Latest / The Closet Confessional / Whitley Adkins, The Queen City Style | Fashion, Entrepreneurship & Finding Your Way Home | Episode 4

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Whitley Adkins, The Queen City Style | Fashion, Entrepreneurship & Finding Your Way Home | Episode 4 · The Closet Confessional

• 0:00
  Welcome to the Closet Confessional, where personal
• 0:03
  style meets personal storytelling.
• 0:05
  I'm Kimberly, and this is a space where closets hold our
• 0:08
  memories, clothing tells our stories, and every conversation
• 0:12
  opens the door. Style has a way of helping us
• 0:15
  step into new seasons of life. Sometimes confidence begins with
• 0:18
  something as simple as putting on the right outfit.
• 0:21
  Some people express themselves with bold colors and statement
• 0:24
  pieces. Others tell their story through
• 0:26
  quiet confidence and timeless style.
• 0:29
  Today's guest has spent years telling stories through fashion,
• 0:32
  photography, publishing, and creative direction.
• 0:35
  She has an incredible eye for style, but what I admire most is
• 0:39
  the authenticity behind it all. Today we're exploring the
• 0:42
  chapters that shaped her journey, the pieces that hold
• 0:45
  her memories, and the experiences that made her who
• 0:48
  she is. Welcome to the closet
• 0:50
  confessional. Let's open the closet, ladies
• 0:54
  and gentlemen. It's the Queen City style
• 0:56
  herself. Whitley Atkins, today's guest,
• 0:59
  is someone who I have admired for basically my entire
• 1:06
  existence in Charlotte since I moved here.
• 1:08
  I don't recall when I found her first, but I do know it was
• 1:13
  within the first month. And Whitley is someone who I
• 1:18
  admired or have admired and still admire today, and I'm
• 1:23
  super excited to have her on and can't wait to share all of her
• 1:29
  incredible stories. So, Whitley, thank you for being
• 1:32
  here today. Thank you.
• 1:33
  How long have you been here in Charlotte?
• 1:35
  I've been here 11. Years.
• 1:36
  Oh gosh, 11 years. Yes.
• 1:40
  And it's like I said, I do not remember what it was.
• 1:46
  If somebody shared your Instagram with me, I know it was
• 1:49
  a social media thing, OK, because you and I met Long.
• 1:54
  I would say Long after but eleven years?
• 1:57
  I mean that. Long ago, but yeah, we met after
• 2:01
  that and I just remember following you and thinking, well
• 2:06
  what a cool gal and I want to be her friend.
• 2:13
  I'd love to be your friend too, Kimberly.
• 2:15
  I'm so glad it worked out. I am too.
• 2:18
  So. But I don't, we didn't meet
• 2:20
  until, you know, probably a year before.
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  I mean, how long have we known each other?
• 2:27
  So what, five years now? Yeah, let's say yeah, 5 or 6.
• 2:31
  And how did we finally meet? Or did you reach out to me?
• 2:35
  It was in person, do you remember?
• 2:37
  I don't OK. Squirrel, I think I probably, I
• 2:41
  think I probably reached out to you.
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  Maybe it was because of I just saw you and thought you were
• 2:51
  cool and I don't know. We'll have to go back to their
• 2:53
  Instagram and see. We're cool.
• 2:58
  Anyway, today is about you and I want other people to know you
• 3:04
  who some may already be exposed to you and know part of your
• 3:08
  story. They may not know all of your
• 3:10
  story. I want to dig into and for you
• 3:13
  to share as much of your story as you want and just learn about
• 3:21
  the woman who like I know and love.
• 3:23
  But like, I know I don't know. Everything.
• 3:26
  God bless you. Maybe a?
• 3:31
  Little bit. A little paint cheek is good on
• 3:34
  all of us. So I want to start, I guess,
• 3:40
  with you at the beginning, like at Whitley, as kind of a little
• 3:48
  girl. Like tell me, tell me about
• 3:49
  little Whitley, if you will. We're just going to take it all
• 3:53
  the way back. All the way back, yeah.
• 3:59
  So as a disclaimer, if I am looking beyond the camera, it's
• 4:04
  because I'm looking at my husband.
• 4:07
  The number have blush, blush cheeks, which is a good thing.
• 4:12
  It's a good thing to have that and feel that.
• 4:18
  So little Whitley. I mean, I would say mm, hmm.
• 4:22
  Yep. So I was born in Spartanburg.
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  We moved to Wilmington and then, so I have memories of playing on
• 4:29
  the beach and then we moved to Asheville when I was had just
• 4:32
  turned 4. My dad was in commercial banking
• 4:36
  and he took a banking job there. And so we moved to Asheville and
• 4:40
  that's what I call home. I mean, I would say I was
• 4:45
  probably incredibly precocious. I mean, I love to get into
• 4:51
  anything and everything. I love to try a lot of things as
• 4:58
  long as I'm not, you know, scared too far out of my comfort
• 5:02
  zone. But I like to try most things
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  once. Because if you don't know, you
• 5:08
  know, if you well, then that way you can say you've done it.
• 5:10
  You know, if you don't, if you don't know, if you don't try it,
• 5:13
  you don't know if you don't like it unless you try it.
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  So I mean, I was the only child. I spent a lot of time outside, a
• 5:22
  lot of time and creative play in my mind.
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  I imagine, you know, it's like just me and me a lot of times.
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  So I like to color, I like to run, I like to hop in the Creek
• 5:38
  and climb trees. And I mean, I was a tomboy
• 5:41
  pretty much. I mean, I still am.
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  I like to get dressed up, but I was I was pretty much a tomboy
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  in Asheville. It was a beautiful place to grow
• 5:50
  up. Yeah.
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  And then you said some of the fun things you like to do as a
• 5:56
  child. Were there moments where you
• 6:01
  notice, like, fashion at a young age or was that something that
• 6:05
  came later in life for you? So were you like playing dress
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  up, you know, or were you exploring that kind of
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  creativity or was it just outside of that realm for you
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  that that age? So I think, I think my
• 6:22
  precocious nature it, I think it's sort of like whatever the
• 6:27
  environment is, wherever I am, I like to explore and Daydream.
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  And I, I would say I'm like that as an adult.
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  I mean, you can like I moved to New York City after college for
• 6:42
  two years and I was all in New York City.
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  Any environment where I if, if it's new and I've never
• 6:51
  experienced it, I want to know as much as humanly possible.
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  So I would say I, I did play dress up as a child.
• 7:00
  I had a babysitter. I mean, I have pictures of me,
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  you know, I think most young girls do.
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  But I had pictures of me probably at, you know, the age
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  of two or three and with lipstick on and a big dress and,
• 7:14
  you know, a purse and heals them.
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  And we all, I think all little girls do that.
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  And then once my mother's mother and grandmother, my mother grew
• 7:28
  up in eastern North Carolina and Rocky Mount and my grandmother
• 7:32
  and my great grandmother were both fashion stylist and buyers
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  for an upscale luxury boutique called Rosenblum and Levy that
• 7:41
  was in Tarboro, Rocky Mount and Wilson.
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  I mean, very small town, as you know, eastern North Carolina,
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  but they were, you know, in the 40s, fifth, 40s and 50s, they
• 7:54
  were very well to do and very sophisticated.
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  And my grandmother would take buying trips to New York City
• 8:01
  and stay at the Waldorf. And so anyway, she had beautiful
• 8:04
  things. And so as a young girl, I was
• 8:08
  exposed, you know, to a jacket like yours.
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  She had a closet full of sparkly things and shiny things.
• 8:16
  And I just was constantly like wide eyed all the time and play
• 8:21
  dress up from a very young age. So I, I did love girly things
• 8:27
  like dress up. But growing up in Asheville, you
• 8:30
  know, there's not really as much of that.
• 8:34
  So I was, I was mostly a tomboy. And then when I would go to
• 8:40
  Eastern North Carolina, I would play dress up.
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  So I sort of, like I said, I'm precocious and I think I'm
• 8:47
  acclimate to whatever the environment is.
• 8:50
  Yeah, I'm saying like that juxtaposition of you being in
• 8:53
  Asheville and being the tomboy. And I'd be honest, I've grew up
• 8:58
  in Eastern North Carolina and I was very much a tomboy and I
• 9:01
  still like, love parts of that myself.
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  But the juxtaposition for you and go, when you went to Eastern
• 9:09
  North Carolina, that's where you found like a little bit more of
• 9:12
  the glam or maybe some of the fashion roots.
• 9:17
  Do you do you does that? Oh, yeah.
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  Well, because my mother's, my grandmother and my great
• 9:23
  grandmother, because of their occupation and their their
• 9:27
  lifestyle, which was I would consider, you know, very high
• 9:33
  society. You know, I was exposed to
• 9:37
  things at a young age and I was equally curious about all of
• 9:44
  those beautiful things as I was chasing lightning bugs at the
• 9:53
  Creek at the farm where my father grew up.
• 9:57
  So it was it's and it still is that way today.
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  It still is that way today. I'd probably say I, I'd do more
• 10:08
  live more of a farm life now then I mean, it's a it just
• 10:12
  depends. It just depends.
• 10:13
  You know, I have AI have a career that has me one foot here
• 10:18
  and then and then the little girl Whitley that has me and a
• 10:23
  husband that has my foot, you know, and the Whitley here.
• 10:27
  So I'd say I'll probably straddle that fence every day.
• 10:34
  So, OK, you talked about your style, like how kind of your
• 10:38
  roots in Eastern North Carolina with your grandmother and your
• 10:40
  great grandmother, was that on your mom's or your dad's side,
• 10:43
  your mother's side? OK, so fashion at home like like
• 10:47
  at home, if we're talking in ash people, I know you yourself and
• 10:52
  we, we and I'm assuming Asheville has kind of always
• 10:56
  been like the same. And it has to A, to a degree
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  when it comes to like fashion and you just kind of are who you
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  are. And there are so many different
• 11:07
  styles and it's accepted for who they are.
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  Yeah. I mean, Asheville's, you know,
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  it's, it's very eclectic, all all kinds, very creative.
• 11:18
  Yeah. Yeah, but what did fashion look
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  like at home for you then as a child?
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  So, I mean, I thought Punky Brewster was just the the
• 11:30
  coolest girl ever, as I'm sure you did.
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  And Alyssa Milano from Who's the Boss?
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  Also, you know, the coolest girl ever.
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  Oh. Men and women thought the same,
• 11:39
  right? Yeah.
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  And so I mean, I would say, I would say I probably could
• 11:47
  identify a little bit with Punky Brewster, you know, like her
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  mixing stuff that didn't really make sense to anybody else.
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  And so I do have to, I mean, I do have early, early pictures.
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  I can, I can get, I can get you this one if you'd like.
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  But I have like a picture of me like wearing my purple leg
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  warmers and my tap shoes and like a little striped striped
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  little mini skirt and a black leotard.
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  And, you know, I just thought I was like the stuff.
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  You know, I just, I think I learned that from my
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  grandmother, who was, she really actually was and she was the
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  stuff. And so I sort of looked up to
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  her and I thought she was like such an icon.
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  So I think I was always just like playing make believe in my
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  head. So in Asheville, I mean, I did
• 12:38
  not own a pair of Birkenstocks until I had to have a screw put
• 12:44
  in my toe from, from traumatic arthritis from running.
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  And I have metallic silver Birkenstocks, if that tells you
• 12:53
  anything. But everybody, you know, that
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  was, I was never granola. I was never hippie.
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  I mean, that's a very strong thing in Asheville.
