Quick Lift: Outfit Your Influence — 4 Style Power Moves

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Welcome to Loud and Lifted Quick Lift, the snack

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size episode where we turn insight into action

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before your latte even coals. I'm your host,

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Betsy Hamm. Today, we're highlighting power moves

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from image strategist Melanie Litman. So your

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outfit reads leader before you even say a word.

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She shares a practical playbook for women in

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leadership to build an authentic magnetic executive

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presence in real life and on camera by using

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style as a strategic brand tool. Let's get into

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it. Key takeaway number one, brand before closet.

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Now, we have talked about this countless times,

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starting with Linda's episode about the importance

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of building your brand. And Linda challenged

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us to ask our peers or our coworkers five words

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to describe us. Well, Melanie continued down

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this path where she said, pick three words that

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you want to describe you as a leader, and then

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you're going to start building your closet or

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your look around that. And I love how she said

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the first thing she does when she works with

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women is discuss what their values are and what

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they want to be known for, because your clothes

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are sending a message. whether you like it or

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not, and it's even before we realize it. She

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mentioned a study that was just done by Princeton

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that people make a first impression in one tenth

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of a second. Now what's crazy is she mentioned

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that years ago when she started doing image coaching,

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it was 10 seconds. Which, you know, seems still

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fairly quickly. But thanks to social media and

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our desires who scroll and quickly make opinions,

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that's come down to one tenth of a second. Someone's

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making an opinion of you. By the way, you're

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showing up. And the reality is, is that we have

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to use our clothes as a tool to amplify the brand

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that we want to be. And if we don't, someone's

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going to create it for us. So she said, start

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with this. You're going to think of those three

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brand words that you want to describe you as

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a leader and what you want to be known for. or

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in the workplace. And then you're going to translate

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each one of those into visible cues. So an example

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would be, if you want to be decisive, you want

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people to think that you're decisive when they

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see you, then maybe it's crisp lines, structured

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shoulders, minimal hardware. If you want to be

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warm, maybe it's saturated jewel tones, soft

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textures, curved necklines. Now, I know thinking

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through this, you're like, how am I supposed

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to know? And this is where it's great to get

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help, whether somebody like Melanie or even shopping

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at a local boutique. that feedback from somebody

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who is an expert in this honestly I think is

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a great opinion. So that was our first part of

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this is defining those three brand words that

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we want to be known for and then start translating

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those to visible cues and then we're going to

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go to our closet. So the takeaway for number

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one here is brand first your personal brand and

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closet second. The second key takeaway was color

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creates connection. I love this one because I

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have 100 % been guilty of this in the past. And

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as I mentioned in the episode, our friend Margaret

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of Three Little Birds called me out on this a

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while ago. Wearing all black isn't really the

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best professional move. And many of us do it.

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I have certainly done it because we think it's

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easy. We think it just sort of helps us blend

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in. It doesn't really make anything stick out.

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But Melanie made a great point. There's a reason

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why there's black tie weddings. There's a reason

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why judges wear black. Judges wear black because

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they're supposed to not have an opinion. Black

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tie weddings are because you're supposed to be

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on your best behavior and kind of just fall into

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the shadows versus being as part of the wedding

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party. So black puts up walls and color creates

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connection. And I think that's such a great point.

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We all have to get, a lot of us have to get more

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comfortable wearing color. So Melanie talked

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about finding the colors that are right for you.

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Of course, I think we all have that time where

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we know a certain color looks good on us or if

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we have it on, we'll get compliments of that

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color looks good on you or you just, you can

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tell when you see pictures. So choose that power

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palette, two colors or more. Maybe it's a neutral

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and some accent colors that you know you look

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good in and you feel good in. And of course,

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you can even test this on camera. Get your iPhone

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out. Get your laptop out on a Zoom meeting and

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just see as you're looking at yourself in those

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colors what you feel. Does it make your eyes

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pop? Does it look good with your hair? Or does

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it drain you? And guess what? Block doesn't make

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you look good as much as we all would love to

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think that it does. So again, here is a huge

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opportunity. If you need some help, ask a friend,

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go to your local boutique. But it is something

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that I think is very easy to do. And honestly,

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most of us know what colors we look good in.

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So let's embrace that. Key takeaway number three

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is the Zoom. 10 second check -in. So we've all

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been pretty virtual for a while. I feel like

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in the last five years, I don't know how many

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camera meetings I had before 2020, but I think

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we all have learned through the years of what

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works and what doesn't. And I think one of the

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biggest takeaways that I have been on the other

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end of is people showing up like they just rolled

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out of bed and it's So unprofessional. And Melanie

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talked about, you know, you don't have to sit

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there and be, you know, in your blazer and dressed

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up and perfume on and ready to go. But maybe

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you do. Maybe that'll make you feel better. And

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I know that if I'm totally bumming it out for

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the day, that better mean I'm sitting here kind

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of getting stuff that done, maybe being creative,

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probably not jumping on any calls with anyone.

