58// Does What You Wear = How You Lead? What Your Outfit is Saying Before You Speak

In this style-meets-leadership episode, we’re talking about what your outfit says before you even introduce yourself. 

Bonnie is joined by certified image consultant and color specialist, Heather Riggs, who shares expert tips on how RNs, APRNs, and nursing leaders can align their personal style with their professional goals. Whether you're stepping into a boardroom, a Zoom interview, or a networking event—your wardrobe is speaking for you. Let’s make sure it’s saying the right thing.

Key Takeaways:

• Why professional image matters in nursing leadership
• What to wear (and avoid) in interviews, presentations, and virtual settings
• How to build a capsule wardrobe without overwhelm
• Simple ways to dress with confidence—even in scrubs
• How your personal style can boost your credibility and visibility

👉 This episode is especially for nurses who want to lead with presence—and style.

Heather Riggs Info: 

Join HER Style community on Facebook - https://herstylellc.com/community 

Take the free Personal Style Quiz - https://herstylellc.com/quiz 

Listen to HER Style Podcast - https://herstylellc.com/podcast

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Transcript

Bonnie: 0:03

Are you feeling stuck in your current clinical environment? Do you want to make a change in your nursing career, but not sure what to do next? Exhausted, burnt out, and maybe even ready for different leadership? I'm Bonnie Meadows, a board ified clinical nurse specialist, influential leader, career coach, and wellbeing coach. Being in the nursing and healthcare profession since 2004, I have felt stuck and unsure about what was next for me. I wanted to be fulfilled in my purpose, to have a voice at the table and to be a resource for others. I kept telling myself I wanted more, but didn't have the direction I needed until I found clarity and career growth strategies for experienced nurses like. Me. In this podcast, you will find simple tactical steps that allow you to gain the clarity you need solutions for how to grow even without supportive leadership and guidelines for setting boundaries at work so that you can grow purposefully in your career as a nurse with a graduate degree who makes a huge impact in the profession. So get ready to trade your scrubs for yoga pants, pop in those earbuds and let's chat.

1:19

Welcome back all of my ambitious nurses. I have a treat for you today. This episode is going to be a little off the cuff. We have a guest today, and we are going to be talking about fashion and, showing up well for yourself in professional attire. So I hope you enjoy this podcast. I enjoyed the conversation, so I know that you will gain something from, the information that Heather provides. We have Heather Riggs. Founder of her style LLC, and host of the Top 10 Fashion and Beauty show, her Style podcast as a 17 year certified image consultant and color specialist. Heather empowers ambitious women to show up and get dressed every day with confidence. So I am getting ready to drop you into our conversation as we about and talk about, um, how to show up well for yourself as a professional.

Bonnie: 2:30

So how are you doing today?

Heather Riggs: 2:32

I'm amazing. How are you? I'm

Bonnie: 2:41

I appreciate you coming and sharing some of that with the nurses that I engage with and that listen to this podcast. My goal for the ambitious nurse is to not only, feel confident in growing their careers, but to even look confident in growing their careers. I would love for you to share, Who you are, what you do, what audience you serve, and then we will go from there.

Heather Riggs: 3:11

Absolutely. I am so honored to be here and talking with you and, all of the nurses in your audience. I know it is so important to show up as the best version of ourselves. At work and in all the areas of our life. So I think this is a really important conversation. I appreciate you bringing me in to have it. My name is Heather Riggs. I've been a certified image consultant and color specialist for the last 17 years. Really, My goal is to empower women to be able to show up and get dressed every day with confidence. In addition to that, I'm a wife and I'm a mom. I have one six year old son. So they definitely keep me busy between, home life, work life. So I understand the balancing act of juggling all of the things and trying to look and feel our best while we do it.

Bonnie: 3:53

Heather, how did you get into this work?

Heather Riggs: 3:56

That's a great question. I've always loved fashion from the time I was a little girl. I am a child of the eighties, so I loved playing with the paper dolls and the fashion plates and mall madness and all of those toys as a kid. I always had an interest in art as well. I originally thought I was going to study costume design in college, but I started down that path and realized very quickly that you have to be able to sew, which is not one of my skills. I was really struggling with that, particularly in college. So I decided to switch my major. And then not long after, I started doing fashion design and merchandising, which is more of the business route. My mom was the one who told me about image consulting. She had read an article. There was an interview in one of her magazines with an image consultant, and she just knew that that was right up my alley, and she was right. So right after college, I pursued image consulting and my certifications, and yeah, it's always, I think, aligned for me. So it's been a real joy to get to do this work for so long.

