May Podcast Series #1
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[00:00:00] Welcome to the Style and Strategy Podcast, where personal brand meets leadership and style. I'm Sonya, a personal brand and style coach who's been exactly where you are juggling career and business success. Personal growth and finding a style that truly fits. After decades in corporate leadership, I've learned that showing up isn't just about what you do, it's about how you align who you are and how the world sees you.
This season, I'm bringing you practical strategies, bold insights, and honest conversations to help you amplify your presence, unlock your next level, and lead with clarity and confidence. Let's dive in.
_1_05-19-2025_082223: You know that feeling when something no longer fits. It's not always about your clothes. Maybe it's the version of yourself that you've been showing up as [00:01:00] that put together professional who's done all the right things, but now is feeling a little off. You've likely evolved. Maybe the title has changed.
Maybe your responsibilities have grown, but how you show up in the world has not yet caught up. This is what I call the in-between season, and if you are here, welcome, you are not lost. You are just in a space that just hasn't been named properly and today. I'm gonna talk through it. We are gonna name it, explore it, and start re-imagining.
What's next for you? Welcome to the Style and Strategy Podcast. I'm Sonya. If we haven't met, it's lovely to have you here. I really focus most of my time working with women in leadership who are here to really make an impact [00:02:00] and who really wanna define and express who they are now and where they're going next through the power of personal, brand style, and leadership identity.
So here's what we are covering today. A, the signs that really can show how you've outgrown your current style and presence. Why this space is not a setback and it's actually what I like to call a springboard C, how to really start to recalibrate where you're at without falling into that trap of sort of surface level reinvention.
And then finally, a little bit of an exercise to reconnect with that version of yourself that you are now stepping into. So let's start with the signs, because this is often where that doubt starts to creep in just really slowly, and you may not even realize it [00:03:00] yet. Here are a few moments that you might recognize. So maybe you are reaching for that same safe outfit, one that doesn't feel like you anymore, but still works every day.
Maybe you've landed an opportunity and instead of celebrating that opportunity, you're suddenly really anxious about how I'm gonna be seen. Am I wearing the ride out? Am I gonna fit in? Maybe you are scrolling online and you're looking for what to wear or how to guides, that type of thing, but everything feels not quite right.
A little bit like Goldilocks, right? That Goldilocks syndrome. So you know in your mind how you want to be experienced in the room at work on weekends, but you know that there is something off with your wardrobe, and this is something really common [00:04:00] for high achieving women, especially those in transition.
So what do I mean by in transition?
So this might be where you are stepping up in your career. Maybe you're taking on a bigger opportunity. Maybe you are returning after a break, right? ~Mm-hmm. ~Whether that's maternity leave, whether that's a career break. Maybe you are shifting from working in a sort of corporate environment to maybe stepping out on your own in coaching or consulting or something like that.
Or even just realizing that you've changed. But when you look in that mirror, that reflection coming back at you hasn't really caught up. And those micro moments where you realize that there's this disconnect, they are so special. And why do I say that? It's because it means you've. You've hit [00:05:00] that. Hang on a second.
There's something off here, because many of the times we will just ignore that. And you just continue in ~your, ~your day to day and you miss that identification. So this means you're really starting to tune into yourself and you're starting to pay attention. So this in-between season isn't about confusion of who you are and where you're going.
It's actually about you starting to want clarity, right? Clarity on this edge. Of this new level that, that you're really trying to step into. So what you are really navigating is something I call ~the, ~the lag between who you are internally and this internal evolution you are experiencing versus your external expression of that, your external visual expression.
So most of my clients aren't coming [00:06:00] to me because they've never. Thought about their image. No,~ they,~ they've realized, right, it's, they're coming to me because they know that their old approach of how they got there isn't going to get them where they wanna be in that next level. It's not gonna be able to support them from where they're going next.
They realize what got them here isn't gonna get them there. And that nuance really matters. Because when, how you look and how you feel don't align or don't match, it starts to show it. People can really pick up on this disconnect and it starts slowly. ~Right? ~And for high achieving women, it often creates this tension for yourself, right?
Because you start to feel like, I'm really credible. I know my staff, I've got the expertise, but I'm not visible. It might [00:07:00] be that you are ticking the boxes from how you define success, but internally, you feel like you are still hesitating. You know, you are leading in your space, but you are not actually owning that space so ~that ~that disconnect again.
I know a client once said to me that, ~you know, ~she's stood up, she's led those rooms. She's being asked to be called on panels, leading larger teams, stepping up to these opportunities, doing media, right? But internally, she was saying, when I see myself or playback those events, or I see the images of myself.
