Conversations with Molly Russell

Today we’d like to introduce you to Molly Russell .

Hi Molly, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstories.
I grew up in Nashville, TN. I went to school for advertising and took a job at a local advertising agency. I loved working with clients and the branding aspect of advertising, but something was missing. I always knew I loved the style and wanted to do something in the fashion world, but I wasn’t interested in being a fashion designer or ready to move to NYC.

After 3 years, I decided to leave my job and leap into the fashion world. My mom’s friend, a producer in town, had me assist a wardrobe stylist. This was very exciting because I didn’t even know what styling was. I started by helping other local stylists and learning all the ins and outs. I took side jobs to support myself, like working at Uncommon James with Kristin Cavallari.

I signed with a Talent Agency in town and did a lot of celebrity styling for country music artists. It was fun for me to work with artists ranging from Kimberly Williams Paisley and Maren Morris to The Band Camino and NeedToBreathe on music videos, red carpet events, and album covers. This type of styling was very creative.

After about a year, I had enough clients to go out independently. The music industry is very seductive, and though it is enjoyable, it was taking a toll on my health. The schedule was incredibly inconsistent, it was challenging to negotiate rates, and I put thousands of dollars on my credit card to purchase all the wardrobe. Around the same time, I met my now-husband, living in London, so there was a lot of back and forth travel. To be together, we temporarily relocated to Charlotte, forcing me to shift my business model.

I started working with athletes, business executives, and ordinary people to build and maintain functional, versatile wardrobes for their everyday life. It was gratifying to see the confidence completely transform. When I moved back to Nashville, I continued working with these clients. I realized that many of my clients needed the same thing, so I began to build packages that provided an easy start-to-finish solution for them.

This took off, and we are in the process of hiring additional stylists so we can support more clients. Customer service and how our clients experience our brand is really important to us, so we never take on more clients than we can handle. We also wanted everyone to have access to be the best version of themselves and understand not everyone can afford to hire a personal stylist, so my business partner and I are in the process of building out a style membership platform.

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle-free, but so far would you say the journey has been fairly smooth?
It has been anything but a smooth road. It is difficult to leave a comfortable job and lifestyle and dive head first into the unknown, but I knew I had to. Something was pulling on me, and I couldn’t ignore it. Other than assisting, I had no idea what I was doing when I started, let alone how to run a company. I had to learn by doing, and I made plenty of mistakes along the way.

After a year under my belt, I learned that not all of the returns were being processed correctly, and I was missing over $14,000. That was a rude awakening, and I had to put various systems and processes in place to ensure that never happened again.

I also realized that working full-time in the music industry was taking a toll on me. I had to take a step back and ask myself what I needed. And that is when I decided to focus on personal clients and be selective about creative projects in the music industry. It provided much more stability with my schedule and income and was the right move for me. During our time in Charlotte, our house flooded, and my husband and I lived in the guest room for 6 months while the entire 1st floor of our house was renovated.

I also recently went through a rough time with infertility. I have always been perfectly healthy, and after our wedding in October, my husband and I wanted to start our family. I was in incredible pain for months, and the doctors weren’t listening to the amount of pain I was in. I went in for a routine surgery to remove what was thought to be fibroids, and I woke up with my husband telling me I had to have a hysterectomy. It was excruciating to hear, but I have had amazing mentors to help navigate me through our surrogacy journey. I realized I was living my life by a checklist, and this was eye-opening for me that I wasn’t always in control. It also taught me always to trust my gut and not be afraid to speak up for myself.

When I was going through a difficult time or discouraged, I had to look back, realize all I had accomplished, and remember why I was doing this in the first place. I think it is really important to have a why. And I loved helping people. When I style a client for the first time, I can’t describe the feeling when they look at themselves in the mirror. It makes all the hard days worth it, and I am so blessed to be able to do what I love every day.
I am still learning. I think owning your own business will always be a learning process, but everything that happened – both good and bad -led me to where I am today.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I am a personal wardrobe stylist specializing in building and maintaining versatile, functional styles for people of influence. That can be anyone from a new mom to a Fortune 500 CEO. We have built out a proven process that works for all our clients. First, we would meet to understand all their styling needs and challenges. Next, we would create a style mood board and define their overall style. After that, we went through their closet to eliminate what wasn’t working and identify gaps. We would then mix in-person shopping and in-home fittings to build out their base wardrobe. Once they built their wardrobe, we would come over and create their style lookbook that consisted of us documenting all the ways to mix and match items in their wardrobe for 50+ different looks. Finally, we would maintain their wardrobes monthly, seasonally, or annually.

A few things set us apart from the competition:
– We use a mix of high and low pieces – not everything has to be high-end or designer.
– We create a Style Strategy – we look at our client’s wardrobes holistically and educate each client on the best brands to wear, what items to incorporate and where to buy each form, how to style everything, and how to build a versatile wardrobe of fewer better things that fit their budget, body type, personal style, and lifestyle.
– Our aesthetic. Most of my clients come to me because they are attracted to our modern, classic street style.
– Our background in personal branding. We don’t try to push trends on clients but authentically elevate their style.
We create a liveable style that is functional.

I am most proud of the transformation that happens when working with clients. We are changing their lives through style. When they have a great wardrobe, they look and feel better, which rolls into all aspects of their lives.

Pricing:

• Corporate Styling
• Virtual Styling
• Advertising/Editorial Styling
• Personal Styling Services + Packages
• Monthly Membership

Contact Info:

• Website: www.mollyrussellstyling.com
• Instagram: mollyrussellstyling

Image Credits
Julia Perkins Photography