Bonnie: 4:56

What do you think is the biggest misconception about, the thought process of, oh, she's an image consultant. Do people just kind of like, oh, that's not for me. Or are people usually running towards it?

Heather Riggs: 5:12

Well, I think most people don't really know what an image consultant is, to be honest with you. If you hear the term personal stylist, I think that's more of a household term that we're all familiar with. And really the biggest difference there is that personal stylists, while they do similar work in helping women to, choose outfits and things like that, they're a little bit more trend focused and wanting their clients to look current to wear the latest things or to maybe push certain labels. And I think there's absolutely value in looking current. We all want that undoubtedly. But where I see the differences in image Consultant is that we're looking to narrate an accurate story about who our clients are from the inside out. And so It's helping you to figure out how you want to show up and present yourself in the world and making sure that you're doing that through the clothing in which you wear and ideally in a way that feels at home and natural for you and that brings out your best. So it's more about who you are as a person more so than what's happening in fashion. And while they're both important, that's the distinction that I like to make and how I choose to work with my clients personally.

Bonnie: 6:20

Really, the image consulting is more so personalized based on who you are versus this is the trend. And here's where we're going with what you're going to wear for this season or whatever the case may be.

Heather Riggs: 6:33

Like I said, both are important and I do teach on trends and I want my clients to have the information about how to look current, but I think that's putting the cart before the horse. It's really important first to dial in what styles do you like to wear and what's going to make you feel your best and having you discern which trends to bring into your wardrobe based on that I never want someone to look back at pictures of themselves in 10 years, 20 years and say, What was I thinking? It's so much more important to choose the pieces that you love and that make you feel good. And if you want to bring in a couple of trends for the season that align with your personality and your preferences and your lifestyle, that's great. But we really want to focus your building out your wardrobe on what you actually need to get through your day to day life in a way that just makes you feel good and enjoy the process of getting dressed It is something we have to do every day so we might as well make it more empowering for you.

Bonnie: 7:24

Even if we have scrubs on, there's a way to do that to where fun. It meets your personality. Looking professional is very important for me. And important to me. It reflects, how you think of yourself. To me, that shows me, what do you think of yourself? How can we present our best selves and feel comfortable to be able to save a patient's life if we need to at the same time?

Heather Riggs: 7:50

I would say that's the most important thing, right, that you're ready to show up and do your job and certainly don't let what you're wearing distract you from that in any way. Your superiors do take notice of how you're showing up and how you're presenting yourself, not only in terms of how you're engaging with people in your bedside manner, but also in your visual presentation. The way you present yourself is telling a story about who you are and research shows it used to take seven seconds to make a first impression, but now in our swipe left, swipe right, quick scrolling society, it actually only takes one tenth of a second for someone to form an opinion about you based on your visual appearance and I know it's like we all want to get to the heart of who people are but when you're, in a quick moving world, you've got to think about the story that you're telling in the way that you show up, especially at work, because if you are looking to gain a promotion, gain respect, it matters that you are paying attention to those little details. Even expressing yourself in a way that feels unprofessional. If you're maybe wearing too much jewelry in a way that's distracting or keeping you from doing your job to the best of your ability, that is something that your employers are going to notice. A lot of my clients end up getting unexpected promotions just because of the extra time and thought that they're putting into their presentation at work. It really does make such a huge difference and go hand in hand. It does really make it that much more important to think about how you're styling your hair and your makeup and the jewelry. That you're choosing not that you have to spend hours getting ready in the morning but just some of those little touches can really go such a long way in making your look feel more polished. Helping you to show up more put together and it really does make you look more trustworthy, credible and show that you do take pride not only in your appearance, but in the job that you're there to do.

Bonnie: 9:39

What should be the bare minimum of what we could look to say these are the things that I should probably do every day to show up well at work.

