Proven Not Perfect
Proven Not Perfect
Styled For The Life You Want with Tech Executive, Style Coach and Personal Branding Expert Mandy Tucker
If the mirror could talk, would it tell the truth you’ve been avoiding—or the story you’re ready to live? I sit down with Mandy Tucker, a veteran tech leader who expanded her career into coaching and personal styling for midlife professional women, to unpack how mindset, vision, and wardrobe can work together to change your confidence and your results. The conversation begins with life in the UK and moves into a practical framework for aligning who you’re becoming with how you show up.
Mandy breaks down the difference between a checklist and a calling: vision sets direction, goals deliver momentum. Before any shopping list, she starts with mirror honesty—naming the beliefs that shrink presence and keep us dressing to hide. From there, she shows how body shape, proportion, and lifestyle should drive choices, why Pinterest boards often mislead, and how to become your own influencer by building a repeatable set of silhouettes that actually fit your life. We touch on the PIE model—performance, image, exposure—and why image isn’t about designer labels; it’s about clarity, coherence, and the energy you project.
We also get real about pivots. They rarely arrive glamorous. More often they emerge from friction, fatigue, or a mismatch between your values and your environment. Mandy shares how she moved from tech leadership into coaching and style, what midlife women uniquely face, and how “pivot and pursue” can turn a hard season into a launchpad. Along the way, cultural touchpoints—from British reserve to American boldness, from Meghan’s public reception to Victoria Beckham’s reinvention—highlight how narrative, presence, and resilience shape opportunity.
If you’re ready to dress for your dreams, not the algorithm, and to align your inner voice with your outer signal, this one’s for you. Listen, subscribe, and share with a friend who’s ready to expand. And if this conversation helped you see yourself more clearly, leave a review—tell us the one belief you’re dropping this week.
Drive, Ambition, Doing, Leading, Creating... all good until we forget about our own self-care. This Village of All-Stars pays it forward with transparency about misses and celebration in winning. We cover many topics and keep it 100. We are Proven Not Perfect™️
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Proven that perfect. I am so excited that you are here today. You are about to enjoy a wonderful trip around the world, cross the pond, cross the Atlantic, smack dad landing into the United Kingdom, Great Britain, where we're gonna talk to an executive of many years, Mandy Tucker, who is killing the game in technology, but she's also killing the game and expanding her offers to do great things for women in career. And you know that that's all I need to make sure that I tap into that energy, those ideas, and bring them to you because that's what we do. So stick around, enjoy this conversation with Mandy Tucker. And just to tease you a little bit, if you enjoy this conversation and you want more, you want focused one-on-one time with Mandy and I, stick around. There's a big announcement coming soon. Enjoy Proven Not Perfect, my conversation with Mandy Tucker. Hi Mandy, how are you across the pond?
SPEAKER_00:Hi, Chantra. I'm really, really good. Good afternoon, right? To you. It's coming into my evening, but good afternoon.
SPEAKER_01:Good afternoon. Oh my God. So I think everybody's gonna love this conversation because of your accent alone. Very proper. Catch me up. Tell me what's going on across the pond. I specifically wanna understand a little bit about the tone and tenure right now. Um, over in the great UK, Great Britain. Um, I'd love to hear the tone and tenure of just kind of what life is like there right now.
SPEAKER_00:Life is, I don't want to say hard because there are plenty of people across this world that are having life a lot harder than us, right? But definitely the economy is biting, it's expensive. People want experience and a more kind of luxurious life, but I think they're finding just we are just working really, really hard to keep up with the day-to-day, right? And I think sometimes that becomes a bit of a struggle. Um, just like the US, there are a lot of uh people, especially women, who are tapping into their passions, creating businesses and trying to elevate their lives, which is amazing. But yeah, it's it's it's yeah, we're doing what we need to do over here to just keep going, right? Keep going and and you know, just make make good lives for ourselves and our families.
