Hey Strangers

I am going to keep this short and to the point...

Cue laughter emoji.  Yep, I don't tell short stories, duh.  This story though, is a bit different...

For all of you who followed my last successful fashion blog back in 2009-2013ish, you know that I am one motivated, happy go-fashion type of gal.  Being in the fashion industry as a designer and stylist for twenty years has taken me around the world.  This blog will still have all the fashion and style you would expect, but also some spicy lessons I have learned along the way about self-improvement, self-love, and starting businesses.  I have listened, learned, been through hell, messed up, loved, started a big business, fought, failed, listened again, taken risks, failed again, gotten divorced, grown, learned to love myself again, and now I am here.  Boom! Phew, does that explain enough?  Didn't think so.  Now to the real story. 

Okay, I was doing my fashion blog and consulting on new products.  I had already sold my first business (a fashion retail store) and was approached to do some consulting for a startup company in the beginning stages of formation.  I fell in love with this company you guys!  I was asked to help this company grow and find sellers to sell the product and start their own businesses (direct sales model).  I was the executive salesperson for the brand and set out to make a positive impact on the world and the fashion industry through the products we designed and sold each day. This sparked my soul for two reasons...

The first reason is that I wanted to look at how we could connect something like wearing cool jewelry with the empowerment of women, more specifically, female artisans, from around the globe.  I thought, I can always design and make cool stuff, but to help women artisans build their own businesses at the same time?....Um, match made in heaven! You had me at empowering women!

The second reason is Talley Goodson, the founder of Color By Amber (where I am currently the head of Creative Design and Product Development) and CEO of 3form (a $100 million plus company).  Given that my background is in the fashion and design retail business, I knew my weakness was in the dirty nitty gritty of hard core business foundation.  Talley Goodson, who graduated top of his class at Wharton School of Business (the top business school in the U.S.), had the knowledge of business formation and development that I wanted, so when I met him, my interest was immediately sparked.  He was different.  He wasn't boring, and he didn't give a flying pelican what other people thought of him.  He just GOT IT DONE!  Not many people get to work in a startup company with this much learning potential, and that could provide money and hands on learning from the best, business man Utah had to offer at the time.  I knew if I wanted to build more companies in the future, I needed to learn the hard truth of how difficult it would be.... and, ummm, "hard" doesn't even start to explain how incredibly difficult each day was, and still is.  So why would Talley take a risk on this non-Wharton fancy degree fashion gal from the O.C. in Cali?  After he saw me present the line in front of some women for our "testing stage".... he looked at me and said, "Jen, you could sell snow to an eskimo. So, do you want to do the hardest thing ever, but the most rewarding thing ever and be head of sales for this company?"  Well, after sitting there and trying to think about what snow meant to an eskimo I said, "well, let me think about it."  LOL ....ummm, no I didn't!  I said, "Hell yeah, let's do this."  So, the rest is history.  I have now been through one of the hardest business schools in the world, which I call "start up life".  When people ask where I got my degree, I am going to say, "Start Up University".  It's all about luck to get in, and if you are lucky enough to be asked to come in, you have to know investors to even be allowed to start school.  It's a different way of learning, and I would highly recommend it to the strong-willed, the learners, the people who don't have a corporate bubble over their head, the risk-takers and team players, the adventurous and those who are willing to just fight to learn everything they can every second of the day instead of sleeping or taking off early.  If that's not you....well, just stick to how you do you.  Be you.  Stay you.  This "start up life" is next level and it's for the ones who are a bit crazy and have a lot of focus.  This is why I have only been present on Instgram until now! Been a bit busy with start up life.  But, "I'm back now" and this blog is going to change the way we look at things together.  That has been my fav part about the past six years, learning how others see me, how others grow into leaders, and basically everything #girlboss worthy. 

Get ready to subscribe, share, read, laugh, cry, get motivated, and start living your best stylish self you could have ever dreamed of.  This blog is about living your most stylish life.  It's not just about fashion and style tips anymore.  It's about working from the inside out.  We will cover the fun fashion part too, don't worry.  I know fashion is my staple, but now it's only part of a bigger staple I am so happy to share with you.  My life is now the big staple and so "on-brand" for myself.  We are no longer strangers.  We are together again, and I can't wait to share the most stylish part of my life which is .....everything.... work, business, family, traveling and shopping (coming soon).  Most importantly, I'm excited to share growth for our inner-beings to shine the brightest we can shine so we can live the most stylish life yet!  Please share this blog with someone you know who could use a little self-love and style in their lives! Chat soon.