The Power of Personal Style

Host Maggie Germano gives you the rundown on what this podcast will be like and who might enjoy it.

Episode Summary

In today’s episode, Maggie is joined by Allison Hamilton-Rohe, Personal Style Coach and Founder and CEO of DailyOutfit. They chat about personal style, how it affects every area of women’s lives, and how it connects to personal finance.

Episode Notes

Allison Hamilton-Rohe is a Personal Style Coach, Founder and CEO of DailyOutfit. She created a unique, trademarked formula to help you create a personal style you inhabit with ease. A global nomad, she is currently living in Silver Spring, MD with her husband, two kids, Dutch bunny and new Doodle rescue.

To learn more about her work, check out www.dailyoutfit.com or connect with her on Instagram, Facebook, or LinkedIn.

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To learn more about Maggie and her coaching and speaking services, visit www.maggiegermano.com.

To get more involved with Money Circle:

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The theme music is called Escaping Light by Aaron Sprinkle. The podcast artwork design is by Maggie’s dear husband, Dan Rader.

TRANSCRIPTION

Maggie Germano: 00:00 Hey there and welcome to the Money Circle podcast. My name is Maggie Germano and I’m your host. This week I chatted with personal style coach, Allison Hamilton-Rohe. I’ve known Allison for Awhile now through our entrepreneur group called Feminist Founder. If you’re in the DC area, you should join us. We meet monthly to commiserate about entrepreneurism and learn lots from each other. We also often just do a lot of talking and enjoy each other’s company and get out of the house so that we can be around other people. Once in awhile. You can learn more about that group at feministfounder.com during this episode, Allison and I talked about why style matters for women. We also talked about all the baggage that exists with style and also with money, how women can get the tools they need to feel confident about their style. We bitched a little bit about how the fashion industry needs to change and much more. I had a great time chatting with Allison as always. I learned a lot from her about style, confidence and power. I hope you enjoy!

Maggie Germano: 01:14 so welcome. Allison. Thanks for being part of this podcast. I’m really excited to have you here. Um, so why don’t you tell us a little bit about yourself and what it is you do?

Allison: 01:26 My name is Allison and I’m a personal style coach at Daily Outfit. So I help women feel beautiful and confident every day.

Maggie Germano: 01:37 I love that. That’s something that we need, right. Instead of just on those special occasions.

Allison: 01:43 Yes.

Maggie Germano: 01:44 Awesome. So why and how did you get into this work?

Allison: 01:48 Uh, I knew I wanted to start my own company, uh, but I wasn’t really sure how that would look. So I, for the, you know, one and only time in my life sent out an email saying, right, I know you’ve been wanting to tell me what to do. So I’m actually listening now. And daily opposite was what came back. And that was super exciting because I don’t think I would’ve been bold enough to put myself out there as a stylist. Uh, it, it kinda feels like a pretty massive statement. So what came back was sort of a mix of feminism and practicality and style, something that really wasn’t in the world. Uh, at the time that I started the company 10 years ago.

Maggie Germano: 02:39 Yeah. And it seems like it, it’s definitely grown, that kind of theme. And so you were definitely ahead of the curve with that. So that’s really great too. Um, so you said that you knew you wanted to start your own business but you didn’t really know what you wanted it to be. What made you want to have your own business?

Allison: 02:57 I worked in corporate over a decade and I was in advertising, which is a very face time business and I wanted to create a company that was a little bit more human, um, with flexibility and, uh, respect for a life outside of work. And I could not, I tried several different companies, uh, and at that time, you know, working from home was not a big thing unless you were in tech. So I had to figure out how to create something myself where people would actually want to work.

Maggie Germano: 03:40 Yeah, no, I definitely get that, that need for the work life balance and having a hard time finding that somewhere else and having to just figure it out for yourself. So it sounds, it’s great that you have figured that out too.

Allison: 03:56 Thank you. I looked around me and I noticed that the only women who were at the next level in my organization were women who had wives, uh, or partners at home. I really wanted to be able to be an active parent as well and co-parent and I just didn’t see that as a possibility in my industry.

