Nov 15, 2016
Summary:
In this episode, EO Podcast host Dave Will interviews Lauren Messiah, a fashion stylist who works with “badass” women in business, and helped to co-found the screamingly successful School of Style. Listen as Lauren describes how she pivoted from college, to a nightmare job, to styling celebrities and starting her own business, Personal Style University.
Time Stamped Show Notes:
- 02:02 – Moving from pure passion to booming business
- 03:37 – The act of transforming a hobby into an money-earning
business, and the unintended consequences
- 04:11 – Lauren hasn’t lost her love of shopping, but it definitely isn’t as pronounced as before
- 06:16 – Lauren discovered her love for fashion at 5 years old
- 07:04 – Lauren’s dad didn’t believe she could make money from
fashion
- 07:32 – Her parents’ resistance on studying fashion
- 08:31 – “I kept going because some force inside was telling me
‘this is going to work’”
- 08:53 – “College didn’t prepare me for the real world”
- 09:15 – Lauren was offered only $18,000/year as salary after
graduation
- 09:38 – She ended up taking a retail job at the mall
- 09:55 – Moving from retail to a job at AOL
- 10:45 – She started a blog
- 11:28 – Lauren’s boss at AOL was supportive on her blog
- 12:06 – Lauren’s main fashion rule for men
- 12:46 – Cargo shorts are the equivalent to ‘dad jeans’
- 13:24 – Another executive at AOL saw Lauren’s blog
- 14:11 – Lauren’s friend’s dog is famous
- 14:35 – Dog featured on Inside Edition
- 15:19 – “It’s the weird people who usually start up businesses”
- 16:08 – Writing about sporting attire
- 16:30 – Another start-up noticed her work and hired Lauren
- 17:25 – “I still didn’t fit in”
- 18:06 – Lauren needed to break free
- 18:32 – The Rachel
Zoe Project
- 19:02 – Lauren found a styling workshop
- 19:50 – Lauren partnered up and started a styling school
- 21:10 – Lauren and Luke as partners
- 21:57 – Where income is generated in their business
- 22:10 – Trying to scale up the business online
- 23:04 – The School of Style is for aspiring stylists
- 24:40 – How to speak to celebrities
- 25:10 – There are rules when speaking to celebrities
- 25:55 – “We get our students jobs after they graduate”
- 26:10 – Taking people with no experience
- 26:46 – Janet Jackson’s wardrobe malfunction
- 30:07 – Working with Luke
Storey
- 30:28 – Lauren shadowed Luke on celebrity jobs
- 30:34 – Lauren started on celebrity jobs and still felt unfulfilled
- 31:45 – Luke and Lauren taught a class at Nickelodeon
- 32:03 – Lauren’s first client
- 33:02 – The client was so satisfied she told other people about Lauren
- 33:21 – “The clothes didn’t change her life, but the way she felt in them did”
- 34:40 – Lauren got referrals as a gift
- 35:37 – Investments in style
- 35:45 – Started with $1500
- 36:20 – Style doesn’t have a budget
- 37:16 – Lauren’s exposures were fairly organic
- 37:51 “I was the dirty little secret of rich people”
- 38:06 – I had good SEO
- 38:32 – Stacy London helped Lauren get into commercials
- 39:21 – Lauren is a hard core introvert
- 40:13 – Lauren developed a course
- 40:22 – Personal Style University
- 41:28 – Style can hold people back
- 42:18 – Style is about changing attitudes and building confidence in people
3 Key Points:
- College doesn’t teach what happens in the “real world.”
- Sometimes, you need to break free from convention to explore what really drives you and discover what you really want.
- Great style is an effortless conduit to confidence.
Resources Mentioned:
- Entrepreneur's Organization – The EO Network
- The School of Style – Lauren’s business with Luke
- Personal Style University – Lauren’s styling course
- AOL – Where Lauren landed her 2nd job
- Dog featured on Inside Edition – The dog Lauren is ‘dog-sitting’
- The Rachel Zoe Project – TV show where Lauren realized styling could be a living
- Luke Storey – Lauren’s partner and fashion connoisseur
- Stacy London – An American style consultant who helped Lauren’s career
Credits:
Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives