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Styled for Power Joy Aboderin on Bold Moves, Beauty, and Becoming · In Her Own Name

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  Now I'm gonna tell you her story, but before we begin, let me go back to the very beginning and tell you, I'm Lillian Ogbogoh, I'm your host, and today we are talking about work that we defines what it means to be seen, to lead and to love the skin you are in. So please join me and welcome the incredible Joy Aboderin .
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  Now, this is something that you created after walking away from a 13 year career in finance. You sold your house. Yes, you sold your house to build this global brand that's grounded in transformation, faith and freedom. You styled executives, you've mentored creatives, you've taught everywhere from the BBC to the London College of Fashion, and you have recently launched.
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  So I went down the accountancy route for 13 years. I worked in the city. I headed up finance teams in three different countries. Wow. I traveled, but after a while I signed, found it not fulfilling. So I would change jobs, get more money, but it was constantly just the same thing. It was like being on a hamster wheel and I would have to work.
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  Came top of the class. We had to like style models as well as the theory where we had models to style, and I really enjoyed it. So I remember November, 2007 in fair and trepidation. I took a leap of faith, wrote a letter of resignation, and, you know, asked if I could leave. They didn't want me to leave. They paid me a bit.
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  There was still a lot of fear because obviously I'm selling a home. I'm starting a new complete life. I've done and nothing else apart from finance, but over a decade. So it was a huge leap of faith, but it was something I prayed about, something I felt that I was supposed to be doing right, and so I did it, um, with the fear.
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  More of a priority, and I feel like often a lot of women neglect who they are, their dreams, their aspirations, their goals, their desires as well, and potential you is really created to help women to feel confident in their skin through style. I feel like in different extremes we have body dysmorphia where we think negatively a lot about ourselves, and as a stylist, what I want to do is to empower women to love the skins that they're in.
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  So it is good to dress it in a way that makes you feel good. I like that. I do like that. And that whole thing about body dysmorphia, I believe it got worse during COVID. 'cause there was a study that showed that right after COVID, a lot of people were getting surgery done on their faces. Yeah. Yeah. I wouldn't be surprised.
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  What we have to realize as women is that even twins that shared the same. Identical twins have different hand prints. We are different. We're unique, so don't follow trends. Don't follow what you see other people wearing. Also, a lot of those influences are paid to share what they're sharing. As a stylist, there are three ways that we work with clients.
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  I have clients that are four seven. My tallest client is six seven, so that's two feet in between them. Yeah, you can't dress them the same. So understanding your body, your proportions, what works for you as a stylist. Those three elements are what helped me to help my clients to look their best, their personality, their lifestyle, their colors, and their body shape.
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  So when we start, it's all about styling around your lifestyle. It is very much what is your day to day? Are you working virtually on some days to work? Are you client facing? Are you going into the office? What do you do on the weekend? Are you casual brunches? You're going out in the evening. So it's all about lifestyle.
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  And it's not, you say it's not just about teaching styles, but mentoring the next generation of stylists and entrepreneurs. Yeah. What inspired you to create the academy and how does it reflect the legacy that you are building? Okay, so when I was given the vision for potential you in 2003, God gave me the vision of potential you and also the academy, but I didn't really have the capacity for it then.
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  I'm very taken aback by it. I delivered that lecture. I loved it. And subsequently I've been invited to various universities to lecture Nice. Across the world in the uk. And I really enjoyed just being able to give back everything I'd learned. And I think that sometimes you're underestimate how much knowledge you've acquired.
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  It's great to have somebody that will just hold your hand along that journey of business as well. So that's one potential. You, academy was birthed and I'm very excited about it, as you should. And, I'm looking forward to the next generation of stylist. I'm looking forward to after you growing those and mentoring them and they mentoring others and creating this holistic view of styling where it's not just one way and it is a diverse community.
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  That they need to lead with the clothes they have on their backs as well, I think with women. Sorry, could you repeat that question again? Sure. So basically, let's take it this way. You styled women who go into boardrooms, you styled lawyers, celebrities, different level of women who have to show up as leaders in your field.
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  We know that in the corporate world, it's still very male dominated. There isn't really, equality per se. Yeah. So what we're giving my clients is a competitive advantage. To feel confident, to feel ready, to be taken seriously. Because we do live in a visual world. We can't say that how you dressed doesn't matter.
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  All you simply do is try on the pieces and you are good to go. They're not informed. We're not taught about what suits our shape, what suits our coloring, what works for us. So it's really about, I'm able being able to dissect their diaries. They're traveling a lot, they're time poor, and being able to have clothes ready for that.
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  It's about your lifestyle. It's about giving you, saving you time, giving you the advantage, helping you to feel confident. Yeah. Absolutely. And that is, I love that because like you said, time poor people, time poor women, you're taking that one thing off your plate and trust me. Yeah. Shopping right now feels like.
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  And then I'm sorting out a girls trip for her. So all those facets of her life make the whole woman. We are very diverse, um, and we're beautiful in our different, um, ways and different lifestyles. True. This is so true and so. When we start going through this conversations of style, when we start going through legacy that you're building, I want to ask you now on the show we are talking about in her own name.
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  I don't believe in imposter syndrome. It might be controversial. I believe in taking up space and being unapologetically who you are created to be. And that's what I believe I did when I left finance to follow fashion. I think finance was something that my parents wanted. Being of Nigerian origin, very academic, very professional.
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  And I think that's part of ministry. How can you impact people positively? And I thank God for the opportunities. Yeah. So I would say I came into my own when I started. Potential you. Yeah. 'cause I believe that's what I was created to do. One of the things I was created to do. And I walk in it confidently knowing who I am and yeah.
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  And I think that's part of life's journey. Saying that you are good enough, I would say. But focus. But also giving, giving room to experimentation, self-discovery, because that's the age that you do that. Okay. So you're gonna tell her to focus. It's okay to be, yeah. To try and figure it out. Figure it out.
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  Taking some time out to identify what you're good at, your strength, your weaknesses, and maybe even doing like a personality test, finding out who you are. Spending time with God, figuring out who has called you to be, is really important as well. I would say just taking some time out. Life can be quite noisy and quite busy, but taking time out to discover who you are, what you're created to do, and then following it with full gusto, full passion.
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  So Joy, what is bringing you joy right now? Ooh. What's bringing me joy? I think trying to take charge of my health. Hmm. From making and discovering smoothies, I think there's joy in the simple pleasures of life. So me going to m and s with my colorful, um, m and s bag and getting blueberries and mixing it with cucumber and seeing how that works.
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  Absolutely. I'm generally, I think I'm generally a glass half full person. I find pleasure in the simple things, and I love the big things as well. But I think sometimes we take for granted that we wake up in the morning. Yeah. And we're able to move our body, , move our leg. Think straight. Conceive an idea and being able to do it.
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  So guys, we have just finished the conversation with the incredible joy Aboderin . She is the founder of potential you and the creator of the Potential You Academy, if you wanna discover about her. She's on, she's on all the socials. If you wanna discover what fashion means in terms of styling, where it's a 360 view of you as a person, reach out to her.
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