#68: How to Create a Professional Fashion Style for Zoom Meetings with Stylist Solita Roberts

Show Notes

With more of us attending webinars or conducting client meetings over Zoom and other video conferencing platforms, what looks good in person can be unflattering on camera. In this episode, co-hosts Nola Boea and Lori Vajda talk with professional stylist and image consultant, Solita Roberts to get wardrobe tips so you can stand out for all the right reasons on your next video meeting.
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Solita is the founder of Style To Impact, a personal styling and image consulting agency working with high-performing, purpose-driven female entrepreneurs and professionals.

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In This Episode You’ll Learn 

• How you come across visually is a form of communication, which is why your visual appeal is really important.
• Ways to leverage your authentic style so you can confidently and consistently show up as your best self on camera.
• Styling tips so your overall presence WOWs for all the right reasons on your next virtual Zoom meeting. 
• Tips so your lighting on camera lets the colors you’re wearing show up as boldly or vividly as you want them to.

Key points Lori and Nola are sharing in this episode:
(3:10:32) The new definition of personal branding and how to align it with your personal style.  
(5:13:72) There’s a difference between personal style and professional style. This is how you can infuse the two when you’re on a Zoom video conferencing meeting.
(8:57.63) A simple but effective way to determine whether or not a color that works in person also works on the camera. 
(14:46.30) The three types of clothing you should NOT wear on Zoom or other video conferencing calls.

Resources 

You can subscribe to Lori and Nola's show, (we love you and want to make it easy) on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Audible, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Connect with Solita Roberts: solita@styletoimpact.com 
Style To Impact website: https://styletoimpact.com/ 
Social Links:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/styletoimpact/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/styletoimpact/
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This episode was supported by: Be-YOU-nique

ConvertKit: Our #1 Favorite Email Marketing Platform 
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Transcript

[00:00:00] Nola: While you might be a pro hosting digital client meetings, leading a webinar or putting on a virtual conference using Zoom and other video conferencing platforms, the same might not be true for how you appear on camera. That's because your favorite go-to styles for makeup, clothing, and accessories can look great in person, but be an unfashionable, "oh no, you didn't." If you want to know what it takes to create your memorable personal onscreen style, stay tuned, listeners, because we're getting plenty of tips from professional stylist, Solita Roberts, in this episode of Sticky Brand Lab.
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[00:00:34] Solita: You're listening to the Sticky Brand Lab podcast, where time-strapped professionals like you learn how to create a business you love in as little as three hours a week.

[00:00:46] Lori: How do you present yourself on camera can have a big impact on how professional you appear to colleagues, customers, and prospective clients. Things like lighting, camera, angle, makeup, clothing, and accessories can all contribute to you being a standout for all the right or wrong reasons.

But before our professional style expert explains how you can showcase your best self and be camera ready for your next video conference appearance, welcome to Sticky Brand Lab, the podcast where we share essential business tools, shortcuts, and advice from leading entrepreneurs, industry experts and our own real-world experience. So you can launch your business quickly and without breaking the bank or feeling overwhelmed because the only thing more empowering than knowledge is being able to take confident, decisive action.

[00:01:35] Nola: We're here today with our returning guest, expert stylists Solita Roberts. Solita is the founder of Style to Impact, a personal styling and image consulting agency working with high-performing purpose-driven female entrepreneurs and professionals. Solita assists women in refining their wardrobe and image so they can showcase their talents, expertise, and thought leadership with confidence. She's here today to share her knowledge, experience, tips, tricks, and how-tos for putting your best style forward on camera so you can make a positively memorable impression.  Welcome back, Solita!

[00:02:10] Solita: Oh, my gosh, this is like so fantastic. Very rarely do I get those opportunities to be a return guests and I'm so, so, so honored to be able to be a return guest on your podcast.

[00:02:21] Lori: It's our pleasure. And thank you for being here because we've got some really important information to talk about. Recently Nola and I did an episode on personal branding and why it's so important to have one, whether you're a business owner or you're on the corporate ladder. And we were discussing how you could think about your personal brand, like your personal trademark. It's all about your reputation, your presence, the vibe you want others to have of you. So, one of the questions that we had is, would we be correct in thinking that having a strong personal style works similarly, and that's why it's so important?

