Name: Rachel Lefort
Location: Colorado
Companies: Rachel Lefort Style & Denver Life Magazine
Professional Industry: Fashion and Style
Job Title: Owner and Stylist
WIXII-ISM™ FROM RACHEL:
“By having a career that I love, I am taking care to be who I am and not lose myself and my identity and all that I’ve worked so hard for. And I feel that this sets a good example for my daughter.”
RACHEL’S STORY:
Meet our featured Wixii™, Rachel Lefort. She is in her late 30s and mother to a six year old daughter. She received a BS in Fashion Design from Syracuse University, plus studied at Parsons School of Design in NY and Paris, and spent 1 year at L’Ecole de la Chambre Syndicale, a French school for Haute Couture in Paris, France. She currently works as a Personal Fashion Stylist and owner of Rachel Lefort Style, helping women to update their wardrobes and to align their personal style with who they are on the inside and how they want to be perceived. She does this with individual wardrobe consultations, personal shopping, outfit styling, as well as speaking presentations. Rachel also helps men with their style, and has a custom menswear business with J.Hilburn. She is also the Fashion Editor and Stylist for Denver Life Magazine.
RACHEL’S CAREER PATH:
Upon graduation from Syracuse University, in 1997, with a degree in Fashion Design, I began work as an Assistant Designer at Ann Taylor in New York City. I worked there for a couple of years but wanted more. I took courses at the Fashion Institute of Technology and Parsons School of Design on nights and weekends during that time, and eventually left Ann Taylor to go back to school, in Paris. I first enrolled at Parsons Paris, where I spent a summer, and then enrolled in a French school for Haute Couture (high fashion), where I spent a year, and did internships at French Couture design houses such as Dior and Balmain. While in Paris I met an American Couturier named Maggie Norris who was based in New York, but manufacturing with the artisans of the Haute Couture, in Paris. She hired me to help her while in Paris, and then when I moved back to New York I began working for her full-time. I helped with research, design, production, styling, fitting, sales, fashion show production, PR, and running the day-to-day operation. I spent about 7 years working with Maggie, as well as freelancing for renowned wedding planner Marcy Blum as a bridal stylist, and also helping my mother launch a handbag company.
Finally in 2007, my husband’s work moved us out to Colorado. Soon after moving (and while pregnant) I discovered a fashion studio in Niwot, CO, where students were learning fashion drawing. I began teaching fashion courses for the studio, and had a mix of students from age 15 to 50 in the same classes. While promoting my courses, I was approached by a woman who wanted help with her wardrobe and her personal style. From then on, I realized that I could have a career as a personal fashion stylist and image consultant. I helped many women and men individually, did several fashion trend presentations at Nordstrom, began writing monthly fashion tips for The Denver Post and launched a blog called The Lefort Style Report where I starting sharing these and other style tips. Then in 2012, I launched a second business with J.Hilburn Menswear, so that I could provide custom-fit, affordable luxury menswear directly to my male clients. In 2013, I was hired by Denver Life Magazine to be their Fashion Editor and Stylist. I currently mix all of these things– my personal styling business with Rachel Lefort Style, professional speaking engagements around the country, my menswear business with J.Hilburn and magazine work with Denver Life Magazine.
RACHEL’S MINDSET AND WORK-LIFE MIX:
I am definitely an optimist. I look at the best in situations and in people. I’ve always strived to do the things I’m committed to at 100%, but I recognize that occasionally I succumb to a bit of perfectionist paralysis, so I’ve learned that perfection is really not necessary to get things accomplished, and often it’s better to just do it and not get overwhelmed by the details. Like with working, parenting, and being responsible for household duties, dinner, etc, it’s a lot to manage, even with just one child!
Every day, I look for that small sense of accomplishment that I had a successful day in business, was mindfully present and attentive to my daughter, took care of dinner, neatened up and felt in control, before going to bed and starting again. This is an ever-challenging effort, and I think it requires a willingness to be flexible while also being very intentional. It all comes down to conscious weekly and daily choices in my calendar, and writing everything down. Rather than viewing all these daily aspects as separate, I see them instead as intertwined ingredients that go into my unique recipe of “life.” My schedule is different every week, and while managing my time with work, the house and parenting, I also feel that in order to be happy, it is vital to include making time for myself, my family, my friends and having fun.
Self: how do you strengthen your own identity and not lose yourself in the mix?
By having a career that I love, I am taking care to be who I am and not lose myself and my identity and all that I’ve worked so hard for. And I feel that this sets a good example for my daughter. I want her to see that I work hard but am still there for her, that I’m passionate about my career, and that I take time for myself. I get up an hour before my daughter every morning to make time for my coffee, my makeup and looking my best for the day, even when dressing casually to work from home. I think it’s vitally important to feel good about oneself, in order to perform better and feel more confident and empowered.
By doing something I really care about for work, my work is a part of who I am. The common threads I try to weave through my life in order to never lose myself, are integrity, thoughtfulness, empathy and patience, as well as the little things that boost my own self-confidence and courage, such as making just a little bit of time for myself in the daily mix. I feel that these things make me a better mother, wife and all around person.
What specific actions, choices, steps and/or decisions have you made (or would you like to make) to better manage your work-life mix?
I’m working on the practice of prioritizing. That is, doing the priorities first, instead of trying to get the little things out of the way before hitting the priorities. There is never enough time in the day to get it all done, and I often feel behind in my work. So, I am working on better practices for time management. I learned from my sister-in-law, Tamara Myles, who is a time management expert and who just recently wrote a book called The Secret to Peak Productivity, that if we do uninterrupted work for 25 minutes at a time without breaks or distractions, we can get projects done in segments without feeling overwhelmed by the big picture. I am also practicing being more present, for example, spending more time with my daughter doing things and playing, while capturing the moments as she grows (and not looking at work during those times!)
