Life & Work with Julie Hinkley of Los Angeles

Today we’d like to introduce you to Julie Hinkley

Hi JULIE, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I actually fell into styling!

When I moved to LA from Michigan in 2011, after graduating from Western Michigan with a BS in Product Development and a minor in Art. Prior to moving, I applied to every job under the sun. The day after arriving in LA, I had an interview with a temp agency, telling me they weren’t sure where to place me with so little experience. I was crushed. Later that day, they called and asked if I wanted to work at a sample sale in DTLA. As the little midwestern hustler I am, I said yes without a second thought! This sample sale ended up being HauteLook, a flash sale website later acquired by Nordstrom. I started as a temp, got hired as a styling assistant and later grew into a lead stylist. Our day in, day out life was shooting 70+ samples of shoes, handbags, jewelry, baby clothes, etc. This was not exactly what I wanted to do for full time work, so after a year and a half I explored other opportunities. The people I met there, are still collaborators and mentors to this day.

After HauteLook, I bounced around a bit trying to find my niche. I tried product development, personal styling, sales, account management, etc. I also left LA and moved to Chicago then New York and back to LA. It wasn’t until I lost my job as an account manager that things started to fall into place. Quite literally. I lost my job on a Friday and on Saturday, I ran into my very first boss at a friend’s party. She asked if I was still styling because she needed help on Monday. That was 2018 and I have been freelance styling ever since.

In July 2020, I signed with my first agency. It wasn’t until then that I started cosmetic styling and truly fell in love with it. It was definitely one of the steepest learning curves to date, but now I refer to it as art therapy. It has maybe become my favorite medium.

Last year, I signed with Art Department after feeling like they were completely out of reach. I could not feel luckier than to do something that I love and work with such talented and creative people. I truly love my job.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Is anyone’s road smooth?

Gosh, I was so poor for so long. I worked multiple jobs at first – some including cleaning houses, helping a friend with her floral business, cater waitering and pet sitting. For the record, this was while having full time jobs. I also just felt like I was bad at everything for a long time. I hadn’t found what I was good at. I didn’t think I was creative. I just thought everyone was better than me – I still feel like this a lot of the time. I think the biggest thing is just overcoming the intimidation – which I’m still working on. I will be so nervous to work with someone and then I just end up adoring them by the end of the day. I think all of us creatives have similar fears.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I am a cosmetic, prop and wardrobe stylist. I’m not sure what I am known for? Maybe that I do all of these things? Not a ton of people do all categories. It’s not something that I feel boastful about, I just don’t want to give any of them up. People will ask what I love to do the most and it’s really that I get to do all the things! They all tick different boxes for me. I truly just want to create beautiful images with people that I enjoy!

Can you talk to us about how you think about risk?
Oh gosh, yes – I use to just be a metaphorical cliff jumper. I have moved across the country three times without a job. I think you just have to have faith in yourself. Have faith that you will be able to figure it out. I am less of a large risk taker now, but I still take risks on jobs (sorry, clients). I will be asked to do something I’ve never done or have no idea how and I just jump! That’s kind of the whole job – willingness to figure it out, find the rare ingredient or the specific garment or duplicate a texture you’ve never felt. If I were to generalize, I believe most people in this field take big risks.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.julie-hinkley.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jmaehinks/

Image Credits
All shot by Megan Gross