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  But, you know, I was, I was always probably a little bit
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  cosmopolitan, but I was never like walking down the halls like
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  at like a fashion. No, I mean, I was just, you
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  know, I mean, I was an athlete. I was a tomboy and an athlete
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  and I had a sense of style. But I was mostly just into
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  playing sports at the time. And, you know, I mean, everybody
• 13:33
  went to the limited or the Express to get their or the gap
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  or, you know, forens or you know what?
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  It's not what it was called for. There's like the limited
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  FRIENZE, you know, ups and downs, all the all the mall
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  stores. So I would say I didn't really
• 13:53
  as a child, I was really after it in Asheville.
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  I wasn't. And then anytime I would go to
• 13:59
  Eastern North Carolina to visit my grandmother and my great
• 14:01
  grandmother, I was all in. Yeah, I was all in.
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  And then I would come back home and I would be like Tom girl
• 14:08
  Whitley again. So I don't have any super.
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  I did by when I was 15 or 16. There was one person in
• 14:22
  Asheville. Her name was Constance Ensner
• 14:26
  and she had the corner on the market and fashion and
• 14:31
  Asheville. And as far as I'm concerned,
• 14:33
  it's like the first and the always.
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  And she was a family friend of mine.
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  And so she was kind enough because of my interest as a
• 14:44
  child through my grandmother. I, I, I remember going for like
• 14:50
  AI think it was a, it was either a prom or some kind of cocktail
• 14:54
  party thing. And I, it was the first time I
• 14:58
  bought my own dress and it was a Cynthia Rowley black velvet.
• 15:06
  These flowers were sort of embedded into the, into the
• 15:12
  dress. And Cynthia, because of that and
• 15:15
  her label, I remember her label at the time, Cynthia Riley
• 15:19
  became my first favorite designer.
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  And I bought that dress. I think it probably was on sale
• 15:26
  and I saved my money and I bought it and from Constance and
• 15:31
  she ended up taking me to new to New York City with her on a
• 15:35
  buying trip when I was in college.
• 15:38
  So I would say that after my grandmother and my great
• 15:42
  grandmother Constance answer was my my next sort of like style
• 15:48
  icons that was in high school. Yeah.
• 15:50
  So that that's kind of when, you know, I started to like revisit
• 15:55
  it again on my own. Your eyes like were open.
• 15:59
  Because of her store? Yeah.
• 16:01
  I mean, I was like, oh OK, this is cool.
• 16:04
  So yeah, did. You think, oh, I might want to
• 16:06
  be a buyer, I might want to hear just like this is a cool
• 16:10
  experience I'm in. Well, I think I went my my
• 16:13
  grandmother. I had a really incredible
• 16:15
  experience as a sophomore in college or maybe a freshman in
• 16:21
  college. I went on this granddaughter's
• 16:24
  trip and all these women in from Rocky Mount would take their
• 16:28
  granddaughter or their niece or their daughter or somebody from
• 16:32
  the family. And a family friend was a travel
• 16:36
  agent. And so like 50 women from the
• 16:39
  age of like 8 to 80 got on this bus and we, it took us to the
• 16:46
  took us to the airport at 5:00 AM in Raleigh and we all hopped
• 16:50
  on a plane. We had like almost the entire
• 16:52
  plane and we flew up to New York City and I had a first class New
• 16:58
  York experience, which is I would say is not normal.
• 17:02
  We stayed at the Essex. My grandmother's health was sort
• 17:09
  of fading at the time, so my mother went in her spot, but we
• 17:13
  stayed at the Essex Hotel and then we went to Broadway shows
• 17:18
  and ate at the Park Ave. and the Crystal Room at the Tavern on
• 17:22
  the Green and had just this like larger than life New York
• 17:25
  experience. And I was, I was in college.
• 17:28
  And so, you know, it was like, Oh my gosh, this is absolutely
• 17:33
  fascinating. This is so fascinating.
• 17:37
  And that was my, that was my first New York experience.
• 17:40
  And it was, you know, it's very ritzy and sophisticated, which
• 17:44
  is. A.
• 17:45
  Skewed experience. I mean, that's not everybody's
• 17:50
  New York experience is different, you know what I mean?
• 17:53
  And so I'm, I, I knew from a very early age, this is a unique
• 17:58
  experience and it's special. And, and I was very grateful
• 18:03
  that for the opportunity, but that sort of exposed me to New
• 18:07
  York and said then Constance, like the next year, two years
• 18:10
  later, I went to buying showrooms with her and, and then
• 18:18
  went to a fashion show and it was amazing.
• 18:21
  And I thought, this is really cool.
• 18:22
  And I don't think I was like, I want to be a buyer, but I became
• 18:27
  even more intrigued with, I think just New York City.
• 18:30
  I, I definitely love fashion, but it was more just like the
• 18:35
  excitement of like, this city has so much life and so much
• 18:40
  culture and so much diversity. And like the precocious Whitley
• 18:44
  was right at home. Because there are so many
• 18:47
  corners and pockets and neighborhoods and twists and
• 18:50
  turns and there's so many things that I can get into here, so.
• 18:55
  Do you remember, like, anything in particular that you were
• 18:58
  like, I want to get into that, but maybe on those trips you
• 19:01
  weren't able to at that time, Like, was there something that
• 19:05
  just kept drawing you back to New York when you think about
• 19:10
  it? Well, I mean, ultimately I ended
• 19:14
  up moving there after college. So I think, I don't remember, I
• 19:18
  don't know how to answer a question, but maybe the whole
• 19:20
  thing was like, this is where we're going.
• 19:23
  So that's where we went. It's just the whole.
• 19:25
  Excitement of it. Yeah, and I and I really did not
• 19:29
  know what I wanted to do after college.
• 19:31
  I mean, I had a degree from a grade school.
• 19:34
  I am, you know, intelligent enough to like get by, but I
• 19:40
  didn't have like, I didn't know this is exactly what I want to
• 19:44
  do. And then I don't I so I just
• 19:47
  ended up going there and I think I actually went there because I
• 19:51
  thought and I don't, I might, I don't know if I'm skipping too
• 19:54
  far ahead on. This.
• 19:56
  But but I'm like did I skip? No.
• 20:00
  Not at all. I told you these are like, I
• 20:02
  could throw them out the window. We could just have a
• 20:04
  conversation. This is perfect.
• 20:06
  OK, cool. But I just, I think I just, I
• 20:09
  was like, you know what? I, if I graduate, you know, here
• 20:16
  I am, I went to Saint Mary's Episcopal School in Raleigh and
• 20:20
  then UNC Chapel Hill. And I was graduating from this
• 20:24
  great university, but I had no idea what I wanted to do.
• 20:27
  And I had a few, you know, I didn't, I made some connections.
• 20:31
  I sent some resumes, but I, I really wasn't clear.
• 20:35
  And my husband, Rick, and I have this conversation a lot about
• 20:37
  our children today and like children in general when they
• 20:41
  graduate from high school and years after high school, like,
• 20:45
  what is 1 to do with their life, you know?
• 20:48
  And for me, New York City was an escape.
• 20:52
  It was like, well, if I don't just come right back to, I could
• 20:57
  never move back to Asheville growing up there.
• 21:00
  It was the most idyllic place. And I didn't want to mess with
• 21:02
  that at all. And I knew that if I moved back
• 21:05
  to Asheville in a different time in my life, it would change
• 21:09
  everything. And it was not a good time.
• 21:11
  Plus I was like, it's too small. I need to, you know, you need to
• 21:15
  like, spread your wings. There's a lot of world out there
• 21:18
  to see. So then when I left New York
• 21:21
  City or when after I graduate college, I just felt like the
• 21:25
  South in general, whether it was Charlotte or Asheville or I
• 21:29
  don't know, I just, I didn't know what I wanted to do.
• 21:31
  And I think I felt like if I stayed in the South, I might
• 21:35
  need to look a certain way, dress a certain way, act a
• 21:40
  certain way, be a certain way, fit in a certain way.
• 21:44
  And I didn't know what that certain way was.
• 21:47
  And so New York City was an escape.
• 21:50
  And it gave me time to, like, figure it out.
• 21:54
  And I think at 49, I'm kind of figuring it out.
• 21:59
  But it was more or less an escape because I thought, well,
• 22:04
  I know I'll land on my feet, so whatever happens, let's just go
• 22:09
  see what happens. Yeah, it it sounds like it was
• 22:13
  kind of a, you know, curious Whitley wanting to explore more.
• 22:21
  I can't. I mean, did at that young age,
• 22:24
  did you think I need to escape? Like, or, or was it something
• 22:28
  else like the excitement of it or.
• 22:30
  I don't know what I want to do. New York has a lot of
• 22:33
  opportunities. Like there's just some bright
• 22:35
  lights or whatever, whatever it is to that because I can think
• 22:39
  right now. And you know, you've mentioned
• 22:41
  your children and Rick's children and like my nieces and
• 22:45
  nephews, you know, who are of this age and me being of my age,
• 22:51
  what are we doing? What, you know, there are things
• 22:53
  we do on a day-to-day basis, but you know, just having that
• 22:58
  curiosity and wanting to know more, just kind of that, but
• 23:03
  exploring and giving yourself permission to do that at
• 23:06
  whatever age. Yeah, I don't, I don't think at
• 23:10
  the time it was as much of an escape.
• 23:12
  I mean, I think I've always been like, I think I've always feel
• 23:15
  like I've been pretty grounded and like knowing myself and like
• 23:21
  knowing who I am. And even if I, even when I
• 23:24
  didn't know who I was, I think I still knew who I was.
• 23:28
  You know what I mean? I know what my boundaries for
• 23:32
  myself are. And I mean, I have a pretty, I
• 23:36
  have a pretty long leash on myself, like the kite fries
• 23:39
  pretty high, you know, and then and then I'm like, OK, that's
• 23:45
  you need to wring that in. So, but I think I just, I think
• 23:49
  I just, I think honestly, I didn't, I think graduating from
• 23:56
  Chapel Hill, I knew people that were like, you know, taking at
• 24:01
  the time, I remember forty, $50,000 a year at like, you
• 24:05
  know, JP Morgan, Stanley Chase, Manhattan, whatever on Wall
• 24:10
  Street. And I'm like, I don't have that
• 24:12
  squared away, you know, And I just, and I just, I don't know,
• 24:16
  I just think that if I would have stayed here, there would
• 24:19
  have been too much pressure to be something very specific.
• 24:25
  So if I go to New York, I mean, I, I, I could have waited tables
• 24:30
  and I would have been fine. Like, I mean, it would have, you
• 24:34
  would have been working a lot because it's so expensive to
• 24:37
  live there, but it would have been fine.
• 24:39
  I mean, I was just excited to see the world.
• 24:42
  Yeah. What?
• 24:43
  What did you do when? You we don't have.
• 24:47
  OK. We don't, we don't have enough
• 24:49
  time. I, I had like 3, three jobs.
• 24:53
  I was hospitalized twice. My apartment was vandalized by
• 24:58
  heroin addict. It was a very action-packed two
• 25:05
  years. I'll, I'll tell you without
• 25:07
  going into detail, I was a personal assistant to seven top
• 25:12
  models and three top hair stylist.
• 25:15
  So the world's biggest models and three stylist.
• 25:19
  And then I worked in a, I can't even tell you, it was something
• 25:27
  with computers right now that I was terrible at, but they
• 25:31
  offered me a job and they really wanted me to stay.
• 25:34
  And I was like, I'm not capable of like doing more than I'm
• 25:39
  doing right now. This is not going to work.
• 25:42
  And they were very kind of me. So I had to like, you know, I,
• 25:46
  I, I excused myself and then and then I worked for a the head of
• 25:54
  investor relations for one of the world's largest fashion
• 25:58
  brands that will remain unnamed just because I want to maintain
• 26:01
  my integrity. And that was like a Devil Wears
• 26:06
  Prada experience. And I went running after four
• 26:09
  months. I was the Latin not cut out for
• 26:11
  it. And I was offered like.