SPEAKER_01:You talk about women in career right now and some of the choices that folks are making. And I know that you yourself have made a bit of a pivot as well, or an expansion. I don't want to call it a pivot in your call and expansion, and I think that's a beautiful term that I've certainly been exploring lately as well, because what it says is it doesn't have to be either this or that. It can yes and it's oh my gosh, exactly.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, exactly. And I think that's the beautiful thing about being and feeling empowered to do something more with your life, right? And not to feel restricted. Because I think as we come through our careers, as we come through our lives and grow up into midlife, you know, where where I'm at, it's like we're for so long, we've kind of been in these boxes that says you have to be one thing. You can only do this and excel in that space. But I think the journey that I'm on, and so many women I talk to are on is that no, we can expand. We have so many skills and experiences to bring to the table, and that is where our power really lies. And I think that's been part of my own expansion over these last few years.
SPEAKER_01:Oh boy, I love that. So I'm gonna just say when I first experienced women in career in London, it was in the mid-90s. Um, I had the privilege of doing a succumbment there with a British firm in finance. And it was a wonderful, wonderful experience for me. Met some beautiful people, wish that it was a time where social media was prevalent because I know I would have maintained contact with a lot of great people that I quite frankly I lost contact with. Um, that doesn't mean we won't bump into each other again, but um, you know, that part's a little, a little sad. But I I wanted to say, you know, I can remember on my quiet Saturdays. I lived, uh, you know, you know you were privileged in in this opportunity when your housing, the company sponsored, was in South Kensington. Oh my!
SPEAKER_00:Uh-oh. Yes, you were privileged. That was a good job.
SPEAKER_01:I still remember it was number two Collingham Gardens, is where I lived.
SPEAKER_00:That was just the name alone.
SPEAKER_01:That was the flat, right? And I was right around from the Royal Albert. Um, and I tell you, I can remember, you know, on my quiet Saturdays, kind of walking around as a young American woman um beginning her career in finance and seeing these women that I would describe the British women that I met, whether it was on the street when I was kind of walking around, or whether it was in um in the office um at uh at East Allgate. It was they were a reserved yet forceful. They were a bit quiet in their tone, but they were very loud, they were um very gracious, but they were very clear, and I can remember picking up on those signals that really impressed me, really called me, where where this this femininity could possess all of those juxtapositions just as a cultural nuance. Does any of that resonate for you? Have I tapped into something that you grew up understanding, appreciating, or maybe you didn't see it that way?
SPEAKER_00:I didn't I didn't necessarily see it that way, right? And I don't think growing up, as in, you know, in my early 20s and even 30s, I I really appreciated the nuances of what was around me in my workplace. It was more around climbing the corporate ladder, but I I kind of see it a little bit differently, right? Because I were I remember working with you, Chantra, really clearly, because you were the lady with the American accent that lit up every room, right? Oh no, but it's true with your knowledge, your experience, your beauty, your elegance, your style. Um, and I don't think necessarily that as women in the UK, we embrace that enough. Yes, there's a quiet elegance there, there's a quiet something, but a lot of it sits below the surface because we're not quite ready or feeling comfortable with really expressing ourselves in that way, in that I'm owning this room way. Um, and I think that's holds us back somewhat.
SPEAKER_01:So I wonder, it's it's so I think it's so beautiful to share cross-cultural experiences and viewpoints because I wonder if me landing in London with such an American experience and you growing in London with such a British experience, that same essence can be seen through two different lenses where maybe I was happy to hear some people be quiet a little bit.
SPEAKER_00:And as you as you were talking, it's exactly that. It's all about perspective. Yeah, it really is all about perspective and where you're coming from and therefore how you experience that moment.
SPEAKER_02:Wow.
SPEAKER_00:And not one of them is wrong, nope and not one of them is more right, it's just different.
SPEAKER_01:So, how would you say when you think about women in career and piercing those, those um, those goals, those goals, those objectives in your walk, in your journey? Um, how would you describe that um, you know, as a British woman in in that experience? Um and how would you contrast that to some of what you see in your counterparts who may be bringing in alter other cultural nuances?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. And it's funny, I see your vision board behind you, right? Um I'm a big I'm a big goal setter, vision board person, you know, let's put it out there, let's get it done.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, wait, hang on, hang on. We gotta we gotta pin that one for a second because I've been having a very real relationship with this conversation around goals. And the relationship has shifted from have your goals written down and focused on followed to tap into what you see, your vision, and bring that vision to life because it's what's calling you. Um a little bit different, nuanced shift for me in the way I think about it. So I before you go on, I just need to know do you think about goals in the traditional way of by the end of the year, I want to do these 10 things, or do you spend time really sort of tapping into what is I do both.