Maggie Germano: 04:18 Yeah. Well, it’s good that you didn’t give up that, that value for yourself too. You just found it somewhere else, made it for yourself. Yeah. That’s great. Yeah. Great. Um, so tell me a little bit more about why you think personal style is so important and what that actually means for women.

Allison: 04:38 It is something that we’ve been valued on quite literally for decades, like all of culture and history. So, um, and it’s something that I think a lot of really smart and capable women carry around as baggage. And you saw this a lot in the last election. Um, well, and I think through Hillary Clinton’s whole career where she didn’t want to be talked about the way she looked. And so I experienced this in my personal life and I knew that there were women who struggled with this and wanted to help them change the conversation and make it an empowering thing for themselves rather than something that, um, they were either judged and rejected on or rejected themselves and then didn’t have that power to use and wield in a productive way.

Maggie Germano: 05:37 Yeah. I feel like, like you said, it’s such a huge part of our lives. It’s like the first thing people see when they look at us, it’s how we’re presenting ourselves. But there’s also this kind of idea or this assumption that if you care too much about how you look, you’re shallow. But at the same, we don’t want to only be thought of in terms of our looks. So it’s like this huge mishmash of like conflicting feelings and assumptions and pressures that can make it feel really impossible. And like you said, like it’s baggage.

Allison: 06:11 Yeah. Yeah. And it doesn’t have to be, and we do have to get dressed every day. So I really wanted to find a way to invite everyone to the table. You know, when I started this company, size, inclusivity wasn’t really a thing that people talked about, body positivity. It wasn’t anything that people talked about. And I saw my friends and my family, uh, struggles so much with visibility because they couldn’t find anything to wear. When you only have head to toe black is your option or huge floral prints like hard to figure out what the in between is, you know? So, uh, because I think I wasn’t from a fashion background, I could see this from an outsider perspective and see that there was some white space there to open up and invite women in to the power of personal style because it is about your first impression and people do judge you and whether you like it or not, they’re going to assign adjectives to you based on that first impression. So what I want is for women to be in control of that conversation, not feel like it’s controlling them.

Maggie Germano: 07:28 Mm. Yeah. I really resonate with what you just said because I think with my business, with money and women, it’s the same kind of thing. I want women to feel in control of their money and use that as a form of their own control over their lives rather than feeling really bogged down and controlled by that. And I think that it’s the same with the style stuff too because you’re just like, like you said, I’ve known plenty of women in my life who they felt like they had nothing to wear so they were only wearing things that made them feel worse and made them look worse. And it’s just this like cycle too of how people perceive you and then how you perceive yourself and that can really affect so many other things in terms of confidence and self worth and all of that.

Allison: 08:12 Absolutely. I don’t know if you remember, uh, when, um, when we first met or when I first did my talk with you, the Carol Dweck quote about growth mindset and it’s 40% of your happiness is determined by yourself image. And that’s a huge amount. Yeah. You know, and if you can actually take, take control of that piece back. It’s, and like you said, it goes back to the way our culture was set up. You know, it wasn’t so long ago that women weren’t allowed to have a credit card or own property. And so it’s unsurprising that we would be walking around with baggage around how we look because it, how we were valued and a baggage around money because, you know, we were told that that wasn’t stuff we needed to worry about and we don’t have models of possibility for, you know, looking great, feeling great leading, being in control and also models of possibility for, you know, being in control of our money. You know, this is all evolving. Um, and that’s why we’re doing the work that we’re doing because, you know, we want to hand help women figure this out and make it easier,

Maggie Germano: 09:29 right? Like giving them the tools and the structure in order to, whether it’s figuring out your budget and taking control of your money or getting into a place where you feel empowered and comfortable and confident about your wardrobe and your style. And how you’re presenting yourself in the world. Because I feel like a lot of us women in particular feel like we have to do most of this on our own and that everyone else has it figured out like, oh, she always looks so great when she’s, you know, even just going to the gym or going to grab coffee or something and I just can’t do this. And Yeah. And there’s people out there like you and like me who really want to be providing that support and that structure and guidance. Yeah.

