An Interview With Candice Georgiadis
If you have a small amount to invest, do it. Prepare a business plan with the help of an expert to avoid glaring mistakes and find yourself in big debt. Remember: no matter how long the road is, many steps will take you to the goal and reduce the margins of error. Working towards small objectives allows you to keep expenses under control and increases your self-confidence.
As a part of our series about “Why We Need More Women Founders”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Paola Farina. Paola Farina is a personal and event stylist and a certified image consultant who collaborates with individuals and companies. After graduating from classical studies, she won a scholarship from Image Fashion & Communication, the first Italian institute for training professional editors and stylists. In 2018, she launched Paola Farina Styling, a company that specialized in personal and event styling. She is also the official supplier of Fiera Milano, a public body responsible for the development of projects totally dedicated to fashion and design. She fell in love with the United States and specialized in image consultancy at the FIT in New York. She lived in Amsterdam and Dublin before deciding to come back to Italy.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory”? What led you to this particular career path?
There isn’t a time when fashion was something out of my life. Since I was a child, I played with “Fashion Wheel”, a game that allowed you to create the most unlikely outfits. Even if I came from a humble family, my dad was a simple worker and my mom an employee, I have always dreamed of catwalks’ sparkle and fashion magazines. During the university, I graduated in Communication Sciences, I won a scholarship to attend Image Fashion & Communication, the first Italian school for stylists and fashion journalists. My career began from there. I felt “at home” only in the world of fashion, only there I felt I could be who I really am, with all my weirdness and neuroses. Let me explain better, the period of primary and secondary school was very exhausting for me. I tend to be very visual in learning, but the Italian school is mainly based on the listening method, so I found it very hard. I was terribly bored because I weren’t stimulating to listen to a series of notions without being able to exercise a sort of critical spirit and some form of creativity. In addition, I was very shy, reading a book and working with imagination was more stimulating for me than participating in parties or evenings at the disco. For this reason, I have often been isolated and laughed at by my classmates, who also considered my way of experimenting with colors and clothes odd. Having few friends helped me to cultivate my most creative part, paradoxically my loneliness allowed me to develop a very rich inner world and facilitated my career.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company?
When I opened my own company specialized in styling, we deal with ordinary people, events, artists and emerging brands, I came from a very difficult period. After a long career as a fashion stylist, I moved to corporate communication and training and in 2013, because of the economic crisis, I lost my job. In Italy, being a 35 years old without a job is equivalent to a death sentence. You are too qualified for a market that is looking for young people to be underpaid. One day, I was zapping on TV and I stumbled upon a TV Show, The Rachel Zoe Project: I devoured all the episodes. Looking at Rachel Zoe, but I could mention so many other professionals, I realized I had to go back to my roots.
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
The mistake made at the beginning is to believe that you can do everything on your own. For example, I had launched myself into the creation of my website. It seemed beautiful to me, but the others’ gaze betrayed a mixture of perplexity and terror. It served me as a lesson; now I focus only on my skills.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
I had to be honest, when I decided to go back to school (first I attended an image consultancy course at FIT in NY and then a styling course at UAL in London), I didn’t tell anyone. My parents, humble and old-fashioned people, have never fully understood my passion for fashion and my husband is a very rational man, with his feet firmly on the ground. He deals with financial advice. I knew they would try to dissuade me, surely in good faith. I just jumped in. However, I certainly owe this perennially optimistic spirit, sometimes on the verge of unconsciousness, to my dad. He had always been a person in love and enthusiastic about life. Nevertheless, from a professional point of view, I have to thank Titti Meloni, director of Fashion, and Ines Monti, director of Domina Sposa, because they were the first to believe in me and offer me a chance. I can assure you that, unfortunately, it’s not easy to enter the world of fashion.
Ok, thank you for that. Let’s now jump to the primary focus of our interview. According to this EY report, only about 20 percent of funded companies have women founders. This reflects great historical progress, but it also shows that more work still has to be done to empower women to create companies. In your opinion and experience what is currently holding back women from founding companies?
In my opinion, there are a psychological and a strictly practical factor. As for the first, I believe that many women have the bad habit of underestimating themselves and believing that they necessarily need the male presence to give meaning to their personal and professional life project. They also have the unhealthy habit of sacrificing themselves first for their partner and then for their children. On the contrary, they should spend much more time cultivating healthy selfishness and focusing on who they really are and what they want. Only if we first realize ourselves as individuals, we can succeed in our couple and professional life. However, as for the practical factor, there is always the economic difficulty. Women too often earn less than men for equal jobs and are not taken seriously enough when it comes to applying for a loan or pursuing a certain type of career. I believe that we have self-sabotaged ourselves for too long: it’s time to reverse course. But change has to come first on a personal level and then on a community one.
Can you help articulate a few things that can be done as individuals, as a society, or by the government, to help overcome those obstacles?
As women we have to leave what I call “The Red Cross Nurse’s vocation” and begin to assert our priorities. In terms of society, the school should support gender equality and changes the human-centered paradigm on which the prevailing narrative has been built. Women ca do everything from doctor to astronaut, from scientist to construction engineer and even become successful managers or entrepreneurs. It’s enough to learn to dismiss the sense of guilt for not being able to be as society would like us to be. The media also play an essential role: they should insist on promoting virtuous models instead of unlikely characters just because they have followers on social. They have the task of proposing to the youngest stories to reflect on and points of view with which they can confront themselves. Better examples promote a better society. I know, it’s more difficult because the spectacularization pays off immediately, but it’s the quality that produces long-term effects.
This might be intuitive to you as a woman founder but I think it will be helpful to spell this out. Can you share a few reasons why more women should become founders?