[00:02:58] Solita: Absolutely. When we think of personal brand, like in the context of what we were told about it. So that makes sure it's how you develop that like, know, trust factor. People buy from people. And all that type of jargon. But I think what has happened, there's been a shift in terms of what personal branding is, right? It's getting in tune with your values as a person. And those values then come out in how do you want to introduce yourself to the world? And how do you want to introduce yourself to the world comes down to what do you want to wear to tell people who you are. Because I think like right now, it's so important to make sure that your personality, your authentic self is showing up in your brand. And we always talk about authenticity, right? We always talk about making sure that you're authentic in your brand. But I find, especially as a new entrepreneur building my business, when we talk about personal branding, there's a cookie cutter way of doing it. Like we're all trying to do it the same way, but it's like, no. Personal branding should be you. Same as your style. It's your identity. Like, what do you want people to know about you? And the way we show up in the different spaces and what we wear will look different based on those values that we have. So, yes.

[00:04:09] Nola: Well, that's a good point. And it leads us to the next question, with so many of us now on camera for just about everything from attending conferences, to meeting with coworkers, to pitching to clients, to celebrating special occasions with family and friends, video conferencing has become the way we stay connected as well as the way we do business. And with that in mind, we thought it would be great to have you talk about how to elevate your on-camera business game through personal styling. But before we do, just to be clear, are personal style and professional style the same thing, or are they two different things altogether?

[00:04:49] Solita: Personal style is about you. It's your identity. It's an extension of who you are. It kind of reminds me of this story I was listening to, the young lady was talking about her grandmother. Her grandmother said to her, don't forget that you are beautiful. Because she was showing them how to put on makeup. And they thought putting on makeup was a form of beauty. And grandmother's like, don't forget that you're beautiful. She's like, no, I know that I'm beautiful. But wearing makeup is a form of self-expression. It's how I want to introduce myself to the world. And that is what your personal style is. It takes aspects of you, things that you love, things that you enjoy and really create your wardrobe in a way that expresses that.

Professional styling, on the other hand, it's what you wear, that attire that you will wear, based on the settings that you're going into. If you're going into an interview and your personal style is you want to be a Bohemian style, but you like to be bold, may not necessarily translate into the corporate world. Like you showing up with your tassel dress and your earrings. It wouldn't translate into professional, but how can we take some of those elements and incorporate into your professional wear? So for example, going with that, I don't know why I always choose a Bohemian look, but for some reason that's the one that sticks out to me. So we have that floral, we have that tassel accessories that we'll use. That's what you wear on a regular day. That's how you show off your personality. You're going into an interview now. Those elements, maybe you're trying to do an interview at a bank. Wearing earrings, like this will not translate, right? Because it's a little bit too over the top for that interview for that industry. But how can we add your personality of liking tassels? You have a handbag that have tassels on it. So you put that on it. So you're mirroring your personal style, your personal preference, but you're infusing it into that professional wear. So it's two different things, but they're both incorporate who you are as an individual.

[00:06:46] Lori: Oh, I like that. It's kind of like thinking about yourself multifaceted. So you're not totally saying, okay, I have to behave this way and put yourself in a box. But you're saying, I use the line, a red thread, something that connects all the way through. So then you're just showing off the facet of yourself, but there's elements that ring all the way through. Is that a gray wait to think about it?

[00:07:10] Solita: Absolutely. Yes. That is a fantastic way of putting it because we tend to, maybe your audience have heard about it. Code switching, where you go into certain settings and in terms of how you speak, you're talking a different way, especially as a Caribbean person. There's certain words that I would say now that I live in the U.S. There's certain words that I would say as a Caribbean person, that doesn't necessarily translate into the culture here. So it's kind of difficult when I get into those spaces and I may say something, the person's like, what are you saying? Right? And what happens now is that you kind of do what we call. I mean, I'm giving the very basic version of it and not the extreme version of code switching, but it's like, you're pretending to be someone that you're not. People tend to do that with their wardrobe. It's like, I love vibrant colors. I love to be elegant. I love to be a certain way, but then you get into a certain setting and you think that you have to check yourself and your personality and your authenticity at the door and enter this room, trying to fit into what you think is appropriate in that setting. So it's very important that when you think of your personal style, it's something that's fluid. It flows with you regardless of the industry, the settings, the environment, whatever it is that you're going into, you're showing up as yourself a hundred percent of the time.

[00:08:30] Lori: That's a good point. So that got me to thinking there are some colors and components of your style that you can wear in person, and it helps you feel empowered, but when you're on camera, those same elements, they can have the opposite effect. It can be distracting, it can be dull, it can even be unmemorable, really. So one aspect of having a style is how you wear and use color. So my first question here is, how do you determine whether or not a color that works in person also works on the camera?