Allison: 10:09 Well to be fair that you know, the fashion industry and the financial industry have been saying that they’ve been saying you can’t do it and you know, you need a nice old white man to help you figure out what to invest in and make it easy hunting. You know, and the fashion industry has been saying the same thing. You don’t know what looks good on you. You need to, you know, go see this person or spend a lot of money or you know, invest in this new trend so that you’re on trend. And it’s so condescending and patronizing drives me nuts.

Maggie Germano: 10:49 me too. And it makes people run away from it. It’s like, okay, that’s not for me. It wasn’t created for me. It’s not built for me, so I want nothing to do with it and then we’re worse off for that. So having conversations around making it more accessible and targeting people in a way where it’s like, this is what you resonate with, this is what will help you. I think that that’s, it’s already, at least with the financial conversation, it’s shifting. There’s a lot more women talking about it. Um, do you see that and the style and fashion industry?

Allison: 11:24 Yes, definitely. I have just in the past couple of years, found many, many more stylists singing the same kind of tune I’m about, you know, creating a personal style, creating a vision for yourself, how you’re going to show up and being respectful of their customers and kind, you know, that’s, that’s another piece is there was so much shaming and mean girl attitude around it and that still exists. Of course, it’s gonna take a long time for that to go away. If it ever does, because you know, that’s a nice way to be in control and be powerful. But um, you know, I think there’s more and more people who are standing up and saying, no, you can’t be mean to me about this. And it’s not okay to put, you know, my size in that upper right hand corner of the store. You know, I want to be able to find my things when I go to dresses. Yeah. And then just because I’m a 16, I can’t go to the dress section. Yes.

Maggie Germano: 12:21 Right. And actually have sizes available rather than just rows and rows of like Zeros and twos and then everything else is kind of unavailable or in the back somewhere and you have to like ask for it. So, yeah, I think the kindness is a huge piece because I think just more and more we’re all looking for that. We need more understanding, we need more compassion and kindness and that it’s going to be better for all of us. Even the people who prefer the, the mean approach and the judgmental approach to things.

Allison: 12:54 Well, and that just comes from fear right. It comes from fear of hopping on top. It comes from fear that there’s only one spot at the table. It’s just, it’s all about, you know, being afraid and feeling like you have to scrabble for your little bit. And you know, it’s just, it makes me sad. But, um, but that’s, that forces real and I think the only way to counter it is with kindness and generosity and compassion.

Maggie Germano: 13:21 Yeah, I agree. And I think that, like you said, it’s growing more and more and, and more people are flocking to that. So I think that it can only grow. Um, so we’ve, we’ve touched on the comparison between money and style hall and obviously this is a podcast about personal finance. Um, so what do you think the connection between personal style and finances? Like how does one maybe affect the other influence the other?

Allison: 13:51 I think it really comes down to results and efficacy and feeling confident. So my purpose is to help women who want to sort of get to that next level, feel the confidence to step into that board room, get onto the stage, go behind that podium, you know, whatever it is that’s next for them. Um, and so to me it’s integral. When you feel that confidence, you can take that next step and pursue whatever success means for you. And obviously, um, since you know, money ties into where you’re putting your energy, uh, then you know, the more confident and successful, you feel, more confident you will feel about going for that next job or the promotion or completely re-imagining your life. You know, to me money is freedom and the choice to do what you want to do with the time you have on this planet. And you know, for anyone who was lucky enough to feel that way, uh, I, you know, you only want to feel more of that. Right. And so financial planning is all about creating that possibility for your future self and for yourself now. And to me, personal style is the same.

