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

Reagan, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you talk to us about your team building process? How did you recruit and train your team and knowing what you know now would you have done anything differently?

Building a team is hard. Especially when you’ve grown accustomed to relying on yourself. Growing up I was never a group person and unfortunately, that has bled into my business. I have attempted partnership a couple of times and I’ve learned more about myself with each trial. I know I want to expand my company but I am still trying to figure out how (and more importantly) why. I feel that a team has to work towards a goal. The goal becomes the why. Right now, I haven’t figured out what that collective goal is yet. One thing I do know is that I am working to find that goal every day. Just like everything else in my life, I am pretty sure it will reveal itself in its own time. I just have to be patient and never give up on myself. I know one day I will have the team that is intended for me.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My name is Reagan Chatman and I am a personal stylist located in Philadelphia PA. I launched my styling business C Suite Styling in 2019 and have been on an entrepreneurial roller coaster ever since. Styling is a luxury service that a lot of people attribute to being a celebrity.

I always have to explain to people that there are many different avenues one can take when it comes to being a stylist. Some people are product stylists while others are celebrity stylists. As a personal stylist, I focus on the everyday woman of color. My job is to make her personal fashion goal come true. That goal takes on many forms. I’ve had clients that want to expand their modeling portfolio while I’ve had others that want to fall back in love with their bodies.

Since I have a wide range of possible clients, I narrow my services by focusing on women who already see the light at the end of their tunnel but need a little fashion nudge to move them forward. The average person doesn’t realize how powerful clothes are. They carry our mood, desires, history, and future. My services help establish a positive relationship between my clients and their clothes.

It’s unrealistic to think any transformational journey will be easy. Growth is uncomfortable and requires a lot of work. This is what my clients experience and this is what I’ve experienced as a business owner. That similarity is what allows me to connect with them on a deeper level.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

That success is a linear experience. It is not. Success is like happiness. It’s a moving target that takes on many forms depending on the person. In my experience, I’ve learned that success requires a lot of backtracking, maneuvering, coordination, learning, and patience. Everything worth having is worth waiting for. There was a long time I was beating myself up for not making progress in specific areas of my business. I had to let go of the idea that I was only supposed to grow in one space. A successful business is a garden, not a patch.

Have you ever had to pivot?

The word “pivot” doesn’t explain my journey. My purpose was always there. It was staring me in the face every morning. I chose not to acknowledge it due to fear. The fashion industry is one of the most sought career fields and not everyone makes it. I was so focused on the odds that I didn’t even want to consider it as a possibility. Your feelings can’t get hurt if you don’t ever try right?

So I was fixated on a path that did not fit me but suited my needs at the time. For the longest, I was determined on being a vet. It was a career path that my grandmother attempted, something that almost no one else wanted to be, and it was associated with money. My college experience helped me reveal the truth about myself. I couldn’t pass 1 biology exam. At first, it was hard to accept but ultimately it lead me to my real passion – marketing. And what is styling other than personal marketing?

Now don’t get me wrong, I do still have a passion for animals but it’s not on a molecular level. Accepting my truth opened a lot of the doors that led me to where I am today.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.csuitestyling.com/
• Instagram: @csuitestyling
• Linkedin: Reagan Chatman
• Twitter: csuitestyling

Image Credits
Models: E-me’, Summer, Carlene, Desire, Marisa Photographers: King of Karpe Visuals and Tanya R. Photography