August 24, 2016

Meet West Hollywood Stylist & Jewelry Designer: Romy Devack

Local Stories

Today we’d like to introduce you to Romy Devack.

Romy, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
My first job was for Wilhelmina Models as an assistant. When they took on Fergie as a celeb endorsement client, I luckily became the direct assistant to her stylist when she was in town from NY. This allowed me to really learn the lay of the land. After I had left Wilhelmina I took a job as an intern to a stylist who was dressing Kate Winslet during the time of The Reader and Revolutionary Road. This was the ultimate crash course, and I am forever grateful for the opportunity because it allowed me to get jobs that I wouldn’t have had access to otherwise. Over the next eight years, I was fortunate enough to work with an amazing stylist and some incredible clients on a wide array of jobs, ranging from celebrity red carpet to artist tours to tv / film to advertising campaigns to commercials. As the years went by I met a handful of personal clients that I would occasionally shop for when I wasn’t working on other projects, which eventually led me to my current position, which is a personal shopping consultant in the Fifth Avenue Club at Saks Fifth Avenue in Beverly Hills. It’s been a nice change of pace and allows me to continue working with stylists and their clients as well as my own personal clients. In addition to all of the above, I am one month away from launching my new jewelry collection, which is called SINCERELY, something I am incredibly proud of and hold very near and dear. I’m anxiously awaiting its launch and future.

Has it been a smooth road?
Stylist is a difficult job. People always tell you that when you start questioning about how to get your foot in the door, but as a stubborn 21-year-old, chances are you aren’t going to listen – at least that was my experience. The good usually outweighs the bad, but there were definitely times when that wasn’t the case, and I started to realize that more and more the older I got. Being in the thick of the celebrity world can be demanding. NO is never an acceptable answer, so you have to make the impossible happen on a day to day basis. You learn a lot from this, but after years of running around like a chicken with your head cut off, it definitely becomes exhausting. Hours are long. It’s also an extremely competitive business, making it difficult to succeed. For me, that was probably the most difficult part. Working as hard as I was without seeing a huge growth, at least at a financial level. I was working with some of the biggest stylists, photographers, directors, clients. You name it, but I wanted more, and I wanted stability. At 30 years old, stability became important to me. Which is how I transitioned into personal shopping at Saks. And now for my biggest venture, my own jewelry business. So while there were definitely obstacles and challenges, I should probably be thankful for them because they forced me to continue pushing and I think I’ve finally reached a place where I am confident in my career and the process in which it took to get to where I am today.

When you look back, can you point to a period when you wanted to quit or a period that was really frustrating?
There have absolutely been times when I’ve felt like quitting. It’s a tough gig, but if you love it and are passionate about it, then you keep moving forward. I have a very strong work ethic and even stronger personality, so failure is not an option for me. I’m also very fortunate to have an amazing support system to help get me through those tough times. As I’ve mentioned in prior interview questions, all of my experience, tough times included, have led me to SINCERELY, my new jewelry line. I’ll take all of the times I’ve felt like quitting… all of the tears shed. They’ve gotten me to this point, which is the best place yet!

What advice do you wish to give to those thinking about pursuing a path similar to yours?
Get out there! Meet people. Say yes to every job and any job. You never know who you’re going to meet and what you’re going to learn.

What are you looking forward to?
I’m most excited about my new jewelry line, SINCERELY. It’s something I hold very near and dear and have been working on for a while now. I’m excited to finally get it out there and share the story behind it. I think a lot of people will relate and appreciate.

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