Maggie Germano: 15:17 Yeah, I love that so much. Cause I think it’s, it’s so true that how we look and present ourselves and feel about ourselves is gonna impact how we actually move forward in the actions we’re taking. And I have known so many people, myself included, who are like, oh, I’ll do that thing when I lose 15 pounds, I’ll do that thing when I feel better about my body. Or I can’t, I can’t do that thing because I don’t have anything good to wear or whatever it is. And it’s, even if we’re not fully aware of it, it’s such a barrier for so many people, whether that’s going for that promotion or going in for that interview or for like entrepreneurs like you and me going for like big speaking engagements or opportunities like that where we actually had to put our faces in front of people and we [inaudible]. Right. And so feeling good about your body and your clothes and how you look and feel every day is going to be hugely impactful in just the actions we’re taking and the risks we’re taking.

Allison: 16:22 Yeah, definitely. It’s about opportunity and the, the ability to say yes to the opportunities that come your way and feeling like you’re prepared to say yes. Um, you know, the last thing you want to do when you get offered a speaking gig is to then go have to figure out what to wear. Yup. You want to focus on what we have to say.

Maggie Germano: 16:47 exactly. Like the clothing should be secondary or it should just be like, I already have this figured out. This is, I know what I look good in and I know that I feel good in. And you know, what is it that I’m going to be presenting to people? Um, you, since you mentioned the stat that Carol Dweck said, um, do you have any stats or information about like how people tend to limit themselves when they’re feeling bad about how they look or how they present themselves?

Allison: 17:22 You know, that’s a great question. I have information on studies that were done about how clothing affects your results, uh, but not necessarily about limiting beliefs. Um, I, you know, there’s this one study, uh, it’s called the white coat study where they looked at, uh, how doctor’s putting on a white coat actually affected how, not only how they felt, but also how the patients responded to them and their results were better. And also this amazing study about the air force pilot uniform where they, uh, tested people’s eyesight in a simulator. The, the eyesight test was actually on the wing of the plane and then, uh, they had another cohort that they put in an air force pilots uniform and their eyesight actually improved. So, you know, there are, there’s data around that. Yeah. But I don’t know if there’s data. I just know that we all intuitively know it.

Allison: 18:30 I think we all have experienced situations where we’ve wanted to say yes and said no because we didn’t have the right thing to wear or we weren’t feeling good about our bodies or we weren’t feeling good about the way that we look. Um, and you know, also a question of being hung up about being attractive, like feeling a resistance to being attractive. And there are all sorts of reasons why that might be true. Um, but that I have seen and observed and heard from women who’ve come to me talk about how they’ve held themselves back. Um, because of those things, it’s real.

Maggie Germano: 19:13 Oh yeah, absolutely. I mean, I, I know that for myself personally, I know that from friends and family, so I’m sure that, I’m sure there are studies out there, hopefully. I mean, but every, like you said, everyone already knows that it’s a true thing, that we’re, that’s already happening. Um, and those results of those other studies are amazing that someone’s eyesight could improve it because they feel confident in themselves. It’s just amazing.

Allison: 19:42 I still don’t understand that every time I talk about that, it blows my mind. Yeah. I mean, it shows it’s kind of exciting. Like, Oh wow, what could we be capable of if we all just felt better and more confident in ourselves? That’s the question I ask, you know? And, and even if it’s just a placebo effect, you know, I can go for 30% more fine. Yeah. You know, if it works, it works, right? Whatever works.

Maggie Germano: 20:12 And I mean related to the finance side of things, I have plenty of clients and I know plenty of people who, because there’s this disconnect between their style, their wardrobe, and how they actually want to feel. They end up just buying and buying and buying because they want to fill this void where their self worth should be or needs to be. And they think like, Oh, if I just have these cuter shoes or these, um, more expensive jeans or whatever it might, that they’ll feel better in their clothes when there’s obviously a deeper issue involved, whether it is self worth, whether it is confidence, whether it is they’re trying to wear clothes that just, they don’t feel good in or don’t look good in because it’s fashionable or other people are wearing them or it’s popular. So I’ve see that all the time. Like just spending so much money on things and then not actually feeling better about what they’re wearing and then often not wearing what they bought.

