Today we’d like to introduce you to Sara Rowley.
Sara, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I believe my story will relate with anyone who has ever placed a passion on the back burner and later realized that choice dis-empowered them in some way. When I graduated with a fashion degree in my early 20’s I was disillusioned by the cutthroat world of the fashion industry. From my perspective at that time, the whole culture around fashion felt like a rat race and I didn’t see myself lasting that long running in it. Being competitive has never come to me naturally, I’d much rather sit it out or have a cup of coffee with someone and discuss a topic that lights us both up. So I found myself a career path in the education field, which has its own special rewards. During my ten year fashion hiatus I connected with my own spiritual path and discovered I had gifts that helped me see past people’s surfaces and recognize deeper essential aspects of them. Surprisingly, I find people doing good in the world often take their gifts, unique inner design, and value for granted. This is where I see Divine Style Designs helping people the most. It’s an approach that validates people and there’s usually an element of healing that can happen. I first started out exploring this new approach with family and friends who were willing and now I am being of service professionally as a divine stylist. It really is like a dream come true. I recently helped a client align with an outfit for her Tedx talk. It is months later and she is still receiving many compliments. My favorite compliments to hear are when people say things like “You look beautiful, this is so you!” to my clients.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
For me the bumpy parts of the road towards making Divine Style Designs into a reality were nearly all internal ones. I had self-doubt pop up along the road often at first and it used to knock me down pretty hard. I’ve learned to treat doubt like an old visiting guest who has a message for me and needs a genuine and comforting one from me as well. I’m realizing having self-doubt pop up is a natural part of bringing our desires and dreams into reality. Every time doubt pops up we are faced with the choice of deepening our love for ourselves or placing the dream, again, on the back burner.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
Divine Style Designs is an approach to styling that aligns my client’s outer presence with their inner presence. I really am proud that this work helps people reach new levels of visibility. A level of visibility that goes beyond latest trends. It highlights their inner treasures and allows them to be seen in a deep way. I specialize in working with authors, speakers, teachers, community leaders, artists, boss ladies and good humans who want their style to match their soul, as well as move their mission forward.
What quality or characteristic do you feel is most important to your success?
I am going to have to say that having a supportive community was so crucial in Divine Style Designs either staying a secret dream my soul tugged at or was an actual reality in my life. Pure and simple none of us can do it alone, we are all beings wired for community. I have a mentor and tribe of people invested in my success and I theirs. Having even one person on your support team is a tremendous start. After that, you can slowly build your tribe and look for opportunities where you and others are genuinely interested in supporting each other. In the spirit of exploration and love you can gain so much from people who are matches and people who aren’t.
Where do you see your industry going over the next 5-10 years? Any big shifts, changes, trends, etc?
I am holding out a lot of hope for the fashion industry. It does however lay with us and what I like to call our “customer influence” power. The conversation around the horrible effects on the planet, dangerous work environments and low value products of the “fast fashion” model of business is growing and taking hold. In the spirit of hopefulness I would like to predict growing numbers of people considering how their clothing purchases affect the planet and the people connected to creating them. The documentary “The True Cost” is great at revealing those connections.
I actually resisted the calling from my soul to explore fashion and style again at first, I watched way too much Netflix and ate way to much comfort food during that time.
We can waste so much time and energy thinking we need to be someone other than we are to have an impact or make a connection when actually the opposite is true. Our communities actually benefit the most when we visibly honor and appreciate ourselves, our gifts and the aspects of our unique inner design.
Contact Info:
- Website: divinestyledesigns.com
- Email: upwardwithsara@gmail.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Divine-Style-Designs-1817471605040545
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