• 26:14
  A. Severance package to keep my
• 26:16
  mouth shut. So to this day, I'm going to
• 26:19
  keep my mouth shut. So I learned a lot.
• 26:23
  I learned a lot. I learned a lot.
• 26:25
  And I remember when I decided to leave New York City after, once
• 26:29
  again, I was hospitalized twice. One time I was like practically
• 26:35
  on my deathbed. And then then my apartment is
• 26:40
  vandalized by a heroin addict. I sat on my corner of my bed and
• 26:45
  I said, I remember crying. I was crying.
• 26:49
  And I thought, I think it's time to leave.
• 26:53
  I think it's time to leave. And I didn't want to leave.
• 26:58
  And I didn't want to leave because I'm like a fighter.
• 27:00
  And I felt like if I leave, I'm New York City is like going to
• 27:06
  beat me. And I didn't give, you know, I,
• 27:10
  I just, I just didn't want to, I just didn't want to face defeat.
• 27:15
  And I was probably just being really hard on myself, but I did
• 27:23
  it and I was two of the most awesome years of my life.
• 27:30
  I think everybody should live in New York City for two years if
• 27:32
  they can. New York wasn't the end of your
• 27:35
  story, obviously. You then decided to come back to
• 27:39
  North Carolina. Is that right?
• 27:41
  And how? How we know, I guess somewhat
• 27:48
  what directed you back to North Carolina, but how did you choose
• 27:51
  where you landed and. Because my my mother remarried a
• 27:57
  a fellow that she grew up with in Eastern North Carolina and he
• 28:01
  had lived on the same St. in the same house since like a couple
• 28:07
  years after college. And he, they, once my mom
• 28:13
  remarried, she left Asheville eventually and moved to
• 28:17
  Charlotte. So my mom was here and my
• 28:19
  stepdad and my father was in Fort Mill, SC, right down the
• 28:23
  road. And I had tons of cousins and
• 28:27
  had been coming to Charlotte, you know, basically my whole
• 28:31
  life because my father's was in the area and Charlotte was
• 28:37
  thriving. Pat McCrory was the mayor for
• 28:40
  the second term. He was like 40 years old.
• 28:42
  And you know, Charlotte was, this was 25 years ago.
• 28:47
  So Charlotte was, you know, we had a football team.
• 28:52
  We had a basketball team. It was, you know, it was
• 28:58
  starting to grow and when Charlotte's always been growing,
• 29:02
  but it was like it was still a kind of a small city at the
• 29:07
  time. I would say it's a, it's, I
• 29:10
  don't know, it's, it's big for me.
• 29:14
  But it was clean and green and upwardly mobile.
• 29:18
  And it just seemed like a great place to come.
• 29:20
  And my family was here. So that's why I came here.
• 29:22
  Yeah. And it sounds like those are
• 29:26
  things you saw and you were like, I can come here, I can
• 29:28
  grow. I can thrive.
• 29:30
  Yeah. I have roots.
• 29:33
  Yeah, I mean, I got that out of my system.
• 29:35
  Like I did that thing that I needed to do.
• 29:37
  I mean, I, you know, I got tossed around pretty hard in New
• 29:42
  York City. So once I like was put my tail
• 29:46
  between my legs. I mean, I did.
• 29:48
  And I was like, OK, you know what?
• 29:51
  Next chapter, let's go. Yeah, I'm a bit bad again.
• 29:55
  Yeah, so I mean, even looking back today, do you feel like it
• 29:58
  was tail tucked between your legs or you really like just
• 30:02
  knew and grew and like, learn something about yourself to know
• 30:06
  this ain't it for me? I mean, I think it's a little
• 30:09
  bit of both. I think it's like any
• 30:10
  relationship, like if you're not the one that's ending the
• 30:13
  relationship, you know, it's a little bit of it.
• 30:16
  It's like hurts a little bit. And even if you are the one that
• 30:19
  ends a relationship, it hurts a little bit because like, you
• 30:22
  know, it's like, I don't know, I think probably there are other
• 30:26
  people that are more resilient, but I'm very impacted by the
• 30:31
  world around me and I'm motivated by relationships and
• 30:35
  experiences. So, you know, I had to let go,
• 30:39
  physically let go of that probably sooner than I was ready
• 30:42
  for. But it shaped me.
• 30:47
  And so it was, I mean, I wasn't like sad to be moving to
• 30:51
  Charlotte. It was like it was such a good
• 30:54
  experience and it was is difficult and challenging so
• 30:57
  much so that like coming to Charlotte two years later felt
• 31:01
  like the right thing to do, unlike after when I graduated
• 31:05
  college, right? It was like, oh gosh, I think it
• 31:08
  would be great to go live in this little city where my family
• 31:11
  is. Yeah, I mean, it's nice to be in
• 31:15
  a space in a place where you have support and people around
• 31:20
  you who love you. And I can't, I can't imagine
• 31:25
  like being in New York and going through those experiences and
• 31:29
  everything. But I'm certainly glad you found
• 31:32
  your way. It was a lot.
• 31:33
  I mean, I remember my mom like, you know, like she couldn't
• 31:37
  believe all the things that I was doing on my own by myself.
• 31:40
  And I had, I mean, I had great roommates, but you know, it was,
• 31:44
  I don't know that I would want to do that, that stuff now, but
• 31:48
  I'm, I'm glad I did it. Yeah, yeah, there's a, there's a
• 31:52
  a resilience to you. Oh yeah, for sure.
• 31:57
  I figure it out. Kind of.
• 31:59
  Oh, for sure. Oh, wait.
• 32:01
  Always going to come out on the other side.
• 32:02
  Oh, yeah. So you found your way back to
• 32:07
  North Carolina. You decided to call Charlotte
• 32:10
  home. And since then, it seems like
• 32:16
  you've, again, I don't know your whole story, I want to hear from
• 32:19
  you, but it seems like you have built something here in the
• 32:24
  city. And like, was that something you
• 32:29
  really ever expected when you came back to Charlotte?
• 32:34
  Like, how did that kind of come about for you?
• 32:37
  So I had, I owned and operated a nanny placement service for 8
• 32:44
  1/2 years and I took it over from the woman who started it.
• 32:49
  She was a native charlatan and an investment banker turned
• 32:53
  serial entrepreneur. And I was told that she was
• 32:58
  someone I needed to align myself with and I did it.
• 33:02
  So that's something that's important to me is I, I feel
• 33:05
  like the people that you are around, I've always wanted to be
• 33:15
  with people that I felt like. It's not to say I have been with
• 33:19
  people that probably did not take me higher places, but I've
• 33:22
  always wanted to align myself with people that I felt like
• 33:26
  we're going to be a good influence on me and I could
• 33:30
  learn from. And because I think, you know, I
• 33:35
  have so much to learn all the time.
• 33:37
  So anyway, I worked for this woman and Pipkin, she actually
• 33:44
  owns Gorgeous Glow and Blowout. It was like the first like
• 33:50
  blowout place in all of Charlotte.
• 33:53
  That was one of the many businesses that she started.
• 33:56
  But so I worked for her for 8 1/2 years and it was, I was 26
• 34:02
  years old when I took over this business and was really
• 34:07
  successful at a young age. And it was like the first time I
• 34:12
  felt like I was not trying to fit a square peg in a round hole
• 34:16
  with a, with like trying to find a job.
• 34:19
  I think that was very hard because I could not find
• 34:24
  something that I felt like I was really good at.
• 34:27
  And that made me happy. And I think it took like four or
• 34:30
  five tries, and that was not easy.
• 34:36
  You know, maybe, maybe there's something to be said that I am
• 34:39
  someone who will try anything. You know, maybe other people are
• 34:42
  more safe and they don't put themselves in those types of
• 34:45
  positions. And I do 'cause I feel like I
• 34:50
  should be able to do anything other than math and science and
• 34:56
  fix trucks, you know? But anyway.
• 35:01
  You always look good. Try.
• 35:03
  You know, I mean, so I finally found something and I was
• 35:08
  people, I was basically working with all these high level
• 35:12
  executives, doctors, lawyers, you know, the top bankers at
• 35:16
  Bank of America, you know, all the, you know, all the I mean, I
• 35:21
  was only 26 and I was talking to the the big CE OS across
• 35:26
  Charlotte And at the time, I mean, honestly, Kimberly, it's
• 35:29
  kind of like, I think, you know, you said you created something.
• 35:33
  I still don't really know what you mean, but I think it's
• 35:38
  always in hindsight. At the time, I was just like,
• 35:42
  hi, private placements, this is Whitley.
• 35:45
  How can I help you? You know, it was just like, tell
• 35:48
  me about you, tell me about your family.
• 35:50
  What are you looking for? You know, and just being very
• 35:53
  thoughtful and caring about the people that I was working with.
• 35:58
  And I just wanted to do a good job.
• 36:00
  And I just wanted them. I just would wanted them to have
• 36:04
  what I felt like was good and what I would want if I had
• 36:10
  children. And so anyway, 8 1/2 years, that
• 36:15
  went great. And then I got married and ran
• 36:20
  that business with my oldest son, Hank, who's 18 now, until
• 36:25
  he was three and then worth. I was pregnant with my second
• 36:31
  worth. And once he was born, I said
• 36:34
  there's no way I can run this business anymore to the level
• 36:38
  and give it the attention that I need.
• 36:40
  So I decided to put put it down so I could be a wife and a mom
• 36:46
  and because I knew I wouldn't get that time back.
• 36:49
  So I was like, OK, you know, I'm going to try this thing, you
• 36:52
  know, like I'm going to try to be the best wife and the best
• 36:55
  mom and I'm going to decorate cakes and I'm going to do
• 36:58
  laundry and I'm going to, you know, I'm going to do all the
• 37:00
  things. And and that was that was great.
• 37:04
  But Worth was a newborn and Hank was a toddler and I was very
• 37:13
  quickly started throwing myself into all things creative around
• 37:18
  me. And it might have been hormonal.
• 37:20
  I don't know, probably. But I started throwing myself
• 37:24
  into all things creative, which was I took a sewing class.
• 37:28
  So I was making curtains and clothing for the boys and I was
• 37:32
  redecorating my house and I painted every square inch of
• 37:36
  2400 square feet. I was playing dress up in my
• 37:40
  great grandmother, my grandmother's clothes.
• 37:42
  I was cooking. It was like just like oozing out
• 37:46
  of mouth, you know, I was like nursing creativity, you know, I
• 37:50
  mean, it was just, I mean, seriously, it was like, just
• 37:53
  like oozing out of every orifice.
• 37:55
  And I submitted, I wrote a story.
• 38:00
  I submitted an article to Lucky Magazine.
• 38:03
  Do you remember Lucky Magazine? I mean, so great.
• 38:09
  And it was about my grandmother and my great grandmother and
• 38:12
  they said we love it, we want to run it.
• 38:15
  And they ran it on the Backpage. Jessica Simpson was on the
• 38:18
  cover. I thought it was November 2011.
• 38:22
  My husband told me last night it was December.
• 38:26
  It's been 15 years. It'll be 15 years in November,
• 38:30
  December, so. Yeah, yeah.
• 38:35
  And so anyway, I just absolutely flipped out when I saw that.
• 38:42
  And I was, I was actually in Asheville for something and I
• 38:46
  was with my husband John at the time, my husband at the time.
• 38:50
  And I was at Ingles on Tunnel Rd.
• 38:55
  And I was like, ran through the supermarket out and there, there
• 39:00
  it was. And that was that was it.