Allison: 21:17 Yeah. Yeah. And that, you know, that’s the nominee is so normal and not uncommon. Okay. It, it hurts my heart really, because when I think about all the time and energy and resource that people are putting into that endeavor, when if you just stop for a minute and think about, you know, what is it that’s valuable to me and how do I want to show up and what does that woman look like and where, you know, I had a client asked me, do I have to know like what I want to be when I grow up to work with you? And I was like, no, no, no, no. It’s all about thinking about your core values right now and how you reflect those and that will lead you then to the next right step and it’ll lead you to the next right step. So if you can stop spending time, you know, worrying about the cute shoes and start focusing on what’s really valuable to you and why you’re here, then you know you can course correct and start going towards whatever it is that you were meant to be.

Allison: 22:33 You don’t have to know that right this minute to have personal style. No, it just is a reflection. Can be a reflection and an amplifier for what’s your particular innate, unique quality, um, and the things that you bring. And it’s so interesting to me when I start, um, with clients often they’ll, they’ll take a spending break and they work with me because we’re taking that pause to figure out, you know, how do you want to look? What’s in your closet that reflects that? What do you actually need to purchase if, if anything. And some clients have found they didn’t really need anything. They already had it all there. They just didn’t know. They didn’t know what looked good. They didn’t know how to put it together, you know? So sometimes it isn’t even a matter of spending more money. It’s just focusing in on who are you, why are you here? What’s important to you and how do you want to show up everyday.

Maggie Germano: 23:36 Yeah. I love that. I think the values piece is so, so, so deeply important to so many things. Cause if you’re connected to what’s the most valuable you and what you care about most, everything is going to just feel better. It’s gonna, it’s hard work to find the answers obviously, but if they’re all connected back to that value piece, it’s gonna just feel so much better and be longer lasting. Like you’re not going to abandon the process because you know why you’re doing it. Um, and I love what you said about how working with a style coach and revamping kind of how you present yourself in the world doesn’t mean you have to go out and buy a whole new wardrobe. Um, and that’s kind of connected to my next next question, which is whether or not you think style and financial security can coexist with budgets.

Allison: 24:28 Oh, absolutely. I think when you’re clear on what your purpose is, then you’re going out and picking up pieces that are in alignment with your purpose. There’s less of this like onset and panic around, uh, you know, your wardrobe. It’s going to be sort of inevitably more classic. So instead of going for the trends because they’re trends, you’re going for the trends because they’re in alignment with how you want to look. So maybe this season you are investing a lot. Maybe next season you’re not at all. Um, obviously it has to be in alignment with your budget as well. And I think when you start to look at it as more of a long-term process, it’s just like budgeting, right? Like you can look at it as a limiting thing and like add, I don’t want to be constrained that way. Or you can look at it as like, okay, this is what I think is important and this is where I want to put my energy and my resource. And this is, you know what I need and I know I have that list. So if I happen across a sale and it has something that I need, I can pick that up. It’s like so much more calm. And so I think that they do go hand in hand and I get this reflection a lot in this feedback a lot from my clients that they end up saving money after working with me, which is so nice to hear, you know, because obviously working with me as an investment in and of itself. So, you know, it’s nice to know that it pays off actually in the end just because you feel good, but also like in your bank finance.

Maggie Germano: 26:15 Yeah. Cause you’re not wasting money on things that are not valuable to you. So No, I love that. I really love that. And I love that you have that approach where there maybe will be that spending freeze and going through your closet first as you already have instead of like, all right, let’s go to the mall and just buy everything new. Um, so what’s the first step people can take in order to start regaining control over their personal style?