Heather Riggs: 9:49

You said it first, Bonnie, and it's making sure that your clothes are pressed and that they look neat, so not showing up with stains on your clothing or things that look like you maybe pulled them back out of the hamper, right? So just having a neat and fresh appearance is really important. I think it's great, especially when you're working in health care, to make sure that your nails are trimmed and clean I don't think that you need to go from not caring much about your appearance to spending hours getting ready. But what I would encourage is maybe look up a quick five minute hair and makeup routine. Just something really simple to start. You don't have to take a big leap and do a gigantic makeover of your whole wardrobe and appearance, but start small. Spend a few extra minutes thinking about maybe styling your hair in a more polished way or doing a little bit more with your makeup again, not to look overly dramatic at work unless that's your personal style, just making some small little changes along the way can build up over time and make such a huge difference not only in how people are perceiving you, but in your confidence, too. You want to feel your best when you go into work and feel equipped to do the job. And what's really interesting is that there have been studies done to show that people perform better when they are dressed better and really showing up for their work. In fact, Northwestern University, did a whole study around this and they came up with a term called enclothed cognition, which shows that clothes really do have an influence on our psychology. When you step into your scrubs, you probably feel a mental shift of, okay, I'm ready to work now, and I'm here to show up for my job, versus if you were to come in in your daytime clothes, or your weekend clothes, you wouldn't feel like you were really a nurse, right? There's something mental that happens with that shift of putting on the uniform, and likewise, when you put some more attention into how you're presenting yourself and showing up, you really will see the confidence follow suit.

Bonnie: 11:41

A great point because if I can have an opportunity where I don't have to wear scrubs, then I won't. But once I put on scrubs, my mindset shifts totally. It's almost like I'm putting my gloves on and I'm ready to get down and dirty if I need to. As we talk about that and the scrubs, let's transition to exhibiting their personal style outside of that clinical environment. There may be a nurse who is going to a conference or sometimes they're coming in for a one or a two hour class if it's in person or even showing up virtually. And sometimes it's like a basic life support class or an advanced life support class where you're learning how to do CPR, or you're just rehearsing those skills. You're not working in a clinical setting that day. How can they best transition from, scrub life to, personal style and it's professional? Cause I've seen leggings, I've seen yoga pants. That's a great question. I just thrown scrubs or either they just thrown scrubs cause it's easy.

Heather Riggs: 12:49

And it's more socially acceptable. Now I think, post COVID people are wearing leggings out of the house and athleisure has become huge. So it feels more acceptable to wear those clothes in all different scenarios. So I understand the thought process behind it. I think the first question that we need to ask is what is your signature style. Do you know clearly what things you prefer to wear? And I think it really does start there. Figuring out what your personal style is. The question is, how far is your personal taste from the professional image that you want to portray? If they feel light years apart, if you are someone who's like, I'm wearing leggings every day when I'm not at work, or I'm someone who likes to be really creative and artistic and expressive in my style, maybe I have more of a Gothic or Bohemian edge to my style, whatever it is, things that maybe don't feel like they have a place in a professional environment. That's when we need to be a little bit more creative and how we bridge the gap there. And what I would recommend is might be really smart to invest in a really small professional capsule wardrobe, and you don't have to spend a ton of money on this, but maybe you just need two or three outfits that you can switch out the pieces and wear to those things. So it's not that the bulk of your wardrobe has to feel polished and professional. And when you're completely off the clock when you're just at your house, when you're hanging out with your friends, you can really lean more heavily into your personal style, but when you are still showing up to represent your company to represent yourself as a professional, you do want to marry that difference a little bit more and still make sure that you are showing up in appropriate attire that you are looking a little bit more polished, that you are showing that you do care about your job and how your patients perceive you, and that you're there to do your job seriously. Because again, the psychology just makes such a big difference in how you feel and show up to do the work, and also how your superiors are seeing you show up. I hope that answers your question, but I think it's just kind of figuring out the difference there. Some people have a really classic style. They're comfortable wearing, nice, crisp straight leg jeans and a button down shirt and they could go into a class and they would look great and other people just don't have that as their personal preferences and so they may not own those pieces but it might be smart to invest in just a couple of things that you can wear to those settings and really still feel your best.

Bonnie: 15:10

I love all of those ideas. I've seen, the wording around capsule wardrobe can you go into a little bit more of what is a capsule wardrobe? You don't necessarily have to go in depth but just give us some, for those who may not know.

