How I Got Here

This week I am speaking in my daughter's 5th grade classroom about Wardrobe Wisdom. Other parents will be talking about their careers, and the teacher is hoping we will address certain concepts, such as working toward a goal and and personal strengths that we use in our jobs.

Today I am sharing my background with you, since many of you do not know how I started my business. My first job (at 15 1/2) was as a salesgirl at Robinson's Department Store in Newport Beach. I could not wait to work around clothes, and held many jobs in retail over the next decades. Working with women who were shopping for that perfect garment taught me a great deal about fit, fabric, and fashion. I learned what styles and colors work best for different women, and a great deal about the frustration many women face while shopping.

Since I was in high school I helped my friends and family to make wardrobe decisions. Even during the years I was teaching English to junior high students and later to SBCC students, I was called upon to shop with friends or weigh in on their fashion choices. Once I had my second daughter in 2001, I realized I could not stay on top of the paper-grading that was a huge part of my job. I wondered what I could do on my own schedule that would utilize some of my skills.

Wardrobe Wisdom was born when I realized I had the qualities necessary in a wardrobe consultant. I have the ability to be honest and at the same time diplomatic when talking to men and women about clothing. Through copious amounts of reading books and magazines on style and fashion, I am knowledgeable about the way clothing should fit and am able to help people discover their personal style. I am very organized and am great at helping others get their closets neat and organized. I also have a good sense of humor, which makes it easy for me lead clients away from feeling overwhelmed or depressed by the state of their closet.

I started out by letting the customers who came into the retail store where I worked (the former Patty Montana in Goleta) know that I could help them with their closets. By word of mouth, my business grew. Since my background was in English, I utilized my writing skills to write columns for local magazines. These columns helped spread the word about Wardrobe Wisdom. Today I have a monthly column in Carpinteria's Coastal View News.

My teaching skills continue to be enormously useful. I discovered I could use them when I talk to groups about building a good wardrobe, among other topics. In the past few years I have spoken to women's groups, UCSB students, faculty and staff, and at a women's business conference. My aptitude for answering questions on my feet and encouraging audience participation were acquired and honed during my years of teaching.

I imagine my daughter's peers will be curious about some unusual things I have seen in people's closets and will want to know what I say when a client shows me something truly awful or strange. I think it should be a fun 15 minutes!