We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Lizzy Williams a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Lizzy, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What do you think matters most in terms of achieving success?

In order to be a successful entrepreneur you must build a strong community around you of peers, mentors and colleagues. It can be daunting and discouraging to go through ups and downs of business alone. Having others who understand and support you throughout your career is so valuable to your long term success. I am a prop and wardrobe stylist, art director and fashion designer who is constantly moving from photo to video sets working with a diverse group of crews all over Boston, Vermont and beyond. Because of this, I was constantly being hit up by industry peers in Vermont for models, locations and crew recommendations. I didn’t want to be the gatekeeper of this knowledge. Instead, I founded Bounce. I saw Bounce as an opportunity to grow the advertising industry as a whole in Vermont and New England. Bounce is an easy resource to post castings for models, find locations and hire crew for photo and video shoots.

Lizzy, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I love all things design. I graduated from Sheridan College in Ontario CA with a visual merchandising degree and had a passion for styling and fashion. After school, I worked on staff at a couple companies honing in on my styling skills and gaining lots of set experience for seven years. I decided to take the leap to freelance to explore design further by working with a wider range of clients and artists, and gain a sense of freedom. After building a strong portfolio, I eventually joined an agency to increase my clients and work load. I continued to expand my skills by learning video prop and wardrobe, art direction and eventually production design for social media, TV commercials, print and online. I have always been a maker, so I get excited about projects that allow me to create props with my hands from scratch. My fashion itch has continued, and I am about to graduate from the MassArt Fashion design certificate. I’m really excited to have begun designing and making fashion while I continue to freelance as a stylist, art director, and production designer.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

I find building worlds and characters incredibly satisfying. Dreaming up a character and how that person would live in a scene and interact with the world, or how they would dress, and then bringing the idea to fruition is rewarding as an artist. Every little aspect of a set scene or a wardrobe piece is incredibly transformative for a viewer and I really enjoy the process of seeing the point of view of my character by “living in my character’s head”.

Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?

Sharing interesting behind the scenes content consistently with each shoot I do has earned me the nickname “BTS Monstah.” This has kept me in the minds of clients and colleagues who recommend me. The shots show a little glimpse of what I do, and all the tagging and resharing shows I’m working alongside other talented industry professionals which leads people to DM me and get straight to the point of “what’s your rate? and are you available?” because the clients already know that I’m a seasoned professional.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://lizzywill.com
• Instagram: @lizzywillstyles
• Facebook: N/A
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lizzywilliams/

Image Credits
Main photo – Michael Heeney
Two behind the scenes photos of me working – Justin Bennett
Three fashion design, striped pants (avocado dyed, no waste pattern), Green corset, Dark green jacket – Conor Doherty
One fashion design floral dress made from wallpaper – Alyssa Duncan
Kitchen and Laundry room – My photos, I did the production design and styling on both of these and took the photos.