I don't feel proud about myself. ~I, ~I cringe when I look at those images of myself. And so there's a lot to unpack with that. But it's this shift from just getting dressed [00:08:00] for function and actually being more intentional and ensuring ~that ~that how you see yourself or that reflection that you're seeing back Is really aligned to who you are, and you can start to lean into that a little bit more strategically. So here's where I see most women get stuck around this. They know they wanna evolve, but they don't wanna feel fake, right? They don't wanna put something on and feel like I'm just dressing like this because this is what someone says, right?
So, because they don't wanna feel fake and they wanna feel like themselves, they end up stalling ~and, ~and not moving forward. And that's why I don't start with, ~you know, ~the outfit or the clothes or anything like that. I always start with identity because it's who are you becoming? Who are you now? How do you wanna be experienced and where are you showing up [00:09:00] next?
A lot of the time you can think, oh, hang on. I don't wanna do this work, but this work is really important. It's just like getting in the car,~ right, and, ~and not knowing where you're ~kind of ~going. It'll take you much longer to get there if you don't do that work upfront. So let's talk a little bit about each one of those areas.
So who are you becoming? This is not about titles, so let's park that. It's actually about energy. So what qualities are you stepping into more? I. Is it confidence? Is it clarity? Is it calm authority? Is it being more grounded? What is it that you are stepping into? What do you want? Because these start to really become your anchor going forward.
How do you wanna be experienced? Do you wanna feel magnetic, thoughtful, clear, [00:10:00] bold, unapologetically you? And then what kind of visuals come to mind when you think about those words?
Where are you actually showing up next? Is it boardrooms? Is it keynotes? Is it digital? Zoom calls, photo shoots, leadership offsites? Where are you showing up next? Because the context matters.
We are not dressing for a hypothetical situation. You are dressing for your life and your lifestyle, and that is really important to be clear on because you don't want a wardrobe made up of mini events. You want it to work seamlessly together from work to weekend. So. I'd love for you to try this exercise.
So take one piece from your [00:11:00] wardrobe and ask yourself, does this really represent where I'm going or does it remind me of where I've actually been? This isn't about judgment. It's not about telling you, well then you can't have it, that type of thing. It is purely an exercise around creating awareness for you around this, because this process isn't about rigid cookie cutter rules.
It's about understanding where you fit ~in ~in this spectrum.
So you don't have to, ~you know, ~throw everything out, do a full wardrobe overhaul, all of those sort of things. You don't need 10 new outfits to really craft where you are heading. You need to really start with the identity piece and reintroduce yourself to you, right.
There's so many different elements that I can bring out here, [00:12:00] but you know, here's a few to ~kind of ~get you going. So what colors really light you up? What really enhance your presence? Do you actually own those in your wardrobe today, or do you only have a few?
What shapes, so silhouettes in, in clothing really help you feel like that version of you that we talked about a little bit earlier, perhaps it's feeling more grounded, more lifted, more ready to walk into that room. What is the outfit that makes you feel like you. On a day where you really feel like you are owning that room your way, and if you don't know, then obviously there's a, and so if you don't know, there's potentially this gap that we need to address because we need to find what is it that outfit that makes it feel like you.[00:13:00]
And then ask yourself, if you showed up as that version of yourself tomorrow, how would that room respond and how would you respond to yourself? I.
I've seen it time and time again with clients who have ~sort of ~gone through I, I would say this ladder, right? Because you can't just put someone in an outfit and instantly that confidence or that clarity come along. It happens gradually. It's that one step,~ um,~ towards that future kind of vision of who that next level of you is.
It's that moment that clients really realize that it's not just about the clothes, it's about permission. Permission to be you permission to bring in those elements of you. And [00:14:00] so if you are in that in-between season, here's what I want you to take away. You are not behind. You are in the before stage.
You are in the before, the after. Everyone skips over. You are in that area where if you let yourself be there and unpack it through some of those exercises I've gone through already, you'll start to move through and reach that other side with a lot more clarity. So I want you to really dive into choosing those three future words for you and then.
I'd love you to go back into that wardrobe and have a look. Is there an outfit you can pull out which links to those three words? And if there's not, that is your starting point.
So evolution isn't about this massive leap that you're gonna [00:15:00] take, right? It's about that next right step. And if this episode resonated with you, take a screenshot, share it, tag me, drop me a dm. I would absolutely love to hear from you. Let me know what your three words are. and if you're really ready to move from that in-between to really impossible to ignore, then come book a free brand and style audit call with me and I'll help you map that next move.
Until next time, I hope you've enjoyed this episode.
~Uh,~