• 39:02
  And so I, my husband at the time, John, is a software
• 39:07
  developer. And so I was like, I need a
• 39:10
  website. We live in the Queen City.
• 39:13
  Charlotte is the Queen City. And I will just write about all
• 39:18
  things stylish and OK, let's just call the Queen City style.
• 39:23
  And so he built me a website. And next thing I knew, all those
• 39:27
  projects, I was like putting them on this thing that was a
• 39:32
  blog. And so it all started as a
• 39:36
  fashion blog, and it just grew from there.
• 39:39
  What sounds like it all started from you painting every square
• 39:42
  inch of your 2400 square foot home and then back to.
• 39:47
  Or it started playing dress up as a 2 year old.
• 39:50
  You know it goes all the way back.
• 39:52
  It does. It does.
• 39:54
  It does. That's incredible.
• 39:55
  Can you believe it's been 15 years?
• 40:00
  No, I cannot. I can't.
• 40:04
  No, no. Because I mean, you know, every
• 40:08
  day I wake up and I look in the mirror and I don't think I look
• 40:10
  a day over 24. So I don't know how it's been 15
• 40:13
  years, you know, part of the like excitement of the Queen
• 40:22
  City style, the evolution of the Queen City style, as I feel
• 40:25
  like, you know, once I finally was able to monetize what I was
• 40:30
  doing and didn't just have to, you know, use myself as AI mean
• 40:36
  I was, I was a free entity. I didn't have the resources to
• 40:40
  hire anybody to do anything. I just it just organically did
• 40:44
  it. But anyway, I've what's been
• 40:48
  great is I've been able to use myself as a platform for hearing
• 40:56
  other people's stories, like letting people, other people
• 41:01
  tell their stories. So that's been fun.
• 41:04
  I like story, I like storytelling.
• 41:06
  I like hearing other people's stories.
• 41:08
  I'm currently completely glued to the Murdoch story so.
• 41:16
  That's. I mean, I'm like, I just went to
• 41:19
  Edisto, went for for four days with friends and like that's
• 41:23
  where their beach house was. And so then next thing you know,
• 41:26
  we were like purging, like the the new Hulu, I mean, you know,
• 41:31
  it's just absolutely riveting. It's a just a riveting story,
• 41:36
  so. All right, so let's hop right
• 41:39
  back into our conversation. And obviously, we're talking
• 41:45
  about your anniversary, 15 years, whether it's November or
• 41:49
  December. Yeah, exactly.
• 41:53
  We'll have to Do you have it. You don't have a copy of this
• 41:55
  letter. I have it framed.
• 41:56
  I have it framed. Yeah.
• 41:58
  It's framed in my house. OK, Yeah.
• 42:00
  So yeah, I can send you a picture if you want to see it.
• 42:02
  I love I would love to see a picture.
• 42:04
  So, but so it ran. So I think I date my business,
• 42:10
  OK, I started the blog November 1st.
• 42:16
  I think that's what happened, right?
• 42:19
  And then I think, I think I probably started the blog
• 42:23
  because I knew the story was going to run and I in Mama, it's
• 42:28
  been 15 years. So it's, I think that's probably
• 42:32
  why in my head, November 1st is the date in my head.
• 42:36
  And it's probably it's probably because I like had the blog
• 42:41
  live, so you got to just like pick a date, so.
• 42:44
  Right, you lost the blog. The article is coming quick,
• 42:48
  fast and in a hurry. But did you ever like at that
• 42:53
  time, what did you feel like success looked like?
• 42:56
  Or were you just kind of like, I need to get this created
• 42:59
  creativity out of me and you've been oozing and oozing and.
• 43:03
  I had no, there was no like business plan.
• 43:07
  There was no, you know, there was no like, you know, it, it
• 43:10
  was, it was very reactive to what was, it was like New York
• 43:13
  City. Yeah.
• 43:14
  It was like, Oh my gosh, this is happening.
• 43:16
  This is so great. And I have always sort of felt
• 43:20
  like the Queen City style since and since inception was like,
• 43:29
  OK, I'm sitting in a carriage and there's all these wild
• 43:33
  horses out in front and I've got the reins and there's like, I
• 43:38
  can't even count how many horses there are.
• 43:40
  And they are like taking off. And I'm holding on for dear
• 43:44
  life. And sometimes I gain control.
• 43:46
  And I think, OK, we're going in this direction.
• 43:48
  And then, OK, we're then we're going over here.
• 43:50
  But for the most part, I would say I feel like I've been like,
• 43:53
  Oh my God, here we go, where are we going?
• 43:55
  What are we doing? You know?
• 43:57
  And so I've just been very organic and I've just taken it
• 44:04
  all as it comes. And you know, Kimberly, there
• 44:07
  have been times where I have thought, OK, if I could just sit
• 44:12
  down and have a really thought out business plan and I could
• 44:15
  have afford to, you know, hire somebody to do this and do this,
• 44:20
  it would make me, you know, a real business, you know, and
• 44:26
  make me more credible. And, you know, like, you know,
• 44:33
  in my mind, I mean, I didn't have a plan.
• 44:35
  It just sort of organically happened.
• 44:38
  And I think that for me anyways, those are when things are have I
• 44:48
  feel like I've had the most success, like in relationships
• 44:53
  too. I mean, you can't force
• 44:55
  something. And there's certainly times
• 44:57
  where I've wanted to do things or I've wanted to be considered
• 45:02
  for things, or I've wanted someone to call me and say, Hey,
• 45:05
  could you do this? But it's, it's, you know, it's
• 45:13
  just, I've just, I've been so excited and grateful for every
• 45:19
  opportunity that comes my way that I've just taken it as it
• 45:24
  comes my way and just try to be grateful for every single, every
• 45:30
  single thing because it's all a part of shaping me into who I
• 45:35
  am. So I don't want to, I don't want
• 45:38
  to chase something, you know, I mean, you know, there there's
• 45:43
  like there's a well anyway, I'll I got to formulate my thoughts
• 45:53
  on that one and I might bring it back to you.
• 45:54
  But anyway, yeah, so that's where I am on that all.
• 45:57
  Right. So Whitley, he started a queen,
• 46:02
  the Queen City style. Log. 15 years ago and Whitley,
• 46:06
  he sits here today like thinking back, is there anything Whitley
• 46:14
  15 years ago might be really proud of you for today sitting
• 46:22
  here? Well, sure, yeah.
• 46:28
  I mean, I, I don't know that I would say I'm, I'm proud of me
• 46:35
  for this because I'm just being myself.
• 46:37
  But I think I've, I've just, I'm always me and authentically me
• 46:44
  and who I am. And like what you see is what
• 46:47
  you get. And, you know, that's probably
• 46:50
  something to be proud of, but I don't have to work very hard at
• 46:57
  that. You know, I just am who I am.
• 47:02
  Yeah, I mean, sure. I mean, I I look at the IT list,
• 47:08
  it's been 10 years and I know you want to talk about that.
• 47:11
  So I would say, I would say that I'm proud of because when I came
• 47:18
  up with this idea to create this list that would shine a light on
• 47:24
  unique individuals, diverse groups of individuals in our
• 47:29
  community with the common denominator of style killer
• 47:33
  personal style. When I came up with this idea
• 47:38
  and first took it to this photographer named Chris
• 47:43
  Edwards, who at the time I had never worked with him but very
• 47:50
  much knew his work and really respected him and wanted the
• 47:56
  opportunity to work with him. His wife at the time, he he, she
• 48:01
  told me that she said if Whitley ever calls you, you, you need to
• 48:05
  say yes. Which that in itself was.
• 48:07
  I was like very flattered to know that after the fact that
• 48:11
  anyone would say that about me. But he when I'll never forget.
• 48:16
  We were at Panera and I pitched it to him.
• 48:18
  I said this, I have this idea. And he said, I love it.
• 48:22
  I'd love to do it. And I was like, Oh my God, Chris
• 48:25
  Edwards wants to work with me. Couldn't believe it.
• 48:29
  And so at that point I said, I called my friend Marsha Merrill,
• 48:34
  who owned a marketing firm, and I said, I think, you know, I
• 48:41
  could take it. You know, there were a few,
• 48:45
  several publications in that the, the city at the time.
• 48:48
  And we both felt like Southport magazine made the most sense.
• 48:53
  And Sarah Crawslin was the editor at the time.
• 48:56
  And I, I called her and, and I told her my thoughts and she
• 49:04
  said I had, I had, I had already been contributing to, I was
• 49:07
  contributing to most of the magazines in town.
• 49:11
  But I called her and I said, here's my idea.
• 49:15
  Are you interested? And she said, I love it.
• 49:19
  Thank you for bringing it to me. And yes, and I couldn't believe
• 49:23
  it. I was just like, I can't
• 49:25
  believe. So the cover was, so we shot it
• 49:30
  at Chris, photographed it at my friend Pam Stowe's house, who's,
• 49:38
  you know, one of my very best friends and is a very best
• 49:43
  friend to anybody and everybody in this community that meets
• 49:47
  her. Beautiful human.
• 49:49
  She is, she is also what you see is what you get, 0 pretenses.
• 49:58
  She's done a lot for the community and the arts and style
• 50:03
  and fashion and philanthropic organizations across the city.
• 50:10
  And, you know, a lot of people know her and she's the most down
• 50:17
  to earth person and I'm very lucky that she wanted to be my
• 50:23
  friend. And I called her up, and I said,
• 50:27
  I have this idea. Can I use your house?
• 50:30
  Can I borrow your house for this photo shoot?
• 50:33
  And also, I want you to be a part of it.
• 50:35
  And she said yes. So all these people said yes.
• 50:38
  And yeah, I mean, I couldn't believe it.
• 50:42
  And the cover was Laura Van Root, who owns this upscale
• 50:49
  luxury boutique in Charlotte called Capital that is one of
• 50:53
  the most renowned boutiques in the world, in the country,
• 50:57
  certainly. And then this interior designer
• 51:01
  named Barry Benson, who I've always admired her work.
• 51:05
  And then Shanny Johnson, who is the wife of NASCAR driver Jimmie
• 51:10
  Johnson, who is one of the kindest human beings I have ever
• 51:15
  known in the city. And she has impeccable taste.
• 51:18
  And the three of them wound up on the cover because we had
• 51:24
  trouble. I broke the photo shoot into two
• 51:27
  days like I have every year. But three of them were all
• 51:31
  traveling like internationally and we had to shoot them.
• 51:36
  And interestingly enough, it was just, it just worked out that I
• 51:40
  said, OK, well, we're going to get we're going to have to shoot
• 51:43
  them. So they were on the cover.
• 51:46
  And I think it is looks like the cover of Town and Country.
• 51:51
  Quite frankly, I think town and country should hire me to
• 51:56
  produce. This is this is my this is my
• 51:59
  ask. Here's my opportunity.
• 52:01
  Town and Country, that's my. Application.
• 52:05
  That's my it's my dream. It's my dream.
• 52:07
  I've been cutting out pictures of runway shows as a child in
• 52:13
  the 80s. That is a fashion memory I did
• 52:15
  not share with you. But as a young girl in
• 52:18
  Asheville, I used to cut all the runway shows out that they would
• 52:21
  print in the magazine and I would make my own look books.
• 52:24
  And so that has been my dream my whole life.
• 52:27
  So anybody is like from that, you know, is from town and
• 52:34
  country is watching this podcast.
• 52:36
  I'm your girl. She's been dreaming about.
• 52:41
  This I haven't I haven't I know I can do it so anyway, the photo
• 52:45
  is beautiful there's some of all parts the the ladies had
• 52:50
  incredible original style. Chris's photograph was
• 52:52
  wonderful. The background, the backdrop,
• 52:54
  everything was great. And that was the the first year.