[00:09:03] Solita: It's testing, we're all new to this, this virtual space, as you said, it's like, most of us didn't do this every day. We may hop on a FaceTime, like that's the most video conference most of us have done in our lives, right? So here's it, now that we have to do every single thing on video, it's like, okay, what do I do? And I've had clients like, okay, I have my wardrobe that I went to work with, that I showed up in the office. Is this going to translate on Zoom? And it's like, I feel stuck. I feel unsure as to what to wear. My best thing has always been, if you're DIY-ing it, put on your clothes, sit down in front of your camera and see what happens. Watch yourself on screen. See what happens. Do you feel as though you'll be able to make that impression that you need? Do you feel as though you'll be able to grab a person's attention? So I'm going to give you an example cause I brought props.

[00:09:53] Nola: Cool.

[00:09:54] Lori: And listeners, you can check this out on video, be sure to do that, but for right now you can't see what she's showing us.

[00:10:02] Solita: Yes.

[00:10:03] Nola: So we'll describe it.

[00:10:04] Solita: So this is, I mean, you look at this blouse. I love it. It has all the elements that I, like my personal style. There's ruffles, it's easy breezy and really cool. I can wear this to an event. I can wear this going out, but on Zoom, when I put that, I know the listeners can't see it, but if you get to do watch the video, this is why we're making a video as well, so that you can come back and watch it. When I put that black on, imagine you wearing this black. 30 other persons on this call. And we're all just these little squares on screen. Is this going to make me stand out? Is this going to make me pop?

[00:10:42] Nola: That'll make you recede into your little square.

[00:10:45] Solita: Exactly. So I'm just going to be another square. But it doesn't grab anyone's attention to say, okay, who's that young lady in on my left? Who's that young lady in the center? Now. You may say, but Solita, I have black in my closet. I want to wear my clothing, but I still want to stand out. Again, we can wear the black, but if you look at my earrings, what happens?

[00:11:05] Lori: Oh yeah.

[00:11:06] Nola: Pop orange.

[00:11:08] Solita: So even though I'm wearing black, adding a bit of accessory color to my face, because we're only seeing this square. When you think of your online calls and your online presence, when you're on these calls, think of it in terms of your passport size picture. This is what people are going to see every single time you travel. So every single time you go on screen, there's a part of you that's always going to be on display. No one is going to see any other part of you unless you stand up. They're looking and trying to assess whether or not you are the right person to align with, to get on an interview, to collaborate, whatever the purpose of that call is. So you want to be able to stand out to communicate that. Yes, you can go for your black, if that's your thing. Totally fine with that. But how can you geous it up a little? How can you add personality to it? Cause if I wear this on screen and then I wore these airings to match, you'd be like, oh. Yeah, that's kind of cool. That's kind of interesting. There's some, there's some interest to it, right? So, when you're thinking about how can you use your current wardrobe and fit that into your virtual? These are some of the things that you're thinking about. Am I going to stand out? First of all, what's your message? What is it you want to get from that setting that you're in? What is it you want people to know about you? What is it you want them to take away from their interaction with you? And how can you use style to basically show them your personality? Because it's very difficult on Zoom when we're networking, when we're interacting, than it is in person, right? We're looking at the screen. We're looking at these little squares. Even though we're having a conversation, there's that personal connection that you get when you're in-person, the energy is, you don't get it, right? So you have to bring the energy, and your wardrobe is part of that element that you use to really bring the energy to the screen that you're on.

[00:12:59] Lori: Are there colors that just don't work for us on camera?

[00:13:03] Solita: When I think of in terms of colors and what works on camera, what doesn't. Bright colors will always work. But bright colors that match your skin tone, your undertone. So, me saying, wear bright colors and telling you, wear pink, pink may not compliment your skin tone. So you wearing pink and being on camera, there's that balance where I'm seeing, I'm going to give you another demonstration. Let's say for instance, what you don't want to happen is that you're wearing a color that's boom, and you're just like a floating head. You want the color to be connecting from here, like really in harmony with your skin tone, with your complexion, with everything, is just flowing, instead of, it's a really pretty blazer. But I can only style it with certain in between, like when I'm layering it, I have to it with something that closely compliments my skin tone. Because that way, the blazer's not doing in your face, but it's like, oh, I'm wearing a nice color, but it's all flowing and complimenting. Whereas if I wear it by itself, there's floating heads, right? You see this color and it's like a floating head. So, your colors ideally comes down to the ones that look great on you. And again, my DIY way of doing it, it's something like, colors within my services, we do work on, you know, what color suits you best. And you know, what colors you can wear on camera that makes you pop and makes you stand out. But if you're DIY-ing it, just put on the colors that the clothing in your closet. You're literally going to do it anyway, in front of you have your camera. Look at yourself. What do you get? What type of energy are you getting from looking at yourself on screen? So, the only thing I would say in terms of what not to wear, especially in a professional setting, is florals. Anything like florals, any patterns or prints that's super busy. Because what you don't want to happen, again, you're distracting your audience from your message and what you're saying. You want persons to say, yes, I love what you're wearing, you're standing out. But they're paying attention to what you're saying instead of trying to figure out, okay, what pattern is that? For instance? I love that painting. Can you imagine if you were wearing a top in a similar pattern?