SPEAKER_00:I do both. And for me, there is such a connection that brings the whole vision to life. Because yeah, I will spend time tapping into, well, that woman that I want to become, how does she walk? How does she talk? Where does she spend time and who does she spend time with, right? So as a stylist, we've said I've expanded into this area of work. I'm a personal stylist for midlife professional women. Women, how does a stylist that works with women like that, how would she experience life? And I think once I have a clear vision of her, it helps me then execute on the one, two, three of the goals, right? And at the beginning of the year, yeah, I'll at the beginning of the year, I will write those goals down. My family knows those goals will be on that fridge, right? And I will be ticking them off, hopefully, God willing, as we move through the year. But the vision needs to be really clear, otherwise, it's easy to get distracted if you do not have that safe haven in terms of what the vision really looks like and feels like for you.
SPEAKER_01:So you keep the two together. You keep vision and then you give written statements. And that's right.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I'm sure you do, right? Because I think it's about the emotion, the feeling, you know, and how do you know you're there? Once you've ticked off those goals, it's great saying yes, I I ran an event this year or I did this conference. Did it actually feel the way you wanted it to?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, that's right.
SPEAKER_00:I think is really important to just check back in with that vision piece.
SPEAKER_01:Okay, back to the regularly scheduled program. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:So I'm gonna try and remember the question.
SPEAKER_01:Um, we were walking down the journey of just women in career um and that cultural experience that you have from a British viewpoint versus perhaps another countercultural.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I think from a career's perspective, we're very much in Britain, in the UK, on that path of we want to climb the corporate ladder, right? Getting into the C-suite, become, you know, being middle management, becoming CEO, all of that. On a lot of women's minds, that's the aspiration, that's the goal. But I think it's the same in America, child. That's the same thing. It is the same in America, but I think the American women have embraced more of um a wholeness about themselves, right? That I can be anyone I want to be. So, yes, I can climb the corporate ladder, but if I want to own a business, I can do that too, at the best of my ability. You know, I can be anyone. And I think no one route. That's right. No one rope, right? Route, route. And if you talk to you UK women, they will always say, Oh my gosh, American women know how to do things and to do it right. You will always have, you know, the best visuals, the best voice, the best um quote will come out, the best um, you know, um outfit. The Americans from the UK are always seen as doing it just that bit better. But I do see that us as UK women are catching up, we're doing our thing, we're becoming more visible, and I think that's great, a great place to be.
SPEAKER_01:You know, I'm gonna say um one of the other things that I do remember is I felt in the in the mid-90s uh being a sponsored um apprentice to the UK director of the finance firm that I was a part of, being being the only um young black woman um sort of in my sphere, and it was very male dominated from a professional standpoint. Say said that wrong. From a ranking standpoint, it felt very male-dominated. There were very professional women, but they seemed to all have more of a secretarial role. And that honestly wasn't long ago. This was, you know, this was 1995, right? I mean, technically speaking, that's not long ago, right?
SPEAKER_00:It's not long ago. It's not, it's not.
SPEAKER_01:So when you think about, you know, just even at that time, the the difference, the the juxtaposition of me, this young black woman sponsored by the New York office, by the managing executive to go over and apprentice the commercial director for all of the world of the firm's commercial director. And my first time living and working out of the United States, um, and just having an incredible experience to pick up on the energy and the things that that I I didn't, I was too young to really quite understand, right? Um I know that there was there were looks about the office. I know that there were maybe some laughter, and not in a cruel way, but more in that I felt the women were always sort of in it, we call it side-eyeing, right? Where you're kind of like somebody's kind of looking at you like, what is she doing? Because I didn't even know the norms that I was breaking. I didn't even understand the norms that I was breaking. And it's only in this conversation with you that I feel like I'm unpacking some things that that were literally in there that I haven't talked to in since ever. Because you know, you just go, go, go.
