Photo Source: Girls Of TO
It’s always important to dress for the job you want. Yet no matter how many magazine spreads are dedicated to work-appropriate attire, women repeatedly seek more advice about what to wear.
Women of Influence sought to answer our questions on Tuesday evening by hosting Lisa Tant at One King West. Throughout her speech, Lisa emphasized the importance of being present and shared three main pieces of advice: find your passion, be social and be honest.
Find your passion
Lisa discovered her entrepreneurial drive as a teenager when she realized she could make beautiful things that people want to buy, such as embroidery. The “Type A creative crazy person” was eager to tag along on buying trips to LA and San Francisco during high school. Her parents demanded that she maintain good grades while pursuing a career in fashion and Lisa refused to let them down.
Be social
An ex-boyfriend who followed Barack Obama, 50 Cent and Britney Spears convinced Lisa to sign up for Twitter and she’s never looked back. With over thirty thousand Twitter followers, Lisa is quite a valuable brand ambassador for Holt Renfrew, where she works as Vice President, Executive Services.
“I’m shocked by how many people say they have no time for social media,” she said. Lisa adores Twitter and Instagram, ignores Facebook and seemed indifferent about LinkedIn. She emphasized that social media empowers women to “control how others perceive you.”
Be honest
“I hire people who are really good at what I suck at.” That may sound like a bold statement about recruiting, but Lisa’s message resonated with the crowd. Acknowledge and accept your weaknesses, then troubleshoot the situation and determine if it’s possible to hire people to do what you can’t.
Once you’ve found the right people to help you succeed, choose your pen colour wisely before providing feedback. Lisa’s experience in magazine publishing taught her that “if you’re editing someone’s work, never use a red pen — it looks like someone died on the page.”
“You may look like Barbie, but you’ve got to be G. I. Joe underneath.”
Style Nine To Five
While transitioning to the runway show, Lisa remarked that there are few concrete rules about power dressing today because every workplace has a different culture. “This is an era when a CEO can wear a hoodie and a t-shirt or a custom-made suit,” she declared. I immediately thought about how Mark Zuckerberg’s casual wardrobe compares to Donald Trump’s luxurious collection.
The fashion show that followed seemed like an upscale version of Cityline’s Fashion Friday segments. Lisa spoke about the value of designer pieces with a professional narrative voice that could make Tracy Moore jealous.
To demonstrate how to wear fall trends to work, Lisa enlisted help from staff at Holt Renfrew’s Bloor St. flagship store to model looks featuring apparel from Acme, Prada and Theory, as well as Canadian labels Smythe and Pink Tartan.
“I never dreamed about success. I worked for it.”
Listening to Lisa’s career advice was more meaningful than watching amateur models do the catwalk. That said, the event was lovely overall and LinkedIn’s breakout session effectively encouraged attendees to reevaluate which words we choose to include in our profiles. Congratulations to Western alumna Emily Duggan who won the door prize!