[00:15:23] Lori: Oh, yes. Listeners, there's a lot of different, bold colors behind me. It's a great piece of artwork, but you're right. There's a lot happening there.

[00:15:33] Solita: And exactly. So, when you're thinking about what will make you stand out and not get lost in the sea and look confusing, think of it that way. Are there too many elements in my outfit, too many colors, clashing, and too many things that your audience are going to be focusing on, trying to figure out what that is instead of focusing on what you're trying to see in your message that you relaying?

[00:15:56] Lori: It sounds like what people should be thinking about is putting on layers and not just referring necessarily to layers of clothing, but layers of color so that there's kind of a continuity. So like you're talking about your earrings and then you talked about the blazer and you might put something on underneath it. You're actually, rather than going with a monochromatic look, you’re adding layers. So you're basically building dimension. Is that something that you help your clients with?

[00:16:29] Solita: I wouldn't necessarily say you're creating, like adding different layers. It's just making sure that the pieces that you're wearing are in harmony. Like nothing is overpowering or dominating the other piece. Like my earrings are not too big, so it's like, oh my gosh, it's in your face. Or my shirt is not too bright, so it's in your face. It's making sure that your earrings, like your jewelry, your outfit, whatever you're wearing on top, your top, your dress, the color that you choose, it's all in harmony. So a monochromatic look will work as well. It just depends on what color you're wearing. Is it your right color? Are you standing out on screen? So it's not to say if you're wearing a black shirt that, okay, you need to make sure that you're wearing a bold earring. It's just that it helps, in that instance. It helps because black will, especially, if we're looking at your background, you're not going to be able to stand out. So if you're thinking about wearing a black top, what is something that you can add to make you pop on screen? That doesn't necessarily mean jewelry. That can be your lipstick. So it's just using an element of style, whether or not it's accessory or your makeup to make you pop. If you're going to use a color that's a little tonal, that's a little mellow, and it's not really popping on screen, so you want to add that thing that makes you pop. But if it's not your thing, okay, Solita, I'm not into this bold neon color that you seem to be talking about. I am super mellow, super chills. You can accessorize with gold jewelry. For me today, yes. I'm wearing it's like a peach dress, but I know the peach dress is not enough to make me pop. Especially when my background looks a bit, it's a bit like brown-ish kind of color, but very light. Like it doesn't make me pop. So what is going to make me pop on screen? For me, my personal choice and my option, is to go with these colors. So you have to think about it that way. It's like, what do you want to pop?

[00:18:30] Nola: Those bright colored earrings.

[00:18:33] Solita: Yes,

[00:18:33] Nola: So, you've given some amazing tips. And I'm just wondering, do you have any other tips for creating an on-camera signature style?

[00:18:41] Solita: Ah, don't think about it as an on-camera signature style.

[00:18:44] Nola: Okay. That's a tip.

[00:18:47] Solita: Think about it as your personal style. Because as I said before, if you're on-camera, off-camera, in the supermarket, meeting a friend at brunch, whatever you wear should speak to you. So when you show up on camera, you know that whatever you're wearing, it's my personality, because what I don't want to happen, and this is sometimes like, oh, you have to have a on-screen personal style. So you're trying to, oh, so now I have to build a different wardrobe for this? It's like, no. How can we align who you are, the things that you already have in your closet and translate that on screen? There may be a few tweaks that you have to do to your wardrobe and how you present yourself. But there's no on-camera off-camera. Yeah. It's all about who you are as a person. Like I am totally on that vein of making sure that your style is authentic to you. How do you want to express yourself? Whether or not that's on camera, off camera. At the end of the day, it is a hundred percent you.