Heather Riggs: 15:26

I appreciate you asking that because my perception of a capsule wardrobe is probably different than a lot of people's or what your audience might even be thinking of when they hear about a capsule wardrobe. I don't see it as, an all neutral wardrobe of 33 pieces. Creating capsule wardrobe is really simple. It's just that you're building a closet or a collection of pieces that are interchangeable, that mix and match easily, so that you can do a lot more with less. It's just being intentional. I think a lot of times as women, partly because we're busy and we don't have time to think that much about our wardrobes, we might need to get an outfit for an occasion and we're just running out and buying random pieces, but we're not thinking about how things work collectively together. So we often might find that we have a lot of pieces that we like, or maybe a lot of pieces we don't like in our closet, but it's hard to put them together into outfits. And so when you're thinking more about a capsule wardrobe, it's looking for pieces that are versatile, that coordinate in color, and that you can really just do a lot with less. And that's why I suggest that specifically if you are looking for a few professional polish pieces for your wardrobe, it's going to be that much more important that they are a little bit more timeless and that they do mix and match really easily. So let's be strategic in maybe just get a couple of different blouses and a couple of different pants and you can mix them up and you might only need two or three of each piece, but you could wear them to a class or to a conference. You've kind of got that set little wardrobe ready. And then to bring in your personal style, maybe it is adding different jewelry to it or the way that you're styling your hair and makeup or the colors that you're choosing. Maybe if you have a really bold, dramatic style, you're going to pick some fun colors and prints. Versus someone who is a little bit more elegant and reserved, might want to choose more neutrals or stick to some, simple jewel tones, so it's looking for little ways to infuse your personal style, but making sure that your pieces are going to mix and match well, just so you don't have to spend too much money or buy too many pieces for your wardrobe. It's great when you can have less, but better.

Bonnie: 17:26

Awesome. Everyone, please make sure you go and take Heather's quiz. The quiz answers, the questions, and then it gives you based on your answers, what your personal style would likely be and then she has some Pinterest boards to go with it for you to really see how the pieces go together. And she. also sends out great information even beyond that. So, it's not just about the quiz, but it's just about connecting with her. So what are some common fashion mistakes professionals make when dressing for interviews, networking events, or leadership opportunities? I think those would probably all go together in the same bucket

Heather Riggs: 18:03

You touched on a big one, which is really nowadays just showing up too casually or a little bit sloppy Maybe especially because a lot of us we don't really have the need to buy suits if that's not the basis of your wardrobe It could be easy to show up looking a little bit unprofessional in that way. I also think as women in general, maybe not prioritizing our best colors and fits, and choosing pieces that are the most flattering for us, and that do work to bring out your best. Ignoring the details, so not taking the extra five minutes to steam your clothes before you head to your interview, or, not making sure that things are maybe tucked in in the most flattering ways. I think one of the biggest opportunities that you have is you hear this all the time, not dressing for the job that you have, but the job that you want. Even as I mentioned for my clients, a lot of times, the reason why they get unexpected promotions is because they're starting to invest a little bit more. And it really does trigger something in their supervisors that, Oh, this person's serious. Like this person's showing up. Yeah, they're ready. And they notice that. And you don't think sometimes that people are paying attention to those little details, but they really are. And as I said, it takes just a fraction of a second to make a first impression. So it's even more important when you're going in for an interview that you are putting your absolute best foot forward. So if there's one day a week that you are going to spend time getting dressed and fixing your hair and makeup and all of that, make it your interview day so that you can really show up and shine.

Bonnie: 19:33

I love that. That's definitely quite important. Usually on peer interviews, not necessarily a main interview I really just recently went to one this past week where, it was a networking event, but it was also an event where we were, networking with legislators. It's not a casual event. It is a advocacy event where you're more so just talking about yourself as the work that you do as a nurse. Now, I'm in a leadership position within my organization who hosts it, so I had to level up for the role I'm walking into versus the current role that I have. then I would But even before then I would show up in just business casual, and I had thrown something together in my wardrobe that, I've probably worn different pieces of in different times, but I got so many comments on that one outfit and I was like, oh, okay. I'd never worn that combination together. So I knew it was going to look decent, but, I'd received a lot of comments from that particular outfit. So, definitely know people just probably look at me differently just because of how we show up.