• 52:58
  And I look back, I don't think at the time I realized what was
• 53:02
  happening, but I think everything is in hindsight.
• 53:05
  So I look back and I felt proud that you know now.
• 53:12
  Yeah. Now, because it's been 10 years,
• 53:16
  and look at all that incredible style and all that diversity and
• 53:20
  our community, from people from every neighborhood and every
• 53:26
  walk and talk and every style, and it's like very Kumbaya,
• 53:30
  which is the way we should be, I think, as a world, as a society,
• 53:35
  as a community, as a culture. And we're not.
• 53:38
  But, you know, even if for just a few days, for something as
• 53:45
  lighthearted as fashion, we can be together and be joyful and
• 53:51
  celebrate. And there is the precocious
• 53:54
  daydreamer, little girl Whitley. So you did that.
• 54:00
  Well, thanks. You did that and you continue to
• 54:02
  do that every year. Yeah, even.
• 54:06
  And I realize we're celebrating the IT, it, it was for 10 years.
• 54:11
  Yeah. But you've been doing that for a
• 54:13
  very long time because you've found ways to forge
• 54:20
  relationships with people around you for people to build, or you
• 54:28
  building people's trust in you. They know you can do the job and
• 54:33
  you continue to do it beautifully and beyond
• 54:36
  expectation, I'm sure. I have no idea.
• 54:40
  I mean the magazine, you know, it's always total, some of the
• 54:44
  parts. And I would be remiss if I
• 54:46
  didn't like immediately say that my first mate, my my partner in
• 54:52
  crime, Richard in Israel, you know, I, I would not, I would be
• 54:57
  in a gutter without that man. He's my, you know, he's been a
• 55:02
  husband, a best friend, a brother, you know, we have a
• 55:05
  great relationship. And I think that's probably part
• 55:08
  of the reason why the project at least seems to be so I hear back
• 55:14
  from people all the time how much fun they have.
• 55:16
  And I think it's because, you know, I think I believe in top
• 55:19
  down management and I think that we have incredible chemistry and
• 55:24
  it's very light hearted. And you know, while fashion is
• 55:28
  a, you know, gajillion dollar business, it's one of the
• 55:31
  biggest businesses in the world. I personally think, you know,
• 55:35
  it's not something that needs to be, you know, probably all the
• 55:39
  like super big fashion people in the world are going to call me
• 55:41
  an imposter, but I just I don't think it's something that we
• 55:45
  need to take like too seriously because you know, there's much.
• 55:49
  But anyway, it's something that brings people together and
• 55:53
  Richard is to be recognized for photographing everybody so
• 55:57
  beautifully. And the magazine, I would say
• 56:02
  it's been, you know, they, every editor I've had and the
• 56:11
  publisher, they all trust me to just do my thing.
• 56:17
  And I recognize that that is definitely something that
• 56:22
  doesn't happen in the corporate world.
• 56:24
  And it's a beautiful thing. And I'm grateful that they trust
• 56:30
  me and Richard to do what we do. Fashion doesn't have to be so
• 56:38
  serious. And you're, you're right, I
• 56:43
  think there's a lot more to fashion and then there's like
• 56:45
  this element of style. And So what you seek out and
• 56:49
  even in your namesake Queen City style, it's not all about
• 56:53
  fashion because something could be right, the thrift store or it
• 56:56
  could be from a designer, retailer or the most high end
• 57:00
  boutique. And it's all in the way the
• 57:03
  person wears it, carries it. And I've heard you say it
• 57:10
  before, the way they exist in the world and how they treat.
• 57:16
  Other people, right. I mean it's.
• 57:18
  All of the elements and all of the things really like feed into
• 57:22
  that. Yeah, it is for me, style.
• 57:26
  We all have our own definitions of style, but for me, I think
• 57:32
  the most, you know, most beautiful to me, the most
• 57:40
  definitive thing about personal style is how you carry yourself
• 57:44
  and how you treat other treat other people.
• 57:49
  You know, that is the kumbaya response, you know, because not
• 57:55
  everybody who looks cool, you know, you know, you can all it
• 58:00
  with a project like this, you know, you can.
• 58:03
  I've really never had a situation where to my knowledge,
• 58:09
  anyone was unkind. Anyone, you know, and everybody
• 58:12
  should be able to play, play well with each other.
• 58:14
  And it did. It does happen.
• 58:18
  But I think that that is the most important thing.
• 58:21
  But, you know, it's really about being true to yourself.
• 58:25
  And it's a form of self-expression.
• 58:29
  It's a form of self-expression. And so I, you know, I diversity
• 58:36
  is at the helm of this project, but the number one example is
• 58:42
  diverse personal style, kill, you know, killer, diverse killer
• 58:46
  personal style. And I think the best way that
• 58:49
  you can display that is you. You're expressing yourself from
• 58:54
  within, you know, whether that's being drawn towards a certain
• 59:02
  genre or a certain style based on your figure or a certain
• 59:09
  decade, you know it's being true to yourself.
• 59:11
  I guess everyone who kind of supported that journey and that
• 59:16
  the idea like it really did, it all started with you had an
• 59:20
  idea. There wasn't a publication that
• 59:22
  you were specific working with at the time, right idea.
• 59:27
  Yeah, a photographer whose wife said you must say yes and thank
• 59:30
  God for her. Right.
• 59:32
  Like Elizabeth Edwards, she just got her like masters degree at
• 59:35
  Harvard. Obviously she's smart, but yes.
• 59:39
  Duh. And did she?
• 59:40
  Had she found you through the blog originally or what was like
• 59:44
  a relationship or connection there?
• 59:46
  I think the first time I met Elizabeth, well, she worked at
• 59:51
  Arsberger Papers. Do you know who they are?
• 59:54
  So they have been printing paper in Charlotte for probably like
• 1:00:00
  100 years, like a really long time.
• 1:00:03
  So all of the like very finest stationary.
• 1:00:07
  Like if you want to gift yourself something exquisite, it
• 1:00:12
  would be your own stationary from Arsberger.
• 1:00:18
  It is like. Yeah, it's lovely.
• 1:00:21
  So Elizabeth worked there, and I don't know that that's how I
• 1:00:25
  knew her. I hosted a trunk show with my
• 1:00:32
  vintage dress dealer at the time, House of Lander from
• 1:00:36
  Raleigh, which is where I got my puff pink, puff paint peplum
• 1:00:41
  dress at Pam Stowe's house. We hosted her together and
• 1:00:48
  Elizabeth was there and that might have been the first time I
• 1:00:52
  met Elizabeth. She came and this was probably
• 1:00:58
  1213 years ago at this point. So like pop ups weren't even
• 1:01:01
  like a thing at the time. Like we were just so.
• 1:01:05
  You were trailblazing the pop up.
• 1:01:08
  Pop up Trailblazer. I mean, it all starts with an
• 1:01:14
  idea though, right? And I mean, it certainly wasn't
• 1:01:17
  our idea, but I was the first one that I went to anyway.
• 1:01:21
  That's, I think where I'm at. Elizabeth.
• 1:01:23
  Yeah. So who was married to Chris at
• 1:01:27
  the time? Yeah, but she met you.
• 1:01:30
  She saw you. She believed in you.
• 1:01:32
  Yeah, as it sounds like many people have over the years.
• 1:01:36
  But. Oh.
• 1:01:37
  Nice. Her husband then said yes when
• 1:01:40
  you he did for the project and then the magazine, you decided,
• 1:01:44
  I know there were a number in Charlotte in the market at the
• 1:01:49
  time, but you decided on South Park Magazine being the one that
• 1:01:54
  you really wanted to work with and.
• 1:01:57
  I mean, it makes the most sense. It's the city's luxury arts and
• 1:02:02
  culture magazine. So I mean, it's fashion, it's
• 1:02:05
  style, it's arts, it's culture, it's everything all in one.
• 1:02:10
  And the second year, Chris was traveling all summer long for
• 1:02:17
  work. And I said, who do you think we
• 1:02:22
  should ask? And I, who do you think I should
• 1:02:24
  ask? And I, I knew who I was going to
• 1:02:27
  ask, but I just wanted Chris's blessing.
• 1:02:32
  And I wanted Chris to be in control.
• 1:02:35
  Like I wanted him to have some control in that decision because
• 1:02:38
  I respect him so much. And he said, well, I think
• 1:02:41
  Richard and I always said, well, duh.
• 1:02:44
  So Richard and I were very close at the time, but.
• 1:02:52
  How had that relationship, I guess like how did you meet
• 1:02:56
  Richard originally or was it through styled photo shoots that
• 1:03:02
  you are because you were a contributor for numerous
• 1:03:05
  magazines? Is that kind of where that
• 1:03:07
  started with him or? He there is a a guy named Hilary
• 1:03:11
  Crittenden who was on the list the second year who had a blog
• 1:03:18
  called The So Good and she had it with a business partner.
• 1:03:22
  And she was basically highlighting individuals across
• 1:03:27
  various vocations that she like from her standpoint of what she
• 1:03:37
  thought was cool and whatever. And Richard Israel was hired by
• 1:03:45
  Hillary to come and photograph me for the So Good.
• 1:03:49
  And he came to a photo shoot, a fashion editorial in Fort Mill
• 1:03:55
  for Fort Mill magazine at the time.
• 1:03:59
  And I was styling a photo shoot for the magazine.
• 1:04:03
  And he came and took pictures of me styling the shoot.
• 1:04:06
  And that was the first time we met.
• 1:04:07
  And we just hit it off. I mean, look, you have to be
• 1:04:10
  dead if you don't hit it off with Richard.
• 1:04:12
  And actually even a dead person would hit it off, you know.
• 1:04:15
  I mean, his voice is just so his like accent is just so fabulous
• 1:04:18
  that it will just like probably draw a dead person out of their
• 1:04:21
  grave in every, you know. So that's how we met and we were
• 1:04:30
  kind of sort of joined in hip ever since.
• 1:04:33
  Yeah. So year 2 he joins the project,
• 1:04:36
  the, the IT list project. And it's kind of just been the
• 1:04:40
  two Musketeers. Yeah, well, since then, right.
• 1:04:43
  And, and and I know that he you've had to sub in maybe once.
• 1:04:50
  Yeah. A couple and also Josiah Reed,
• 1:04:53
  who does hair and makeup. He's an incredible artist in
• 1:04:56
  town and he's actually also a photographer.
• 1:04:59
  He is has always been there for on site touch ups.
• 1:05:03
  We've had a couple other people. Elizabeth Tully has participated
• 1:05:06
  before in the past, but Josiah has been on set since the second
• 1:05:11
  year or the third or at least the third year anyway.
• 1:05:16
  So he's he's been there. So it's been more like 3 muskets
• 1:05:20
  years. But what was your question about
• 1:05:25
  Richard? I was just kind of wondering
• 1:05:28
  where the relationship started so.
• 1:05:30
  I told you that. Yeah, we we got through there.
• 1:05:34
  I. 2 Musketeers. 3 Musketeers. Two to three, the here we are 10
• 1:05:40
  years later and you're still going strong.
• 1:05:44
  Yeah. Like.
• 1:05:46
  You really are, and it really is more than three Musketeers
• 1:05:51
  because you find a way to bring in like you have a whole hype
• 1:05:54
  team even right. You have other, you know,
• 1:05:58
  supporting people who who join year over year to kind of
• 1:06:02
  support the the vision, the ID, maybe not the ideation of
• 1:06:07
  because you go through a whole process of choosing a location.
