Stylist Series: Owner, Personal Stylist Katie Rushton
As we start a new year and a new decade, we here at Effortless Style have been enjoying meetings – both in small and larger groups – to discuss last year’s successes, goals for the year, and our vision for this company we love so much. This process has us reflecting on the incredible group of women that make up Effortless Style… What a diverse, knowledgeable, thoughtful, and passionate group of stylists we have! Because we have some new followers and friends over here, we decided to run a fun series on the blog so that you can get to know this fabulous group of ladies a little better! First up is the person where this whole thing started – our Effortless Style owner and personal stylist Katie Rushton!
Q&A with our Owner/Personal Stylist Katie Rushton
Q: Katie, when did you launch Effortless Style, and why?
K: This one makes me smile! I launched Effortless Style in 2010. I have always had an interest in and love of fashion starting when I was a little girl. Becoming a personal stylist was always my dream. When I graduated from college with my fashion merchandising degree, I quickly realized that there were no personal stylist jobs available. After a lot of thought and research, I decided to just launch my own personal styling business. And here we are today….10 years later!
Q: It’s not only a new year, but a new decade. Talk about your short and long term goals as we enter 2020.
K: YAY! I love the start of a new year! It’s such a fun time to dream big and to sit down with our team to talk shop. I love going over the previous year’s successes with each of our stylists and talking about how we can continue to do our best to serve our clients’ everyday needs. A {high-priority} short term goal for me is to be better at getting out and about and connecting with people. I love running this business, but if I’m not careful, I can easily stay cooped up in our office every day of the week. There’s always something that needs to be done. But I love connecting with people! Whether that be having coffee with clients and business contacts, going to events, being involved in networking groups within our community, or just simply meeting new people! Connecting with others and keeping great relationships with our clients truly fills my soul. And I want to be more intentional about that across the board.
I have a couple of long term goals for us for 2020. One big one is to continue to grow and cultivate our online style community. The Style Community with Effortless Style is something that I have dreamed of creating since day one of starting this business. It’s an absolute passion project for me. Continuing to grow that community by connecting with as many women as we possibly can is a big one for me. One other long term goal is finding ways to reach new potential clients. I still hear {and so often} that people didn’t even know stylists “for real men and women” actually existed. With Nashville growing tremendously each and every day, I feel that we have such an opportunity to reach people and let them know that we are here and can help!
Q: What is your favorite service that Effortless Style offers and why?
K: Can I say all of them? It’s honestly so hard for me to choose. I love doing Closet Audits with clients. There is just such an incredible feeling that comes with cleaning out your closet, and I love it when we leave a client’s house, and they are on cloud nine because of the work that we’ve done.
I also love personal shopping with clients! There’s no greater feeling than pulling pieces for clients that they wouldn’t normally pull for themselves. A lot of times they are hesitant to try those pieces on, but so often, when they do, those end up being some of their favorites…. And I just love that I’ve pushed them out of their comfort zone a little, but also that I’ve been able to show them that they can wear things that they used to always pass by in the stores!
Lastly, styling sessions are just so dang fun! When we do a styling session for a client and upload 40-50 pictures of new looks that they can be wearing, they are always so amazed that we were able to put so many things together just from what they had in their closet. I love being able to show clients how to maximize pieces and wear them more than one way!
Q: What is your most favorite thing about being a stylist?
K: My clients! Hands down, the relationships that I have with my clients is my favorite thing. I’ve become friends with so many clients over the years, and I just love that connection and continuing to create those relationships and that circle of trust.
Q: Where do you most like to shop for yourself?
K: Also a hard question. Nordstrom is an easy answer. I do shop there often. I also do quite a bit of online shopping for myself… Some of those favorites would be ASOS, Revolve, Aerie (for comfy basics), and occasionally H&M and Zara. We also have some really great boutiques in Nashville these days. I pop into e.Allen and fab’rik quite often.
Q: What is your most favorite occasion to dress for?
K: My go-to, everyday style is pretty casual, so I love a good jeans outfit (dressed up or down). However, I do also love to get dressed up every now and then. I will occasionally throw on a fun dress or a killer dressed up jeans look for events or an evening out with my husband. It’s always fun to take it up a notch every now and then!
Q: How do you spend your free time?
K: I run my little one all over the place. I go to the Y a couple of times a week, and I love to namaste with yoga as often as I can. When the warm weather allows, I take lots of walks with my family and spend as much time as I possibly can outdoors!
Thanks for reading. Check back next week for our next stylist highlight on our stylist Katey Preston! And, if you aren’t already, make sure and follow us on Facebook and Instagram to stay up to date with all things Effortless Style!
