the CEO of your world can take many forms (for example, volunteering in your community, holding a formal corporate position, engaging in creative pursuits, or being a reliable mom/sister/daughter).

Carol, in your opinion, what is the best way to achieve success and to become the boss of your world?

Carol Hanson, Wardrobe Stylist: The best way is to understand your WHY.  If you don’t understand your purpose and why you are doing what you are doing, how can you be the boss of your world?  How can you communicate to the outside world and expect others to understand or follow?  I’m a huge fan of Simon Sinek and he’s absolutely right: unless we understand our WHY everything else is meaningless.

 

 

Kathryn Brooks, She’s Her Own CEO^®: Any additional advice you can share with motivated, aspirational professionals?

Carol Hanson, Wardrobe Stylist: You will not achieve overnight success. You will experience setbacks. That doesn’t matter, though. Learn from them and they will help you to grow. But you need to have the courage to take those baby steps in the first place.

Two books I’d recommend everyone reads (or listens to as audio books) are:

Failing Forward by John C. Maxwell

Feel The Fear And Do It Anyway – Susan Jeffers, PhD

 

Kathryn Brooks, She’s Her Own CEO^®: Carol, thank you for sharing your story of personal and professional success!

For more discussion, check back for my 5/12/20 video interview with Carol on “CEO Live! with Kathryn Brooks” later this week!

Looking for even more #CEO inspiration?  Check out my other #CEO interviews and be sure you’re subscribed below.

Kathryn