Meet Mikara Reid | Personal Style consultant

We had the good fortune of connecting with Mikara Reid and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Mikara, how has your perspective on work-life balance evolved over time?
Balance for me is extremely important before I even started a business. Having too much of something gets me uninspired or not excited about getting started. As a person in the creative field, you have to be aware of what triggers you, moves you or challenges you to execute a final product. Thats the thing about being a creative, you have to take a break and not burn yourself out.

During the pandemic and post pandemic, there was a lot of time on my hands and I took that time to restructure my business model and my personal needs to come out of that situation stronger. I’ve been able to change or upgrade things around based on the “new” lifestyle and habits. The way we work and the way my new target audience work is different compared to pre-pandemic and I’m thankful to have an amazing support system of business mentor, therapists and friends who are not in the industry to keep me grounded and sane.

As I get older and experience things and went through the pandemic, balance has helped me create a happier and sustainable life that I have always wanted for myself. I LOVE what I do, its a marriage of creativity and critical thinking, but I also love the community I have created around me. This work life balance I currently have curated provides me life that I enjoy waking up to.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?

MIIEN (pronounced mean) Consultancy is a personal style and image consultancy that empowers highly visible professionals to use their personal appearance as a tool for success. Founded by personal style consultant Mikara Reid and is located in Newark, NJ. Our mission is to help clients understand and know their fashion identity so their clothes, career and confidence are in alignment to their lifestyle. We stride to be: Your Personal Style Destination. This fashion and image consultancy is not trend-driven, we are You-driven. Mikara’s proprietary technique has helped hundreds of clients find a sympathetic match between the clothing and the wearer (and a sympathetic match between the clothes and the customer for fashion brands).

I am super excited to step into the new era of the company. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to keep the business open during the pandemic since I lost over 15 loyal clients. And this business is based on going out and stepping your best foot forward. People were not doing that for 2 years. Thankfully I have a community of mentors who coached me through reconstructing my business plan, model and pivot my new direction – which were the professionals who were still working (via ZOOM). Working through that has allowed me to observe the market and make it congruent with my purpose. I did a lot of studying, interviewing clients, people and also watching my new form of habits so that the new direction was still beneficial to my new target audience. After studying things with the highly visible professionals, the fashion industry wasn’t the same and that gave me the green light to start shifting my new direction. I am very excited about this upcoming vibe this company will set.

Along this journey, I was so used to working fashion models, photographers, production companies and never slowed down to cater to the 10% of my business or better the void that they were having prior to the pandemic. I was about to really zero in on my private client wardrobe problems. This gave me a lot of inspiration for upcoming projects that will be on the podcast and other content. This discovery phase also pushed me to start writing my debut book, What’s Your MIIEN! ? that will be officially published on October 3, 2023.

What I learned from this was after being apart of many areas of fashion for the past 15 years, doing what you love to do as a career and having clients who love the experience and end-results can get no better. Do what you love to do, do it with uniqueness and everything will flow. When I first started in fashion, social media wasn’t around like it is today, so all you heard from people was “you should work with celebrities…. That’s how you make it in life”, and that’s not true! There are so many people outside of that world who can hire you and keep your business going beyond a couple of years. I resonate more with business-minded people and that’s okay. It may not be the flashy for the most part but I can say my consultancy has made it through the storm.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I just found out about this spot its called Tatiana by Kwame Onwuachi and I want to go back every week. The food combination really satisfies my taste buds and the ambience in this spot is my type of vibe!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?

There are so many people that has contributed to the businesswoman they see today, i won’t be fair to just say one name. I would love to give a shoutout to Irene Riveria first because her leadership mentoring not only helped me with handling leadership but it also stretched my mental in the personal development area which made my professional development elevate. I wasn’t expecting it but her mentoring has played a significant part in my past and present life. Diane, Terry, the MIIEN team, friends and my amazing clients (past and present). Without this stream of appreciation and support, I’m not sure where would I be without your presents.

And the 2 books I would like to shoutout are: The Secret by Rhonda Byrne, Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman and The Power of Vulnerability by Brene Brown. Entrepreneurship is an emotional rollercoaster especially when you come from a household who wants you to work a 9-5 job. But when you have that burning desire to be creative and not work the 9-5, reading these books has guided me tremendously personally and professionally in so many situations, where I came out looking like the professional personal.

Website: www.miien.co

Instagram: @miienconsultancy

Linkedin: @miienconsultancy

Twitter: @miienco

Facebook: @miienconsultancy

Youtube: @miienconsultancy

Other: @miienconsultancy

Image Credits
Malcolm Garrett (solo image of Mikara Reid)