Allison: 26:44 I think it’s, you know, I actually created a formula for gray hair. It starts with figuring out what flatters to you. That’s kind of that sort of basic idea. That’s where all stylists start. But then I take it a step further to get into that values piece. So we talk about, you know, what matters to you. You can reflect your values in color, in pattern, in fabrication. There are all sorts of tactics that you can use to prime yourself and remind yourself, going back to that self-image quote, you know, what is your purpose? So those days when you get up and you really just feel like wearing jeans or sweatpants and a tee shirt, you could be like, you know what? No, I have to remind myself that it’s important to me to be empathetic or it’s important to me to be sensitive or whatever it is. However it is you’ve chosen to construct your color story. Um, and, and then finally, um, and I’m sure you do this with your clients too. We, we create a vision for what that looks like. So aligning it with your dreams and your goals and figuring out, you know, what does that woman look like? And then we match the wardrobe to that vision. So it’s a, you know, it’s also a way to amplify or double down on your goals and figure out how to get there. Because when you actually envision in detail, uh, you know what that looks like for you, then you can go and achieve it. Cause that is just a scavenger hunt, you know?

Maggie Germano: 28:30 Yeah. Yeah. That makes it fun. And it’s connected to something like you’re doing this for a reason. Like this is where you’re trying to end up, not just, I want to have clothes that are cuter. Yeah. Also Nice, but, but it’s, it’s connected to a deeper reason and you’re working towards something which I think is more motivating than just doing something to do it

Allison: 28:56 right. And it takes out that whole worry about it being shallow. Yup. Because when you are, you know, when you are sort of just trying to look cute, I mean that has value. But, um, when you’re trying to look cute in pursuit of a goal, that’s a life goal. That’s a lot deeper. Yeah.

Maggie Germano: 29:17 No, I love that. I think that’s really important. Um, well great. I think, I mean, this has been super informative for me and I’ve already heard you speak several times and gotten so much out of it. Um, do you have any other thoughts you want listeners to take away?

Allison: 29:36 I think fundamentally it’s just to take a breath and realize that you get to choose. Uh, there’s so much out there, it can get overwhelming. So try to disengage from that worry and just figure out, you know, what’s the next step? Do you know what looks great on you? Fantastic. Then figure out what your colors are that you want to construct your wardrobe around. Do you know what’s important to you? Great. And figure out who that woman looks like, you know, and if you need help, ask for help. Um, and you know, it’s all possible.

Maggie Germano: 30:21 I love that. That already makes me personally feel more calm in a way. Um, and so I’m sure it’ll be really helpful to others. Um, so where can listeners find you ?

Allison: 30:34 Dailyoutfit.com is my website and I have a blog there and I’m on Instagram and Facebook and Twitter. And you know what, wherever it’s fun for you to be a on social, I’m pretty much there.

Maggie Germano: 30:49 Awesome. Great. And are there any products or services or anything you have going on right now that you want to make sure people know about?

Allison: 30:57 Ooh, thank you for asking. Sure. I am actually doing fall enrollment for my masterclass, so I have a group three month class a that kicks off in September and ends right before the holidays. So you’re all set up and ready to go to enjoy your holiday season so people can go to my website and check that out or you can just email me Alison at dailyoutfit.com and I’ll point you to the class.

Maggie Germano: 31:24 Perfect. Well I know I’m personally going to be looking into that cause I, I’ve been waiting for more. You’re in enrollment to open up again, so I’m excited for that. I think other people will be too. Um, well again, thank you so much for joining today. I think that this topic is really important to so many people. It’s always on our minds in one way or another. So I appreciate you coming on to talk about that, that connection with money and self worth and all that.

Allison: 31:53 It is absolutely my pleasure. Thanks for inviting me.

Maggie Germano: 31:59 thanks for tuning into the money circle podcast this week. Make sure that you rate, review and subscribe. So that you never miss an episode. This also really helps just as we’re getting off the ground so that more people get the money, circle podcasts in front of them and in their ears. If you’d like to get more connected with money, circle or with me, there are lots of ways you can do that. To join the free Facebook group, visit facebook.com/groups/moneycirclegroup. To stay informed of any upcoming events, subscribe to my weekly newsletter at maggiegermano.com/subscribe. If you’d like to join the virtual money circle membership group, visit MaggieGermano.podia.com/inner-circle. To learn more about my financial coaching services, my speaking and workshop offerings, or just to read my blog, visit Maggiegermano.com. You can also follow me on Instagram and Twitter @MaggieGermano.