Heather Riggs: 20:43

And I feel like you just said something really key, which is you notice that people gave you a lot of compliments and acknowledgement over that outfit, so for anyone listening, when those things happen, take note, what silhouettes were you wearing? What was the color comment? Do more of what's working. I think as women, sometimes it's like, I don't know what to wear. I don't know what looks. Good on me, but you do and you do know the things that people tend to compliment you on. So I really want to encourage everybody. You've got to learn how to trust your own style intuition. And when people are complimenting you, when you wear a certain color or when you put yourself together in a certain way, you probably want to lean in and do more of those things. So don't reinvent the wheel, don't overthink it. Gravitate towards the pieces that are already working well for you and that you feel good in.

Bonnie: 21:28

I never thought about like, as I'm getting compliments on a, on a particular thing, just kind of lean into and make note of this is a style combination that works for me. So I thank you for that tip.

Heather Riggs: 21:39

One of the key differences, too... you always want people to say you look great before they say, I like that shirt. It's great if people like the clothing that you're wearing, if you get compliments on specific pieces, but it's even better when people say, you look great, or you look so professional. That's more of my goal for you, is that you would stand out above the individual pieces of clothing or jewelry that you're wearing. But it's still worth noting when those individual pieces do work well together, but we always want to make sure that you're taking center stage and that your outfits are working to bring out the best in you. That's something else to think about what are the outfits that you've worn that people just say, you look great, you look really refreshed today because colors have such a huge potential to do that for us, to make us look more youthful and radiant and alive, so just a subtle distinction that I wanted to point out.

Bonnie: 22:29

We're going to come back to interviewing but real quick I'm gonna match the two up. I'm sure there's a difference between you're going in for an interview, as far as how you're dressing and colors if you are interviewing for a more so leadership managerial director position, manager, director... so what are the best colors that people should, and I'm thinking about this from two levels, one level you're already in a leadership mindset, but you're wanting to either interview for a manager position, a director position, or a little bit more of an executive level position, versus you're fresh from stepping away from the bedside and you're interviewing for a position right out of grad school or you're interviewing to get into grad school. A lot of times that happens depending on the graduate degree that you're going for.

Heather Riggs: 23:22

I would recommend the same colors where I think the difference would be between kind of an entry position or that initial transition into something more administrative versus the higher up managerial role. I think that difference would be more in the formality of the clothing that you're wearing. So, making sure that if you are stepping into more of a leadership role, that you are presenting yourself as such, that you look really polished, that you're, maybe investing in a little bit of tailoring to make sure that your clothing fits you beautifully, just taking the extra step there with your outfit. But in terms of the colors that I would recommend for an interview, there's two things that you can think about. One is just general color psychology, and that is the fact that blue, for example, is a color that symbolizes trust. You think of true blue. So wearing a great navy, which is also a universally flattering color, so that's kind of a good, safe way to go is to get a great navy. Trouser or blouse or suit, whatever feels best or most appropriate for the interview setting for the position or, academic, role that you're going for. But blue would be a really great go-to color and something classic, not a vibrant ian or something offbeat, but just a classic Navy, classic, crisp blue, something that feels really timeless is a great color to instill trust. Also brown is a great color. That's one you might not think of for an interview, but if you think about what can brown do for you? Brown is a color at Louis Vuitton. It's about quality. It's about reliability. So anytime that you want to show up and you're like, I am a reliable candidate. I am a trustworthy candidate. Those neutrals are really good options for you going with a basic classic blue or brown. Your personal coloring, think your hair color, your eye color, your skin tone, those colors to also communicate something psychologically. And the coolest one that I love to recommend for an interview, and sometimes this is going to be the same colors I already mentioned, but is if you wear your eye color. What's really great about that is it also helps to build trust and rapport. But if you think about it, when you're wearing your eye color it's almost impossible for someone to not be immediately drawn back to your eyes. So it's a really powerful color to wear when you want to have great communication with someone, when you want to maintain good eye contact. So I definitely recommend that you consider wearing your eye color to an interview as well, whether it is blue, brown, green. But that's a great color to wear for an interview. I also recommend it for a first date. Anytime that you kind of want to be able to build some really good rapport and have good communication with someone. That's a great go to color.

Bonnie: 25:59

Oh, I never thought about it like that.

Heather Riggs: 26:01

And it's great because you can just look in the mirror and see what your eye color is and know confidently that that's going to be a flattering choice for you.

Bonnie: 26:08

And now I'm thinking back I had on Navy at the event, the networking event.