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But you need to show up for your Zoom or your

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team's meeting, whatever those virtual meetings

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are, just as you would in the office. You wouldn't

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probably roll into your office with a hoodie.

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and your hair on top of your head and just feeling

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like you probably don't really give a shit about

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the day. So don't do that on virtual meetings.

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I'm telling you, I've been on the receiving end

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of that as a boss of people on my team who showed

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up like that. And it just gives you a feeling

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that they don't care, they're not engaged, or

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like they literally just rolled out of bed. So

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take a little pause. Check out how you're showing

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up virtually and even your surroundings. Light,

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as you know, makes a big difference. So we've

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all been doing virtual meetings long enough.

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This shouldn't be new news, but I think sometimes

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it's great to take a step back and just evaluate

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how you're showing up and what you look like

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when you're on camera. Next key takeaway was

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building your style code. Now, again, this isn't.

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go burn everything in your closet and start over.

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This isn't about going out and buying all the

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most expensive brands and having some major shopping

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sprees. So do not take that as this. This is

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going back to defining what your brand is and

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what you want to represent and then building

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a style code around that. And this is you. This

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is your brand. This isn't even what the latest

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fall trend is. And I love how when I asked her,

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you know, how much do trends play into our closet

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and she said they really shouldn't. Unless it's

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something that you know really fits into your

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style code and helps you represent that brand

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that you want to be So her style code is pretty

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simple It's again going back to those brand rule

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words the ones that you just wrote and then doing

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the fit rules You know kind of taking a look

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at necklines hemlines silhouettes. What's flatters

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you? What are you going to feel good in not what

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you think? somebody else is looking for you to

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show up on. And I get this, this is a hard one.

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And I talked about on the episode when I first

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started Hershey was really conservative. I mean,

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it was, they literally said you couldn't wear

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four inch heels and you couldn't wear big earrings.

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I mean, it was, again, this was a while ago.

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It was definitely this old school conservative

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feel. Now, I know that has evolved, thankfully,

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for those who are there. But you start to feel

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like you have to conform. And I love that I said,

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well, you know, if I feel like, oh, is my neckline

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too low or is my skirt too short or whatever

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it is? She said it probably isn't because at

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least you are aware of that. Now, if you're not

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questioning that, maybe you should take a step

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back. Or again, this is a great time to phone

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a friend and get feedback. But you have to build

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style code that fits your brand, what you're

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trying to achieve, and that you're going to feel

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comfortable in. I know we've all been there where

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you wear something that you're like, I don't

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know if I should have actually worn this and

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you leave the house and you're sitting in a meeting

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and you're so uncomfortable. It just changes

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your way of engaging. It changes your confidence

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and it could be because something you feel isn't

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flattering. It could be too tight. It could be

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uncomfortable. Let's talk about how many times

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I have worn shoes that were super cute. and not

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comfortable by the end of the day, you are crawling

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back to your office because you can't walk anymore.

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So we're all guilty of that. I especially have

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been very guilty of that with shoes through the

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years. So find things that you feel confident

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and comfortable in and are continuing to build

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that brand. So the action item here is block

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20 minutes this week and check those boxes. Have

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your brand words, check the fit rules, look at

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the color, back to the color piece and what are

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the colors that you look good in. And then some

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of those signature details, whether it's shoes

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or textures or jewelry, we all kind of have our

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thing that we like. So embrace that and create

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those formulas that you have that when you need

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to. go to a board meeting, you have your structured

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blazer and your column of colors and maybe pointed

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shoes. And if you're giving a keynote, the statement

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jacket and the tailored pants, and if you're

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on zoom, the jewel tone net and the clean neckline,

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maybe some simple hoop earrings, whatever it

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is, it's figuring out what is right for you.

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So here's the thing that we all need to realize.

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And I love that Melanie said this, the most important

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person that we get dressed for is ourselves.

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It's not for anyone else. It's for ourselves.

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And I love that she said that. So it's going

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through the process of figuring out what you

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need to happen, what needs to happen throughout

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the day, how you're going to show up and be that.

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best version of yourself. How do you do it? Maybe

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it is putting perfume on and wearing high heels

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and whatever it is that you need is what you

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need to do and go for it. So finding out what

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that is and making a plan to get there is pretty

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simple. And it's again, it's not buying a whole

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new closet. Sorry. She said most women are 75

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% there. It's just sorting through and making

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a plan. And I love how she said many of us have

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learned to kind of blend in to belong, especially

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in male dominated industries. And that's armor,

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not presence. So you can be powerful. And if

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you want to be feminine, you can be feminine

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on your terms. If this helped, send this to a

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woman you're rooting for. And if you haven't

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listened to Melanie's full episode, I strongly

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encourage you to do so. As always, subscribe,

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leave a review and follow us on Instagram for

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a daily dose of support. and inspiration. Until

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next time, stay loud, stay lifted, and be intentional

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about the type of leader you want to be.