Meet September's Daring Member of the Month: Kristen Cain

daring member of the month Sep 03, 2021

Once each month, I have the honor of interviewing one of our Impact Tribe members as our Daring Member of the Month – someone who has gone out of their way to help others, accomplished something huge in their business, been a good business friend, or contributed something exceptionally special to the group.

Today, Style and Mindset Coach, Kristen Cain is joining me here on the blog, to share a little bit about what she does, who she serves, what it means to be daring, and the magic behind finding clothing you love to wear.

She shares about: 

  • Discovering the real reasons why you have a closet full of nothing to wear
  • 4 secrets that stylists use to create a fabulous, functional wardrobe
  • How 3 little words can help elevate your style and make getting dressed easier

Why we're celebrating Kristen:

Since joining the Impact Tribe in January, Kristen has shown heartfelt dedication to her business. This woman shows up and does the work! PLUS, she attends every live call and asks GREAT questions that help everyone in the Impact Tribe grow.

As a result of her dedication and hard work, this month, Kristen is celebrating being able to leave her 8-year job as a Personal Stylist at Anthropologie and commit 100% to her own business.

Last but not least, one of the things that really stands out about Kristen is the love, support and genuine kindness she showers our members with (including me!).

She's always reaching out to share encouraging words and appreciation which makes everyone in her path feel deeply witnessed.

Meet Kristen Cain

Kristen Cain is a Style + Mindset Coach for savvy women who crave effortless personal style. 

She educates and empowers women to create a wardrobe they actually love wearing.

She has spent 20+ years in closets and fitting rooms helping women realize that incredible style begins with who you want to be and how you want to feel in your clothes. 

She’s on a mission to help women overcome the obstacles that lead to a closet full of “nothing to wear” so that they can get dressed with ease and confidently show up in their lives.

Her heart is in coaching women who want to look put together and are tired of trying to figure it out themselves. 

Learn more about Kristen at www.kristencainstyle.com.

Q: How did you get started down the path of being a Personal Stylist?

Kristen’s very first job in high school was at The Limited – so apparel retail has been a long part of her history. Once she had three kids, she almost never left home, got dressed, or attended special occasions of any kind, and she had many friends who were in the same boat. So, whenever a friend had an occasion or a date night and didn’t have the budget to go buy a new outfit, she would help them shop their closet to put together an outfit they loved. 

Then, one of her friends, with a $45 budget for an outfit for a reunion, came to her asking for help. So, they went to Forever 21 and Kristen picked something out that her friend absolutely loved. After the event, her friend sent her a thank you note (which read pretty much like a testimonial), and it started to click that there could be a way she could get into closets, help women sort through their clothes and find outfits they actually love to wear and feel good in. 

Q: Who do you tend to work with, and what’s the most common problem they’re facing that you help them solve?

A “savvy” woman who understands the problem, and may even understand the solution, but just doesn’t take the action needed to love her clothing. 

Kristen works with savvy women who are really just tired of trying to figure it out themselves. They shop, they have a budget that allows them to buy new clothes, but they still get stressed out standing in their closet when they have to pack for a trip or find an outfit for an occasion. 

Q: What stops women from loving their closets?

For a long time she thought that it was either access to clothing, or understanding fundamental elements of style and building outfits. 

But now, she feels more strongly than ever that their mindset is at the forefront. If the mindset piece isn’t addressed completely, then the cycle can continue endlessly. Until we understand how we think, and how what we think makes us feel, we can’t shift – we have to be able to see it first. She realized after years and years of closet and fitting room work that we all have blocks around feeling good while we’re getting dressed – and these go deeper than “you can’t wear white pants after labor day.” 

Once you understand why you’re hung up, and shift your mindset and perspective towards appreciation and away from limiting beliefs that are getting in your way, that’s when you can actually start to enjoy your clothing. 

Q: What are some of the ways you help your clients overcome their limiting beliefs so they can have more ease and joy getting dressed in the morning?

Think about where the overwhelm and underwhelm comes from… why do you have this huge closet but feel like there’s nothing to wear? So often, she finds that the problem is volume. Decision fatigue is real, so when we have too many options to choose from, we immediately feel overwhelmed. If you haven’t defined your style, it’s often hard to even know if you have too much. 

Who do you want to be? How do you want to look? How do you want to show up? Especially as entrepreneurs, how can you dress to show up as this person? Get clear on how you want to show up, then find the pieces in your wardrobe that support that, and those that don’t, so you can sort accordingly.

Q: What are your thoughts on capsule wardrobes? 

Kristen mentioned that she feels that most of the women she comes across are already wearing capsule wardrobes, whether they call it that or not. When you wear 20% of what you own 80% of the time, you’re wearing a capsule wardrobe. 

Outside of traditional capsule wardrobe “rules” (i.e, You can have only 10 shirts and 10 bottoms), Kristen believes that we have space for a few capsule wardrobes – we can have a work capsule, a sleep capsule, a workout capsule, and so on. She firmly believes that no matter what you're doing, when you feel good about what you’re wearing, you feel better about yourself (yes, even when you’re just lounging around the house). 

Q: How do you help people discover their personal style?

From a style perspective, figuring out her clients’ style starts with a questionnaire and some journal prompts that gets her to start thinking differently about her wardrobe. 

What are you happy with? Do you have anything in your closet with tags still on it? What would your friends describe your style as?

Kristen helps her clients discover their dream style by helping them come up with three adjectives that guide every style decision. When Kristen herself, did this activity many years ago, she discovered that her words were simple, authentic, and beautiful – so, now any time she shops, it’s easy to refer back to her style and see if the pieces she’s buying are simple, authentic, and beautiful. For another example, my words are edgy, elegant, and nature-inspired. 

Another tip from Kristen for finding and defining your style is to create a list of non-negotiables. For example, Kristen’s non-negotiables are the colors yellow and brown, she won’t even look at clothing in those colors because she knows they don’t make her look and feel good.

Most importantly, pay attention to the magic feeling you get when you put on something you really, absolutely love. When you can identify this feeling and recognize it while shopping for clothes, you are almost guaranteed to only buy pieces you absolutely love. This feeling is always what she comes back to. Regardless of size, age, complexion, or whatever else it is, she doesn't believe in excluding yourself from what you want to wear because of how you look, or how you don’t look. If you feel good in it, you should wear it. 

Q: What does it mean to you to be daring?

Daring means showing up. Not sitting back and continuing to wait. Speaking from experience, Kristen mentions that she has a tendency to collect information and wait – but she knows that’s not daring. When she shows up and actually decides confidently to step out of her comfort zone – that is when she feels daring. Putting yourself out there, whether in your business or in your style, and being okay with letting it feel scary, is what being daring means to her. 

Click here to learn more about Kristen and how she can help you create an effortless style you love.

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If you want to join Kristen and other amazing members in the Impact Tribe, we would love to have you!

When you join the Impact Tribe, you get access to a library of biz-booming courses, next-level coaching, and an inspiring, uplifting community of women on a similar path as you. Learn more and join us today at this link. 

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