• 1:06:12
  You choose your Yep list, you invite people, and then you have
• 1:06:17
  to wait to hear back. And I'm sure sometimes, maybe, I
• 1:06:20
  don't know if things get lost in spam, people need to add
• 1:06:23
  Whitley's e-mail address to your not spam folder.
• 1:06:27
  That has happened before. That has happened before.
• 1:06:31
  I mean, not, I haven't had many people say no.
• 1:06:36
  Most people are like very excited to be a part of it.
• 1:06:38
  But I, you know, there are, there are two or three or four
• 1:06:45
  people like since the very beginning that I've not the very
• 1:06:50
  beginning, but I will generally want them to be a part of it
• 1:06:53
  year after year, like 3 or 4 years.
• 1:06:55
  And they're always, I mean, like there's some pretty fabulous
• 1:07:00
  people in Charlotte and they, they travel.
• 1:07:04
  But I think, I think everybody that's on the list in my
• 1:07:10
  experience, I don't know everybody when I ask them, I
• 1:07:15
  mean, I know a lot of people, but I don't know everybody.
• 1:07:19
  And I think that people are pretty grounded and, you know,
• 1:07:23
  they're excited about it and they want they want to do it.
• 1:07:27
  But there's, there's been a few times where there's been a
• 1:07:30
  couple people that have tried and I, you know, they travel a
• 1:07:34
  lot or, you know, maybe maybe they're not comfortable, you
• 1:07:40
  know, being having their picture taken for whatever reason.
• 1:07:45
  And, and that's totally acceptable.
• 1:07:47
  I mean, everybody has things going on in their personal lives
• 1:07:51
  or their public professional lives or public lives and, you
• 1:07:55
  know, so everybody, yeah. Well, what can we talk a little
• 1:08:02
  bit about how you come up with your list every year?
• 1:08:05
  I know it's kind of a, a range. We talked from year one, the
• 1:08:09
  cover being three people, but there are more people of course
• 1:08:13
  that were part of the list then. But from then to now a a variety
• 1:08:19
  of numbers of people each year. How, how do you think through
• 1:08:23
  that? How do you come up with your
• 1:08:24
  list? Well, there's usually, there's
• 1:08:27
  usually between 20 and 25 people.
• 1:08:30
  And as I said, diversity as of the, the core of it, the number
• 1:08:35
  one type of diversity being stylistic diversity and then,
• 1:08:43
  you know, all the other expected forms of diversity.
• 1:08:46
  But I love having people that are not from all, from one
• 1:08:50
  neighborhood. I mean, certainly South Park is
• 1:08:54
  a neighborhood in Charlotte, but I think the the magazine can be
• 1:08:59
  picked up by anybody in Charlotte and I want it to be
• 1:09:03
  picked up by people in Charlotte that don't just live in one
• 1:09:07
  neighborhood. And I think, you know, the
• 1:09:09
  publisher and the editor would certainly agree with that.
• 1:09:13
  So I just want, I want people to look different.
• 1:09:17
  I want people to be different shapes and different sizes and
• 1:09:21
  different colors and come from different neighborhoods.
• 1:09:25
  And usually when you do that, you have very diverse types of
• 1:09:30
  personal style because it's not everybody from just one
• 1:09:34
  neighborhood that shops at the same store.
• 1:09:38
  So that's that's really been at the forefront of the list is
• 1:09:44
  like what's going to look interesting together.
• 1:09:47
  And I mean, there's been a couple times over the, the
• 1:09:52
  course of the list where, you know, I've had people reach out
• 1:09:56
  and express their, you know, displeasure and not having been
• 1:10:02
  asked or their interest in being asked.
• 1:10:05
  And, you know, for the most part, everyone's really happy
• 1:10:11
  and really joyful. But you know, it's good to give
• 1:10:15
  some people something to talk about, like Bonnie Raitt said,
• 1:10:18
  right? If it's, you know, if it's too
• 1:10:20
  expected, you know, like, I mean, there's people that I want
• 1:10:24
  to ask that have been around for a really long time.
• 1:10:27
  But if we have a year that it's like, you know, 10 people that
• 1:10:32
  all come from the same neighborhood and have been
• 1:10:34
  around for a long time, that's not going to make it very
• 1:10:36
  diverse. So I try to, I try to mix it up
• 1:10:40
  and keep it exciting and unexpected.
• 1:10:43
  Yeah, in, in, in all the years so far of putting the list
• 1:10:49
  together, has there been any year that has I guess brought
• 1:10:55
  you any surprises or like you've surprised yourself maybe on set,
• 1:11:02
  if you will, because again, I know you're choosing locations
• 1:11:06
  and sets ahead of time. You're scouting all of that out
• 1:11:09
  you you aren't styling and that's the one thing to make
• 1:11:13
  clear. You are not styling the people.
• 1:11:15
  You have chosen them because of their own impeccable killer
• 1:11:18
  personal style. And so they style themselves.
• 1:11:22
  They're in charge of their own hair and makeup, all of that.
• 1:11:24
  You give recommendations if they need it for the hair and makeup,
• 1:11:28
  the size there to touch up like clear all of that.
• 1:11:31
  Yes, yes. So you show up on set, you have
• 1:11:35
  you may have some expectations of the day, but you are so keen
• 1:11:40
  on and you're so gifted with the juxtaposition, juxtaposition, if
• 1:11:46
  you will, of environment, people, the diversity, the
• 1:11:51
  style. Like is there any like are there
• 1:11:54
  moments that just kind of jump out to you as just super
• 1:12:01
  memorable, surprising anything? And.
• 1:12:06
  I wish I could say yes, but I mean, it's every, I mean, I've,
• 1:12:10
  I've only had, I would probably, I mean, I would say in 10 years,
• 1:12:15
  I've probably, I could probably count 4 things that sort of did
• 1:12:22
  that really just happen or did that person really just say
• 1:12:25
  that? Or, you know, that's 250 people,
• 1:12:33
  that's 44 surprises that are not, you know, good surprises.
• 1:12:37
  That's that's a pretty small number, right?
• 1:12:40
  I mean, it's been a pretty beautiful, pleasant ride.
• 1:12:44
  Yeah, so far. Yeah.
• 1:12:46
  I don't even mean like something that wouldn't be good, but just
• 1:12:49
  a surprise in a way that just you were extra pleased or you're
• 1:12:53
  just. I'm always pleased, right?
• 1:12:55
  I'm always pleased. I mean, I invite the people to
• 1:12:58
  come and so, you know, everyone that comes brings their A game.
• 1:13:03
  It's like it's so pleasing. It's like can't, it's like candy
• 1:13:07
  store on Christmas morning. I mean everyone, everyone takes
• 1:13:12
  the assignment like joyfully and they come and they and they,
• 1:13:17
  they use it as an opportunity to express themselves.
• 1:13:21
  And that is so great. Everybody's happy.
• 1:13:24
  It's a very joyful. Like I said, I've only had a few
• 1:13:27
  times where I've thought, but I mean it's over the overarching
• 1:13:35
  feeling, at least from my perspective and I hope from
• 1:13:39
  everybody else's that it's a really fun time and have people
• 1:13:43
  walk away with excitement to have met new friends that are
• 1:13:47
  not from their neighborhood. Yeah.
• 1:13:49
  Well, I know again, from being in Charlotte for 11 years and
• 1:13:53
  this being part of 10 years of it, every year when it comes
• 1:13:57
  out, I'm just waiting to see who's going to be on the list.
• 1:14:01
  So this year being the 10th year, that's.
• 1:14:04
  Right. What can you share without
• 1:14:08
  giving away too many secrets about the shoot or about the
• 1:14:14
  folks who we're going to see featured?
• 1:14:18
  OK, well, I can tell you that the I can tell you and, and we
• 1:14:25
  yesterday, what's today, Tuesday or Wednesday, Tuesday, yesterday
• 1:14:29
  was day three. We this is the first year now,
• 1:14:33
  this is the very first year we had three days.
• 1:14:35
  And this year we've had three days and it was in order to
• 1:14:38
  accommodate travel. And you know, I didn't want to,
• 1:14:41
  if I, if it's like one or two people, I can say I'll ask you
• 1:14:45
  next year, but if it's like 3 or 4 people that I really want to
• 1:14:49
  be, then I'm going to make accommodation.
• 1:14:52
  So I would say that the location I'm excited about, because it
• 1:14:59
  is, if there is one place in any city that draws A diverse group
• 1:15:09
  of people, it would be a don't say it.
• 1:15:15
  We'll just leave everybody on the edge of their seat.
• 1:15:17
  OK, it's about I don't know where it.
• 1:15:20
  Is it's a public space. It's a public space.
• 1:15:24
  And then the other thing about this year is since it's 10
• 1:15:30
  years, I thought it would be fun to have the usual number of
• 1:15:34
  people that are asked to be photographed for the first time.
• 1:15:38
  But I thought it would be fun to bring back people that have been
• 1:15:41
  featured in the past, from past years to see how to have to have
• 1:15:48
  them included as well and see how their style has evolved over
• 1:15:51
  time. I mean, 10 years is there were
• 1:15:53
  people from the very first year that were there.
• 1:15:55
  So you know, 10 years is a long time.
• 1:15:58
  Right. And personal style can evolve
• 1:16:01
  and change vastly. I mean.
• 1:16:03
  Absolutely. Think about back on all the
• 1:16:05
  decades of style through the years.
• 1:16:08
  But yeah, yeah, that's, that's incredible.
• 1:16:11
  So you've got some O GS, you've got some new faces.
• 1:16:14
  Yep, and we are excited for this new feature, but obviously the
• 1:16:20
  IT list does not define you as a whole.
• 1:16:23
  That is, my cat has decided to join the the conversation.
• 1:16:33
  We are excited though, to be here and just write 10 years
• 1:16:36
  with you and 15 years of the Queen City style.
• 1:16:41
  OK, I will tell you one more thing that I'm proud of.
• 1:16:44
  I can tell you this because I, so I, because it's always in
• 1:16:52
  hindsight and I tell you this because if there's anyone, I
• 1:16:56
  think what I would like to be doing, you know, who knows
• 1:17:00
  what's next? But I think at this point, I now
• 1:17:05
  feel like I am in a position to look back on some experiences
• 1:17:10
  and say that I would love to use those experiences to help
• 1:17:16
  inspire other people. And I think that a lot of I
• 1:17:21
  have, I've been said no to a lot like way more times than I've
• 1:17:26
  been said yes to. And I've taken a lot of risks
• 1:17:31
  and I've fallen down a lot. And I think those are that's
• 1:17:36
  what's most important. But I think about those moments.
• 1:17:41
  And then I will say that I was contributing to a number of
• 1:17:47
  magazines at the time and you know, more than 10 years ago.
• 1:17:51
  And my, the, my second editor at the time was very stretched then
• 1:17:59
  because she was managing 3 magazines at the time.
• 1:18:02
  And I went to her and I said, I see you're, you're doing this
• 1:18:08
  and I'm, I'm doing this and I'm doing this and this and this.
• 1:18:11
  Could we, could we create a position for me and call it the
• 1:18:15
  style editor? And she said, I would love to do
• 1:18:18
  that. And then the magazine was
• 1:18:21
  announced like 2 months, three months later that it was going
• 1:18:24
  to be sold. And we were all standing there
• 1:18:26
  thinking what, what, what does that mean?
• 1:18:29
  And the owner, the current owner who lives in Pinehurst, I
• 1:18:32
  remember calling him on the phone and saying, hi, David,
• 1:18:36
  this is Whitley Hamlin. Hamlin, at the time, you, you
• 1:18:40
  don't have any idea who I am, but do you mind if I tell you?
• 1:18:44
  And I did and I just said this is who I am.
• 1:18:47
  This is what I do with South Park Magazine.
• 1:18:49
  And, you know, I really, I really don't.