I would say that among the reasons for becoming a founder there are: the desire to improve and create value, the satisfaction of achieving certain goals, psychological and economic independence and the possibility to feel fulfilled. For me, deciding about my job and choosing who to work with is precious and priceless.
What are the “myths” that you would like to dispel about being a founder? Can you explain what you mean?
In Italy there is this idea, especially among the youngest, that the founder is the one who fools around in Maldives while his/her staff works. Social Media have amplified this idea. So, the guys think that taking a couple of photos or spending the day making videos is the key to success. Unfortunately, lasting success requires talent, intelligence, insight, patience, tenacity, efforts and a good dose of luck. Another myth is tied to time: it is believed that the founder disposes of time as he/she wishes. Nothing more wrong! The entrepreneur is the first to arrive and the last to go home, often skipping holidays and weekends. It’s the company that has time (NB. I mean the founder’s time), not the founder.
Is everyone cut out to be a founder? In your opinion, which specific traits increase the likelihood that a person will be a successful founder and what type of person should perhaps seek a “regular job” as an employee? Can you explain what you mean?
In my opinion, there is a dose of ambition in all of us. However, in some people, it’s more pronounced than others. It’s no coincidence that we are leaders or wingmen. If a person is afraid of failure, he/she doesn’t like risk, doesn’t want problems and plans weekends months in advance, then maybe a regular job is the best solution. Even though I’m also convinced that we are all programmed to achieve great things, it’s fear, the social and family context that block us. I believe that school should help young people to enhance their talents, help them understand their potential, how to express them best. For example, I would create ad hoc study paths in order to explain entrepreneurship, as if it were history or geography, so that everyone can have the information to make an informed and rational decision.
Ok super. Here is the main question of our interview. What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started” and why? (Please share a story or example for each.)
Honestly, I chose not to share my decision with anyone in order not to be influenced by others’ thoughts. I’m sure that if I had shared what I planned to do with my parents, friends, relatives and even my husband, they would have dissuaded me. They would have instilled me with a thousand doubts and these doubts would have overwhelmed me. Doubts are holding us back; the fear of failure is what never really makes us start anything. If you want to do something (legal), just do it. Whether it’s good or bad, others will always find a way to criticize you, you might as well let yourself be put in the wheel later and not before. I didn’t even ask for advice because what works for one activity isn’t always good for another. I’m not saying that confrontation is wrong; in my case, I know that confrontation would have paralyzed me. However, I want to share my personal “5+1 tips” with the readers:
- Think (but not too much) and take action. If you get wrapped up in thoughts and doubts, you will never start. I know people who are still deciding what to do, even after years!
- Work on your project but don’t wait for it to be 100% perfect to put it into action. You can always correct the shot along the way. For example, I changed the website several times before getting to the final version.
- Choose a market niche, this will allow you to better target communication and make you even more attractive, especially if the niche is little explored. I made the mistake of starting with a very generic message, but this didn’t allow me to differentiate myself from other professionals and it penalized me.
- If you have a small amount to invest, do it. Prepare a business plan with the help of an expert to avoid glaring mistakes and find yourself in big debt. Remember: no matter how long the road is, many steps will take you to the goal and reduce the margins of error. Working towards small objectives allows you to keep expenses under control and increases your self-confidence.
- Follow your intuition, let yourself be led by passion, don’t be afraid to fail, be ready to get up and change course if necessary. Only those who never get involved are never wrong. I’ve taken several wrong paths, but I’m still here.
- And finally: play hard but honestly. There is nothing personal, it’s just business. You will find polite or bad people; you don’t lose your fair play and always respond with irony.
How have you used your success to make the world a better place?
I also work with many ordinary people: from the guy needs a massive dose of self-esteem to the housewife who finally chooses to take time for herself. I help them show others who they really are and what they are capable of through clothes, colors and accessories. Many people arrive shy, maybe victims of bullying or verbal violence and in the styling process they discover themselves lions, they bring to the surface a strength they didn’t think they had. I only help them to their own “sparkle”, that flame which, over the years, we end up hiding under a blanket of dust and conformity. We turn off for fear of judgment, in order to conform to society or trend of the moment for the quiet life. However, every time we compromise, we lose a little of ourselves. I’m working with a psychologist on a beautiful project, paths that combine therapy with personal image, to improve the perception of the self and convey a real, positive and non-objectified representation of one’s body. I would like to be able to take it to schools as well.
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good for the greatest number of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.
It would be the movement of spending less and better with the aim to develop greater attention and respect for the planet and nature. According to several studies, it seems that an average of about $ 6,000 a year is spent on clothing and accessories, 80% of the products purchased lie at the bottom of the wardrobe. The fashion industry is the second most polluting one on the planet. I think there is enough points of reflection.
We are very blessed that some very prominent names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them.
The list is quite long. In America I would have lunch with Michelle Obama, because she plays to change the rules and with AOC because she is so tough. I would have a coffee with Anna Wintour, for her long career in the fashion world. I would have dinner with Rachel Zoe and Samantha McMillan, because they are a source of inspiration for me. I would like to meet Gwyneth Paltrow thanks to her entrepreneurial skills and Julianne Moore, because I would like to dress her. I worked for a few years in NewsCorp and I would like to meet James Murdoch because, with his founding, he is carrying out very important projects. I would spend time with Elon Musk, because he is a visionary and with Richard Branson because he gives me such positive vibes. In Europe I choose Sanna Marin, because she has given me confidence in politics again; and Volodymir and Olena Zelensk’kyj, because they have shown me that nothing is impossible and that we must never be afraid of bullies.
Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.
Female Founders: Paola Farina On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed as a Woman Founder was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.