SPEAKER_00:Man, that's yeah, yeah, yeah. I can I can imagine the reception that you received, and not that it necessarily depending on the organization, that it would have been a bad reception, but it would have been met probably with some who is she? Who is she? Yeah, a little bit of you know, magnetism around that. How do we approach her? How do we, you know, accept her into this this sphere and and and still maintain our own, you know, you know, you want to still maintain your own integrity and kudos, right? You don't want to be swamped, but it's it's it's because I think you know, American women, some, not all, right? And I don't want to generalize because there are many beautiful, um, brilliant, brilliant British women that are doing great things. One of them. Oh, bless you, bless you, bless you. But I think there's always been that kind of viewpoint of American women that you're doing things in a great way. And how can we emulate and and really celebrate what you do?
SPEAKER_01:Wow. Okay, so now let's double-click on here you are in this professional corporate um US firm um working in in uh the UK. Um, and now you are expanding into bigger leadership responsibilities, but you're also expanding your creativity and your ideas. I can't imagine it was the norm for you to step out and expanding this way. So, you know, is that was some of that just something you couldn't deny? There's there's something that's calling me to do something, and regardless of cultural norms, I'm going to push past. Like tell me a little bit about your thought process to begin this expansion.
SPEAKER_00:Truly, right? So I was in, I was working for Hertz from 2017 till just after COVID, right? Just after 2020 when I left. And I knew in that last year as I was um director of service in technology. Um I knew at that point that I 2020, I finished up working for Hertz because of COVID. But I knew for I'd known for a while that I needed and wanted a shift. I was just about to approach my 50th birthday in 2020, April 2020, and I needed a shift because something was calling me to do something different with my life. I'd I'd always been in technology, always strived or strove to be the leader, to walk, to climb the corporate ladder. And that that was always enough. And I think age and experience, and I'm gonna touch on it, you know, meeting women like you on my journey showed showed me that there was more. I I could do more, my potential was more. So I'd spent the next few years. And and sometimes, you know, you you have to accept it. The calling comes and you have to accept it. And it was really about how can I use my skills to support other women. Because I'd always get the questions, Mandy, how have you climbed the corporate ladder? How have you done this? As a black woman in the UK, how are you working for a global organization at that level? Um, you know, looking how you do, dressing how you do, da-da-da-da-da, all the things. Yes, and it's not that my life is trivial, Mandy, not trivial. Maybe so, but it's not that my life was perfect, but maybe from the outside it looked as if things were were going well for me. So I I just had to answer the calling and I jumped around from a couple of roles because I was I was it was taking up too much of my time, too much of my life, Chandra. Because at just gone 50, you start to question, okay, time is shifting here. Uh, and I need to start to focus on my goals, my dreams, my passions. Um, which is why then I I started started training. I I I became a qualified ICF coach and I was coaching women around. ICF coach, what's that? Interna, the International Accredited Um Federal Coaching Association. So it's it's a qualification around coaching. So I was I was qualified as a career coach. So I started helping women climb the corporate ladder. I knew how to do it, so let's help women do that. Um, and then in the last two years, I've stepped into the personal styling space because I love clothes, right? I love clothes, I love to dress up, and and you know, it just felt really good to me. So I've qualified as a stylist, and for me, that is where things really light up. Yes, I still have a corporate job, and I will always be grateful to my corporate job, right? Because it helps us do things, helps us live the life we want to live. But yeah, that that's kind of the journey that's taken me to this expansion.
SPEAKER_01:Let's start with corporate stylists, because I don't think I've ever had a corporate stylist on the podcast. I don't even think I really know what that is. Okay. Um, I I would say that I've always been such a rule breaker when it comes to any defined styling norms. Yeah. Um, somebody asked me recently, we were going somewhere, it was a business event, and uh my friend says, Well, you know, uh, is it business or what what's the attire? And I said, I'm gonna probably be business funky. And she's like, Okay, business funky. What's that? Not sure what that means. And when I showed up, when I showed up, she was like, Okay, I'm clear. I'm clear now.