Heather Riggs: 26:13

Case in point.

Bonnie: 26:14

But I'm also thinking of certain outfits that I've worn like, my eyes are brown and I think I had like a gold on or like an autumn color.

Heather Riggs: 26:23

Yeah.

Bonnie: 26:24

And I've gotten compliments there too. And I'm like, yeah, it looks good. All right.

Heather Riggs: 26:29

Yeah. Well, most, people have a lot of dimension to their eyes too, so it might not even be, like a chocolate brown or something that you're thinking of. It might be more of an amber, kind of a golden, you can play with that and try some different things and see what makes you feel your best. And also wearing your hair color can be a great choice, especially for pants, shoes, belts, kind of those grounding pieces. It does help to create some nice visual repetition in your outfit. When you're incorporating your hair color in other places, it kind of helps keep the eye moving up and down. It creates some visual interest. It can also make you look a little bit more down to earth and approachable. I don't know that that would be my first choice for an interview, unless if you have really dark black hair, that's a more professional one. If you have lighter hair like mine, you may want to do something that's a little bit more formal for an interview, but it's just another great personal neutral to keep in mind for your overall wardrobe.

Bonnie: 27:20

Many nurses, struggle sometimes even working three days a week, I would say this probably happens more so with those of us who work five days a week. We have a little bit more time constraints and energy, when it comes to shopping for clothes. I know for me. I probably hadn't shopped for clothes since COVID I love shopping. I just don't have the time to do it. What are the best tips for building a stylish and versatile wardrobe with minimal effort?

Heather Riggs: 27:46

No matter how many hours a week you're working, I think everyone can relate to just feelings of busyness. We're so pressured to do all of the things these days, and there's so many things we can do and fill up our time with. I completely relate to that and it makes it even more important to be strategic because we don't want to waste time shopping. You don't want to be wandering around the mall for hours. You don't want to be browsing the myriad of options online either. So my best advice to do this with minimal effort, and this is maybe going to sound like it's more work, but I promise it's worth it in the long run, Before you start doing any shopping do a little bit of prep. First, figure out what your signature style is so that you can narrow down a little bit and know more clearly what you want your wardrobe to look and feel like. But then you've really got to think about your average week and what you have going on and what you actually need to get dressed for. If you thought about your week ahead of time and what you have going on to make sure that you have the right outfits for those occasions, you're going to feel so much better. It's going to be a lot easier and you're going to save time when you go to get ready. What special occasions do you have going on? And then how would you like to show up for those activities? You've got to think about what clothing pieces you need and what the gaps are in your wardrobe before you start shopping because we need to know what to look for. I think it's going to save you a ton of time if you can build out a quick shopping list. I know I need these pieces every time I go to get dressed. I wish I had a belt or I wish I had, this color t shirt, there's always these little gaps that you've just got to take a few minutes and write out your list and then figure out what your budget is. And my best advice is instead of browsing, you've got to hunt for those pieces. The more specific that you can be especially shopping online, the more specific you can get in the search bar and look for those specific pieces in your size at your desired budget, the faster you're going to find what you actually need. There's so many options and there's so many distractions too. And then you're going to end up filling your shopping cart with stuff that you don't really need. It's just like going to the grocery store. The times I go to the grocery store and I don't have a list of things, I come home with the most random stuff and then I don't have anything to actually make dinner for the night. It's the same way with getting dressed. It really is so important to help you stick to your budget and also maximize your time. Go to the store, find an associate, and tell them what you need. They can help you find those pieces and not be wandering around aimlessly for hours. So it's all about hunting instead of browsing. I think will make a huge difference.

Bonnie: 30:10

Hunting instead of browsing. Any advice for showing up better virtually so that we have more confidence, in virtual settings. Some may not want to turn the camera on, some just don't turn the camera on because they're not ready or some are required, to turn the camera on. So how do you show up as your best self?