• 1:18:53
  I really have exciting things I want to do with this magazine.
• 1:18:56
  And I hope that you'll give me the opportunity because, you
• 1:18:58
  know, I didn't know if it was going to be like a corporate, a
• 1:19:01
  corporate role where, you know, I like they bring in their own
• 1:19:04
  team and they get rid of it of everyone.
• 1:19:05
  But I was so excited. And he said, well, I don't
• 1:19:08
  actually own the magazine yet. It hasn't even happened yet.
• 1:19:12
  It's it's we're working on it. And he said, and and when I do,
• 1:19:15
  you're going to have to talk to the editor.
• 1:19:18
  And she's coming from Business North Carolina magazine.
• 1:19:21
  And that was Kathy Martin, who has been my third editor.
• 1:19:23
  And she's incredible. And I asked her if we can meet
• 1:19:28
  and we did. And she was like, I'm going to
• 1:19:31
  need like 3 months or, you know, a little bit of time.
• 1:19:34
  And so after she got settled, she was like, yeah, that sounds
• 1:19:38
  great. So that was a little, that was
• 1:19:41
  like 1111 years ago. OK.
• 1:19:45
  So that's something I'm really proud of because I do think
• 1:19:50
  there was a time where I thought you have to be in New York City
• 1:19:54
  or, you know, some big city to have this, you know, this career
• 1:19:57
  in these dreams that are, you know, these dreams in order to
• 1:20:01
  fulfill them. And it's only in high sight that
• 1:20:05
  I can look back and think, oh, wow, I think there are people
• 1:20:11
  that would actually kill to have my job.
• 1:20:14
  And I don't think I realized, I don't think any of us, I don't
• 1:20:19
  think we realize our blessings until.
• 1:20:23
  I think when you get older, you realize your blessings and then
• 1:20:26
  also, you know, God's design and he's the architect and you know,
• 1:20:32
  things work out like they're supposed to.
• 1:20:34
  And so I don't, I don't know where else I could have had a
• 1:20:39
  career and been a single mom to two boys.
• 1:20:42
  And I had a job that I created for a magazine.
• 1:20:46
  So I'm very grateful for my editor at the time and my
• 1:20:50
  current editor and the magazine for saying yes and taking a
• 1:20:53
  chance on me. Yeah, you said yes.
• 1:20:56
  First. You said yes, this is something
• 1:20:59
  that I want and yes, this is something I'm going to ask for.
• 1:21:02
  And then you followed your intuition and made those phone
• 1:21:05
  calls. Help.
• 1:21:07
  You know, to create and shore up this role you now continue to
• 1:21:14
  have with South Park magazine as the style editor.
• 1:21:19
  And it wasn't something that existed.
• 1:21:21
  It was something that you were kind of doing but little,
• 1:21:28
  Whitley said. Hey.
• 1:21:31
  I would like my name in the masthead.
• 1:21:35
  Can I have my name in the masthead?
• 1:21:37
  What's the masthead? It's the front of the masthead,
• 1:21:40
  yeah. But a little Whitley, yeah,
• 1:21:41
  Like, yeah, who was playing in the Earthquake and the whatever.
• 1:21:44
  That's right. Right, that's right.
• 1:21:46
  It all starts it all starts somewhere.
• 1:21:48
  But yeah, definitely something to be proud of.
• 1:21:51
  And, you know, kudos and I'm, I'm glad that you and Kathy and
• 1:21:58
  your past editors and everyone else who is part of South Park
• 1:22:02
  magazine continues to say yes and create this magazine.
• 1:22:07
  And you said it, it is. It is named South Park, which is
• 1:22:12
  a community in Charlotte. But the magazine does.
• 1:22:17
  You know it it. Feels.
• 1:22:20
  It is not just about South Park. We are touching all the
• 1:22:24
  neighborhoods. So I think that's a, a beautiful
• 1:22:28
  evolution. And I, I'd say evolution.
• 1:22:31
  I don't know if it all started kind of surrounded in that
• 1:22:33
  community and has grown since, but the South Park magazine I've
• 1:22:37
  known and loved since I've been here in the city has always felt
• 1:22:41
  felt like it really did kind of incorporate everyone.
• 1:22:45
  And it sounds like you've been a big part of that with, you know,
• 1:22:50
  promoting and giving space for more diversity and inclusion in
• 1:22:58
  those ways. So good on you.
• 1:23:02
  Thank you. You're welcome.
• 1:23:04
  Thank you. Sound look like you wanted to
• 1:23:06
  say something. Else no.
• 1:23:07
  Did you want to add anything? No, just thank you.
• 1:23:10
  Yeah, you're welcome. Maybe just a little
• 1:23:12
  uncomfortable like, you know, but thank you.
• 1:23:16
  You're welcome. Thank you for everything that
• 1:23:18
  you do. I let's, I'm like, I want to
• 1:23:24
  talk about all the, you know, things and show showcase
• 1:23:28
  everything you've done. But I want to talk about your
• 1:23:29
  closet and I know we're going to do that in a little bit of a
• 1:23:34
  different way today. You have worn many pieces for us
• 1:23:37
  to talk about. So you want to you want to share
• 1:23:41
  a little bit about your own personal style.
• 1:23:43
  Well, how do you feel about that?
• 1:23:45
  So it's, it's every day is different.
• 1:23:50
  I would say that I'm true to myself every day when I get
• 1:23:54
  dressed, but it's like largely based on what the world is going
• 1:23:59
  to bring me that day and who I'm saying.
• 1:24:02
  I always tell my my clients that I style or anyone.
• 1:24:08
  I encourage you to dress for your audience.
• 1:24:10
  And so today I tried to dress for you, Kimberly.
• 1:24:15
  So. Yeah.
• 1:24:16
  Well, absolutely. So I would say I dress for my
• 1:24:22
  audience. I think it's a sign of respect
• 1:24:25
  for the other person, and it's also a sign of respect for
• 1:24:30
  yourself. I mean, there are many days and
• 1:24:33
  I'm in my running clothes and, you know, work, work clothes.
• 1:24:39
  But you know, those are something, those are things that
• 1:24:42
  I try to keep in mind. My personal style is pretty a
• 1:24:50
  lot pretty much aligns with my lifestyle, which is like on a
• 1:24:56
  farm or in a large piece of land that used to be a farm, picking
• 1:25:01
  up sticks, getting dirty. And then when I'm asked to.
• 1:25:10
  And then I and then I work, which I'm usually wearing Jean
• 1:25:13
  shorts and Birkenstocks when I work or when I'm at the beach,
• 1:25:19
  which is where my husband lives. So there's a lot of that.
• 1:25:25
  And then I dress for the occasion when I'm in my alter
• 1:25:29
  ego. So it's just depends on what the
• 1:25:32
  occasion is and what the day brings.
• 1:25:34
  Yeah, well, believe you're wearing some special pieces
• 1:25:38
  today. Yeah, Tell.
• 1:25:40
  Yeah, a little bit about. Where?
• 1:25:43
  Where do you want to start? This is your your story and your
• 1:25:46
  road map well. Well, since since I don't have
• 1:25:50
  all of the items that you asked me to bring and I I left, I did
• 1:25:53
  pack them, but I left them behind.
• 1:25:57
  I, I did intentionally wear things for you.
• 1:26:00
  So these shoes are were my friend Lauren Adams, who had the
• 1:26:06
  Elston shoe truck. They're a little different than
• 1:26:10
  my style, but Lauren loved them and I wanted a piece of Lauren.
• 1:26:17
  So I I wear these and I get more compliments on them.
• 1:26:21
  And I thought you would like them.
• 1:26:22
  They're actually United Nude is the brand.
• 1:26:25
  They're very comfortable. And then this little puff paint
• 1:26:27
  dress, this 80s puff paint dress with the peplum on it I got from
• 1:26:33
  a vintage dealer in Raleigh, a friend of mine.
• 1:26:37
  And then my friend Noel Munoz like to think, and I'm her
• 1:26:42
  number one fan. This bracelet was she made in
• 1:26:45
  college? Bones.
• 1:26:47
  It's our prototype piece. Everybody needs a bones.
• 1:26:51
  It falls falls off of me when I wear it.
• 1:26:55
  And then my initial ring that Kristen Hayes made also falls
• 1:26:59
  off of me when I wear it. The other ring my my son worth
• 1:27:06
  gave me, my new husband gave me these some vintage stuff and
• 1:27:13
  then this necklace, my grandmother.
• 1:27:16
  This is a ring that my grandmother gave me that she had
• 1:27:20
  turned into a pendant and gave it to me for my college
• 1:27:23
  graduation. So it was a ring she wore.
• 1:27:25
  That was her. Own it was a ring, yes.
• 1:27:28
  And I most of everything I own only a very few, like a Paco rib
• 1:27:39
  band is my number one favorite designer.
• 1:27:42
  Etro is right there. Have another a handful of other
• 1:27:46
  favorite designers, But I, I tend to I don't own a ton of
• 1:27:53
  design. I mean, I, I know what I love
• 1:27:55
  and I'm, but I don't own a, a ton of designer gowns just
• 1:28:00
  because it's not, you know, I, I've been focused on putting a
• 1:28:04
  roof over my head for my two children.
• 1:28:06
  So, but I have some, some favorite designer gowns that
• 1:28:10
  I've, I've saved my store Commission or purchased on
• 1:28:15
  clearance that I'm very proud to wear, including my wedding
• 1:28:18
  dress, which was actually Paco ravine.
• 1:28:20
  That was a splurge that I wore with my Lucchesi boots that I
• 1:28:25
  did not bring, but I pretty much wear those every day with like a
• 1:28:32
  pair of overalls and AT shirt. I own one Chanel purse that was
• 1:28:40
  actually stolen from my car. I bought it a long time ago.
• 1:28:45
  It was a splurge when I owned my other business and it was stolen
• 1:28:50
  from my car and I filed for insurance and when they, the
• 1:28:57
  insurance company told me the, the, the, the value of the the
• 1:29:04
  bag after the it's a Chanel bag. It has it grows the the Chanel
• 1:29:11
  brand hold the bag holds its value and had grows
• 1:29:15
  exponentially over time. It and they told me how much it
• 1:29:20
  would cost to buy the bag and to re re place the bag and I felt
• 1:29:29
  very uncomfortable it it increases over time and I when I
• 1:29:34
  bought the bag as a gift to myself, my hands were shaking
• 1:29:37
  when I went in Neiman Marcus, but I was like, you know what
• 1:29:41
  I'm going to reward myself after five years of owning this
• 1:29:44
  business. I'm going to do it.
• 1:29:46
  I'm, I don't splurge very often and that's the farmer's
• 1:29:50
  daughter, you know, the farmer's granddaughter in me.
• 1:29:52
  But the bag was stolen and I filed insurance and they told me
• 1:29:57
  what the value, you know, I looked to see what the value of
• 1:30:00
  the bag was and I had grown exponentially and I, I couldn't
• 1:30:06
  believe it. And anyway, Needless to say, I
• 1:30:11
  ended up by paying the $500 deductible on my insurance and
• 1:30:18
  getting the replacement bag. And I've, I've probably carried
• 1:30:23
  it three times. So that and this necklace are
• 1:30:31
  really the only things I just, I, I don't know, there's
• 1:30:36
  something about I get, I get a little, I get a little
• 1:30:42
  uncomfortable carrying very having very expensive things.
• 1:30:49
  I think probably because in my mind, I realize, at least for
• 1:30:55
  me, I mean, I think this is where it's like like to side
• 1:31:00
  like I'm, you know, we are partially made-up of the people
• 1:31:04
  that, you know, birthed us, right?