[00:19:52] Lori: Well, speaking of which, so that we get to learn a little bit more about you, if you could have one word to describe your personal or even your professional style, what would that one word be?

[00:20:05] Solita: Yeah, I am a mixed bag of personal style elements that I love. And this is one of the things that I love about fashion and style is because you don't have to put yourself in a box. You really don't. Tap into different elements of your personality. So, I like vibrant colors. Bolds. Elegant pieces. Because part of my personality that translate into that, maybe your audience don't know, Carnival is something that I love. So, Carnival is about colors. It's about being vibrant. It's the energy that it brings. So I took that love that I have for Carnival and say, how can I translate that into my personal style? That being said, I'm wearing bold colors. That means that I'm always wearing something vibrant, something fun. And then there's that part of me who is very structured. Who's very like, in my headspace, very logical. And how does that translate into my personal style? When I'm thinking of my clothing, I love tailored pieces. So I love pieces that are structured. And so for me, wearing leggings and wearing track suits, doesn't speak to me because those are not tailored pieces. So, when it comes to my personal style, it's vibrant, it's fun, it's professional, but it's still like super expressive in terms of me, and especially those parts of me that, because I'm an introvert, don't necessarily walk into a room and go, Hey, everyone. I'm Solita, right? Like I wear clothing and have my style do that for me because I'm not that great of walking into a room and having the energy like now. I hope that answered your question.

[00:21:43] Lori: Thank you, Solita, for being our guest. If someone wants to learn more about you, your styling services, where can listeners go or how can they connect with you?

[00:21:53] Solita: First of all, thank you very much for having me again. It's such a pleasure just being able to have these conversations, just you ladies are always wonderful. I mean, Lori, Nola, you are absolutely amazing. It makes me feel comfortable coming on and having these recordings. So it's such a pleasure. Thanks again.

For those listening, if you want to contact me, obviously I spend a lot of time on LinkedIn. That's like my social media jam. That's where I'm at. You can search for me under Solita C. Roberts, on LinkedIn, that's where I spend most of my time. If you want to see some of the conversations that I'm having, definitely check out my social. In terms of, if you're looking for personal styling services, like you're ready to work on your personal style, but you're probably not sure which direction to go in, feel free to send me an email at solita@styletoimpact.com. That's S O L I T A @styletoimpact.com. But if you are that person and you're saying to yourself, yes, I am ready. I've been holding back on being more of myself and being authentic and expressing who I am through my wardrobe, so you are ready to take action, there are three ways that I work with my clients. There is the Power Your Wardrobe element. That is where we work on your personal brand style in terms of how do you want to project and show on social? How do you want to show up in your business? How do you want to show up in your career? And then there's also the Style Reset. This is a very popular one that I have because we're all going through a transition where we're trying to become more of ourselves, right? Shed societal norms or judgment or whatever it is, and become more of ourselves. And this is where I work with my clients in really crafting your signature style. Your personal style. Bringing out your personality. Understanding what are colors that really works for you. Taking away that frustration of knowing what to wear by creating your capstone wardrobe. So when you walk into your closet it's like, okay, yes, outfits are just there. You don't have to like worry and spend that extra 15 minutes trying to figure out what to wear. And that's the Style Reset, as I said. And then of course there's the Style Shot. It's a shot because we work on one element that you may be struggling with. It's like, okay, Solita, I am going on a business trip and I don't know what to pack. Can you help me? That's where the Style Shot comes in. So we work on one thing that you need help with in that moment. And of course, to access those services, you do that on my website, which is styletoimpact.com. Of course you can send me an email if you're still unsure as to which option to go.

[00:24:25] Lori: Perfect. Thank you so much for listening to this episode. We hope it makes all the difference in you getting started on your business so you can create your best and most exciting life. If you found the information shared here today helpful, let us know by posting here, where you're listening, or on our Facebook page.

[00:24:42] Nola: Not sure how to turn your idea into a profitable side business? Contact us at stickybrandlab.com/contact. We'd be happy to help you.

[00:24:50] Lori: Be sure to come back next Tuesday and every Tuesday for another informative, inspiring and motivating episode. And remember: actions create results. So tap into your desire to create a business and brand you love by taking 1% action every day. Small steps, big effects.

[OUT-TAKE]
Well, we didn't get one word. We got a lot of words, but you started by saying I'm a mixed bag. So maybe mixed bag is, is your one word.
[00:25:22] Nola: Organized carnival. Exactly.