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

Suze, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to go back in time and hear the story of how you came up with the name of your brand?

Soon after I started working with my private clients I changed the name of my company to The Style LAB with Suze. I believe we all are born with a purpose and when we find that, and are practicing it we evolve, expand and can help others to do so too. My passion and purpose is to be in service to others to heal from a low self image, to feel good about themselves, and the conduit I utilize is self image and wardrobe.

When I first started my business about 12 years ago, one of my organic marketing strategies was to have clients host a ‘Style Party’ where guests could enjoy a Girls Night Out, and bring items from their closet they had challenges knowing how to wear, or if they should wear those things. I called it ‘Stump the Stylist’.

In this environment the guests would learn from observing the others, how I would style their pieces, and the ah-ha’s just amazed everyone! I would get comments like ‘oh wow, I never knew I could put those 2 things together, I cant wait to wear my ‘new outfit’, or no wonder I had trouble wearing that item its not my style .. but it was expensive, so I felt guilty getting rid of it, etc.

I was teaching women why its so important to have a personal style and how to do it. When we show up boldly with confidence, the impact it has on our ability to achieve our goals, get what we want faster, grow our company /career, take a dream vacation, pay for college, meet our soul mate, and create a legacy is profound.

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

The Style LAB with Suze is an Image Branding & Style Experience Consultancy for high achieving leaders who want stress-free wardrobe solutions to gain confidence and feel good about themselves. To grow their businesses, that are not only profitable but allow them the freedom to enjoy their work, family, lifestyle, with a stylish knowing that everything they wear lights them up and represents their brand.

Referred to as ‘the Clothes Whisperer,’ Suze has a passion for empowering her clients, having gone trough her own journey of self discovery & value. With kindness toward self, she guides her clients to raise their awareness of their own power, by using what they have already in their closets, and source what’s missing to look and feel amazing everyday, so they can affect change in their lives and the lives of others.

Suze has many offers to meet clients where they are, via 1:1 work, group programs and video courses. She focuses on eliminating the overwhelm of what to wear for work, play, travel, photo shoots and presentations, both virtual and live. Clients learn to remove from their closets what doesn’t serve them and create go-to-outfits, so they always show up with confidence.

Author to 5 handbooks on style, a growing part of Suze’s Style LAB is creating fashion- travel and photo shoot branding events for those who want to enjoy one of a kind experiences with other like minded enthusiasts. She lives in Chicago with her husband and twin teens and is celebrating 12 years of entrepreneurship this year.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

A key lesson I’ve had to unlearn in my life is that I had no value. I was raised in a very religious catholic environment, third of five kids and had to prove my worth every day by preforming well in school, not talking back to my parents, going to church and being funny on demand. This conditional environment taught me to I had to work hard to make money, there was not enough (of anything) that people expected me to be nice and helpful, useful, then I could be worthy, loved.

I became focused on others approval, and externally influenced. With many years of deep work on my self image via coaching programs, yoga and spiritual practices, I have and still am unlearning those old habitual stories that were holding me back from my inherent value and limitless potential.

Do you have multiple revenue streams – if so, can you talk to us about those streams and how your developed them?

Since my business started out solely as a service, (and primarily still is) I knew fairly early I need a product to help market myself. I was styling one of my early biz mentors, Jill Salzman of The Founding Moms for her first TEDx talk and she told me, “Suze, you need to write a book’. That next year I self published my first style book called ‘The T-Shirt & Jeans Handbook’. The idea was to help women around the world who had lost their style – to create for themselves a wardrobe they love, using the American women’s uniform of a T-shirt, and a pair of jeans. This book was not only hightly successful bringing in over $10k in passive revenue that year, but helped establish me as an expert in the Personal Styling industry.

Two years later I wrote a sequel: ‘The Blouse & Skirt Handbook’, based on reviews from readers who wanted more of my practical approach to getting dressed. After that I had a reader ask for a book on dressing for a plus size body. ‘The Curvy Girls Style Handbook’ was truly a life – changing a passion project, where I got help the average size woman (size 14/16 btw) to feel seen, fashionable, powerful. I have since gone on to publish the ‘Pack with Purpose Handbook’, then the Pack with Purpose video course of that material, and my most recent: ‘The 5 Day Closet Cleanse’, an organizing tool, shopping guide, and outfit builder, all in one.

The books are available in print, however all of these digital products are resources to help millions of women all over the worked and provide an additional revenue stream for my business. Additionally I am a paid speaker on each of these subjects and have just completed my first international Fashion + Design Client Experience to Paris this past spring. Next up: a Personal Branding Photo Shoot event in Chicago and my next Fashion adventure 2024 in Spain.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.suzesolaristyle.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/suzestylelab/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/stylelabclub
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/suzesolari/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@SuzeSolari/featured
• Other: https://linktr.ee/SuzeSolari

Image Credits
Jorge G