• 1:31:06
  And I grew up exposed these incredible beautiful things and
• 1:31:10
  I have so much respect and appreciation for them.
• 1:31:13
  And I love to find amazing beautiful things for my clients
• 1:31:19
  that hire me. And I'm grateful for the
• 1:31:23
  opportunity. But then when it comes to me,
• 1:31:25
  it's it's like it's a different thing.
• 1:31:27
  And I think it's because it, maybe it has something to do
• 1:31:32
  with holding on to too tightly to something and realizing it's,
• 1:31:38
  it's just a thing. And so I think I try to, I, I
• 1:31:43
  hold, I hold on to things, I hold on to things tightly no
• 1:31:46
  matter what they are my relationships and my
• 1:31:49
  experiences. I hold on tightly to that.
• 1:31:51
  So I think it's best if I just, you know, invest in things that
• 1:31:57
  don't cost a lot of money because, you know, they're just
• 1:32:00
  things and you can't take them with you when you go, but you
• 1:32:02
  can take the memories and the, the relationships and the
• 1:32:06
  experiences. So that's probably like, you
• 1:32:09
  know, some psychological coping mechanisms him really.
• 1:32:13
  So anyway, this is the Doctor Phil show.
• 1:32:17
  I'm here for all of that. You can't put a price on the
• 1:32:20
  memories and experiences and all of that, so.
• 1:32:24
  Anyway, most of the things that I that mean the most to me were
• 1:32:28
  handed down or gifted by somebody else.
• 1:32:33
  Right, right. So thank you for sharing all of
• 1:32:38
  that. And I don't want to skim over
• 1:32:40
  your girlfriend with the beautiful shoes and I know she
• 1:32:43
  meant a lot to you. And are there any, do you have
• 1:32:49
  any like special memories or anything that comes to mind?
• 1:32:55
  Well, Lauren, Lauren was just, Lauren was an absolute style
• 1:33:01
  icon in Charlotte. And I would say probably the,
• 1:33:05
  the, I mean, we were friend. I shopped at her store on the
• 1:33:08
  clearance rack. Chazelle was her store on Selwyn
• 1:33:12
  Ave. and then she moved over to the Shops at Morrison.
• 1:33:16
  But when I started my business, I think the not when I started
• 1:33:24
  my business and I had nothing but myself, I went around to all
• 1:33:29
  the, the, the retailers in town and I made business cards like
• 1:33:33
  glossy beautiful cards like that.
• 1:33:35
  And I wrote a letter and I was very polished and professional
• 1:33:39
  and presented myself professionally and, you know,
• 1:33:42
  introduced myself and said, this is who I am, this is what I want
• 1:33:46
  to do. And not everybody, not everybody
• 1:33:51
  said yes. And not everybody was,
• 1:33:55
  unfortunately, not everybody was nice.
• 1:33:58
  Most people were. But Lauren said yes out of out
• 1:34:04
  of the gate. And a number of stores said yes.
• 1:34:07
  But Lauren was someone that I really admired and looked up to
• 1:34:12
  and I thought was smart and incredibly stylish.
• 1:34:15
  And she said yes. And so she let me use clothes
• 1:34:20
  for the Queen City Style blog. And I mean, there was no Vogue
• 1:34:25
  in Charlotte. And which is why in my mind I
• 1:34:29
  created the Queen City style is I was like, well, there's no
• 1:34:32
  vogue here, so I'll just do it myself.
• 1:34:34
  And I'm first. I like Coco Chanel said.
• 1:34:37
  I'm first and finally my only model.
• 1:34:40
  So I just started throwing myself in front of a camera
• 1:34:44
  playing dress up and tried to make these editorial pictures
• 1:34:48
  and, and Lauren said yes. And so I was able to wear these
• 1:34:54
  beautiful clothes that were like, you know, being sold right
• 1:34:58
  right here now. And then when I got my first
• 1:35:02
  project with South Park Magazine, she loaned me clothes
• 1:35:05
  for the shoot. So I'm eternally grateful for
• 1:35:08
  everybody who said yes, and then for those that felt like I
• 1:35:13
  needed to take a little bit more time to prove myself, and for
• 1:35:16
  everyone who said yes along the way.
• 1:35:19
  Yeah. Did some of those initial nose
• 1:35:22
  come around to guesses later? They did.
• 1:35:24
  Yeah, they did. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 1:35:28
  But the nose are good. The nose are good.
• 1:35:31
  Because if you always get yes, I mean, would you appreciate it?
• 1:35:36
  I mean, probably not. I mean, I mean, maybe yes, but I
• 1:35:40
  think probably not. Yeah, I think probably not.
• 1:35:43
  I think, I think, I think it's necessary to unfortunately, I
• 1:35:47
  think it's necessary to be rejected to know how what you
• 1:35:51
  have. Yeah, it gives you a moment to
• 1:35:54
  take pause and. Yeah, and give you something to
• 1:35:58
  work for. Yeah.
• 1:35:59
  So then the when the yes comes around, that has to feel.
• 1:36:02
  Yeah. Even better, maybe.
• 1:36:05
  Yeah, Yeah. And then you feel more proud of
• 1:36:08
  yourself for like, you know, getting knocked over and getting
• 1:36:10
  back up again. Yeah.
• 1:36:12
  All the all the stuff that you know, I mean, my mother was big
• 1:36:17
  on that. So thanks mom.
• 1:36:25
  I have an off the shoulder velvet brand Mr. Blackwell
• 1:36:30
  dress, short cocktail dress that is beaded.
• 1:36:33
  That was my grandmother. So I think that is the most
• 1:36:36
  sophisticated cocktail dress. I'm everything in my life.
• 1:36:41
  He was so chic. I have a pics wearing a wearing
• 1:36:44
  a I did not bring and it's an inhabitable shape.
• 1:36:49
  I did not bring my Carolina blue fox fur coat, but I would say
• 1:36:55
  that most people in town who a lot of people I I I think that's
• 1:37:01
  one of my more recognizable pieces.
• 1:37:03
  It's a lot of fun and. Where did that one?
• 1:37:07
  Where did the? I pulled back for a photo shoot
• 1:37:10
  from Douglas Fur and I hold up for a photo shoot for Caroline
• 1:37:14
  O'Brien magazine about 12 or 13 years ago.
• 1:37:20
  And, and it was this shoot that was focused on incorporating fur
• 1:37:24
  and the bridal looks. And I, we decided to make one
• 1:37:30
  that was bohemian. And so it was Caroline blue
• 1:37:36
  powder blue. So it sort of felt, you know,
• 1:37:38
  it's kind of like that Mongolian fur.
• 1:37:41
  And so it would work with for the Bohemian vibe.
• 1:37:45
  And I absolutely fell in love with it.
• 1:37:47
  And I sold a number of coats. And the owner of the store is
• 1:37:53
  incredible and he's a wonderful businessman, and he sold it to
• 1:37:59
  me at a very small price because he wanted me to know that he
• 1:38:03
  appreciated what I was doing for him.
• 1:38:07
  So that's why I have that. And then I also put in there my
• 1:38:16
  locacy cowboy boots because I live in those.
• 1:38:19
  They've been resold probably 10 times, but I got them in
• 1:38:22
  Asheville at a consignment store and I was a proud Lucchesi
• 1:38:27
  ambassador while they had that program going on for some time.
• 1:38:30
  Yes. Oh well.
• 1:38:31
  And then the last thing out, I had this beautiful Si ace Marjon
• 1:38:39
  rainbow electric popsicle rainbow color dress with
• 1:38:44
  metallic threads running through it that I got a capital on
• 1:38:49
  clearance. And it is reminds me of
• 1:38:52
  something that one of the that the the ice skating movie that
• 1:38:58
  Napoleon Dynamite was in the guy anyway, is like very odd.
• 1:39:07
  It looks like it could have been a 19.
• 1:39:10
  The fabric looks like it, it could have been a 1980s ice
• 1:39:14
  skating skating outfit and it's a dress, but it looks like it
• 1:39:20
  could have been one of those unitards.
• 1:39:22
  The fact you're saying so bizarre.
• 1:39:25
  And the girls at the store were all the shop girls were like at
• 1:39:28
  the time, this is probably six or seven years ago, eight years
• 1:39:32
  ago, they were all like, you have to have this.
• 1:39:35
  And I said that is that's a little, that's a little out
• 1:39:39
  there for me. Where'd you wear that one?
• 1:39:43
  Or have you? Well, so I so I bought it.
• 1:39:46
  I bought it I bought it with my store Commission and I is one of
• 1:39:51
  the coolest dresses I own. I I wore it actually to a
• 1:39:55
  Mother's Day speaker panel was the last time I wore it.
• 1:39:58
  So those are the items I can send you pictures if like I.
• 1:40:02
  Would love, I would love to see all of them.
• 1:40:06
  So this is one of my favorite parts and we are going to go
• 1:40:12
  through some rapid fire questions.
• 1:40:15
  Beecher Mountains. Both.
• 1:40:18
  Sunrise, sunset, sunrise, or sunset?
• 1:40:21
  Depends on how much sleep I got the night before.
• 1:40:25
  Yes, OK, I love this one. If your closet had a theme song,
• 1:40:30
  what would it be? Oh gosh, going to dress you up
• 1:40:37
  in my love all over your body. That's fun.
• 1:40:47
  I love it. It's like a silky touch of my
• 1:40:50
  car. Restless Can't Sing.
• 1:40:55
  I touch you up in love. Yeah.
• 1:40:57
  OK. Patrick's like, please stop.
• 1:41:03
  OK, last one. What's one word that your
• 1:41:07
  grandmother would use to describe your style today?
• 1:41:11
  Marvelous darling. Doll darling.
• 1:41:17
  Literally, that's how she talked.
• 1:41:20
  I don't know why I added the darling, but I.
• 1:41:22
  Not exactly what she would say. She was.
• 1:41:24
  She was very. And it was like, I mean, it was,
• 1:41:27
  you know, marvelous darling. That's exactly how she spoke.
• 1:41:35
  OK, one more question then. OK, Whitley, when someone opens
• 1:41:40
  your closet years from now, what do you hope they discover about
• 1:41:45
  the life that you've lived? Because I'm So what you see is
• 1:41:48
  what you get. There's not really a lot.
• 1:41:50
  I have a lot of guesswork. I don't, I mean, I don't think
• 1:41:52
  I'm. I've been told I'm elusive.
• 1:41:55
  I don't feel like I am. I think that just very
• 1:42:05
  intentional. I'm just, I'm everything is very
• 1:42:11
  intentional and very meaningful and everything has a story.
• 1:42:14
  And I mean, if it, everything in my house has a story, there's, I
• 1:42:20
  mean, there's not many things that are transactional.
• 1:42:26
  I already told you that with my, with my possessions.
• 1:42:33
  So intentional and precautious, period, period.
• 1:42:42
  I love it. I love it.
• 1:42:46
  It sounds like lots of stories. Your closet will hold lots of
• 1:42:50
  stories and lots of meaning. And when I say the closet, it
• 1:42:56
  doesn't mean the things that hang in there.
• 1:42:58
  It's really. It's about the stories that we
• 1:43:00
  share. It's about the way that we, you
• 1:43:03
  know, present and appear in the world everyday, whether we're in
• 1:43:08
  our muck boots or, you know, whatever stiletto for the day.
• 1:43:13
  I don't wear those anymore, but it, it doesn't matter what we're
• 1:43:17
  wearing. It's not about that at all.
• 1:43:20
  But I appreciate you taking time today to come and open your
• 1:43:25
  closet and share stories with us.
• 1:43:28
  And yeah, you're just wonderful. So thank you for being.
• 1:43:33
  Here, thank you for having me.