Heather Riggs: 30:31

Two things. The first thing is don't underestimate the importance of wearing your best colors, especially by your face. When you're on camera we talked about personal color psychology, actually wearing a color that's kind of related to your skin tone color can actually make you look more awake and rejuvenated. Wearing your blush color. is going to make you look more approachable. Obviously we talked about how powerful it is to wear your eye color or just thinking about some of those good basic neutrals that will make you look really polished and professional that you don't have to put a ton of thought into. Those could be easy go tos if you're choosing your best ones. I have clients tell me all the time after they get their personal colors done that it's so much easier to show up for zoom calls because they know what's going to make them look great on camera. Now my second piece of advice might surprise you because you probably think I'm going to say do your hair, do your makeup, do your jewelry. Please wear appropriate bottoms. I know you're showing up on camera and you might think no one's ever going to see, and you can wear your pajama pants and a great blazer. If you have to get up for something unexpected. I can't tell you how many times I've been on a Zoom with someone and they have to get up for something they weren't expecting and then they're apologizing for what they're wearing. Don't do that to yourself. Just dress, look good, feel good. Show up as if you were in person with someone. You can get changed and put your cozies on after your meeting's over. But put the nice jeans on. Put actual pants on. You will feel more empowered when you show up to the call. You won't have to make any excuses for yourself if something happens and you have to get up. So just come prepared.

Bonnie: 32:02

You got my number on that one. Usually virtually I'll have a nice top on. I won't have pajama pants on, but I will have some gym clothes on like, oh, I can just easily go out for a walk.

Heather Riggs: 32:11

Believe me, the days I don't have meetings, I'm often in leggings. I wear casual clothes when I don't have to show up for something. But when you know you have a meeting and you're going to be with someone, take the extra two seconds to put real pants on, just in case.

Bonnie: 32:23

It's never anything that I would be embarrassed to show, but sometimes it's a little bit baggier or sometimes it's a little bit tighter. So you got me on that one for sure. Anything else on the top of your mind related to our own self confidence when it comes to styling, dressing, color analysis that we haven't touched on?

Heather Riggs: 32:45

When you're showing up with confidence, I know thinking about your clothing and spending more time and maybe even a little bit more money on what you wear can feel really superficial or really unnecessary. But if you think about it, when you are showing up with confidence, when you know that your clothing fits you, you're not tugging on pieces, you're not uncomfortable, you're not cramming yourself into clothing that's too tight, or trying to hide your body in clothing that's way too big and baggy. When you're showing up and you know that you look good, you feel good, and you can go about your day, it allows you to be able to really fully focus out on others and not be in your head about what you're wearing, not be feeling self conscious. So, I just want to say I know it can feel silly sometimes to think that much about our clothing, but it really is a selfless act to show up at your best for the people in your life, for your colleagues, for your bosses, for your patients. After you're dressed, you move on. You go about your day, you're good with how you look, and you can truly focus out on other people. I think it's such an impactful thing that we don't give enough credit to. Just put yourself together so that you can be your best self and really show up and do your thing.

Bonnie: 33:56

All right. This has been an awesome conversation. It's just a reiteration of this is just how important it is when you're working on growing in your career, It's not just about professional growth, but this also impacts your personal growth. Where can our audience find you should they, choose to continue to follow you wherever you may be?

Heather Riggs: 34:19

I would love to connect and if you have any follow up questions, I'm more than happy to answer them. The best place to reach me is, through my free Facebook community where you can come and hang out, get a lot more daily tips in there, connect with other women who are working to uplevel their, personal style in their wardrobes. You can, join the community. It's at HerStyleLLC. com slash community. I would love to connect with you in there. And then of course, you can also listen to my podcast, which is Her Style Podcast. Wherever you're listening to Bonnie's show, you can find mine there as well. There's over 200 episodes. Again, I really think it's helpful to just start small. Don't feel like you need to implement a ton of changes overnight. Maybe listen to one episode, find a title that speaks to you and then just try to implement one small change at a time. It will make a huge overall difference.

Bonnie: 35:04

Heather's usually talking about trends. She's talking about colors. By the time you hear this episode, she will have, her spring trends episode. Definitely go and check that She's a great person to follow. Y'all go and find her podcast. Heather, thank you for being here with us today and, helping us to level up. Hope to see you soon.

Heather Riggs: 35:25

It was my pleasure. Thank you so much for having me.

35:30

I hope you enjoyed today's episode. If so, would you take 30 seconds and share it with another nurse who may be unsure of where to go next in their career or maybe need some career clarity? Also, please leave a quick review for the show on Apple Podcast. It brings me so much joy and so much encouragement to know this podcast is helping you now go get the career you want and not the one you settle for. And I'll meet you back here next Thursday for another episode. See you soon.