SPEAKER_00:Get it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I completely get it, right? But but as a personal stylist, I work with midlife professional women, right? And that for me, because that's who I am, right? That's what I understand. And when we talk personal style, it is exactly that. And it's what you just talked about, because it's style that works for you, for your lifestyle, your preferences, your body shape, and where you want to go. I I work with women in a realm that really couples mindset and style, because that's where it starts in the head, right?
SPEAKER_01:It's okay, you're gonna have to unpack that. Mindset and style. Like tell me what those two, why those two things go together.
SPEAKER_00:Because I know and it's so important. So I was at a legal um Black History Month event two days ago, and I had this conversation with these women over and over again because they didn't get it, right? And I said to them, when you look in the mirror, what do you see? And if you are honest with yourself about that conversation and that question, there will nine times out of ten be something that you don't like or you see as negative, or something that you want to cover up, right? I think for all of us, that's what that's the starting place. But until you can see yourself clearly and authentically, and as I love myself and what I see in the mirror, you can never dress that woman how she deserves to be dressed, right?
SPEAKER_01:Because in the mindset work that's you decouple the person from the image that they reflect. That's right. Rather, rather actually give me a couple of things.
SPEAKER_02:I connect you.
SPEAKER_01:You connected the two. You've said when you look in the mirror and you see that image, what does that image want or require?
SPEAKER_00:What does that image want, need, require? And more importantly, what are the limiting beliefs that you are working with that we need to unpick?
SPEAKER_02:Wow, right?
SPEAKER_00:The voices in your head that tell you, I can't wear that spurt, I can't wear that loud lipstick even because of X. I can't buy that designer bag if that if you so wish, because of Y. Money issues, mindset. It's a mindfield of things that we deal with. But what I want to do with me on that.
SPEAKER_01:I'm gonna be your client for a second, okay?
SPEAKER_02:Okay, all right.
SPEAKER_01:Go for it. Tell me what so I'm we're we're full in now. Me and all of our friends that are watching, right? Okay, let's do it. Show us what this coaching looks like mindset and and and image and all the things.
SPEAKER_00:Okay, okay. So, you know, I I established that relationship with my clients, right? And it's a very truthful and trusting relationship. So my question to you, Chantra, would be you know, in the morning, what do you see, right? What do you see? And what would you say to me at your not when you're all dressed up, but when you are just gone out of bed, right? You you at your most natural. Are you confident? Do you feel confident? Do you walk into every room thinking I'm amazing? Or is there a voice in your head that tells you something different?
SPEAKER_01:Wow. So when I wake up and I look at my first image in the mirror while I'm grooming, I see I see a free spirit.
SPEAKER_00:A free spirit. A free spirit.
SPEAKER_01:I do. I see I see possibility.
SPEAKER_00:Amazing.
SPEAKER_01:I see responsibility. I see excitement, lovely. Yeah, those are the things that I see.
SPEAKER_00:So responsibility, possibility, and excitement. That's beautiful, but let me tell you, that is not the response that I get from 80% of the women that I work with. Right? Yeah, but for me, I suppose for you, that how does that start to extrapolate? It becomes okay, when we say responsibility, does that become, well, Mandy, I don't have time to go shopping, right? I've got to pick the kids up, I've got to do this, I've got a really busy job, I don't have time for it, right? Does it become that? And when we say extrapolity, and I tell you what it becomes, I'm gonna tell you what it becomes.
SPEAKER_01:It becomes even though I look at her and she might feel a little bit tired, I feel that someone's relying on me to help me anyway. And in fact, I had a walk and talk with a good girlfriend. She's uh she's a medical physician yesterday, where you know, we were talking about you know, going through a lot of things and and um and just giving yourself the space to connect with your body um and to to listen to your body and to settle. And in that talk, it literally transformed what my my Saturday would look like, quite frankly, because I chose to listen to my body during the talk. I wasn't going to. But the point was I feel as a responsible person, whether it's whether it's holding space for the women who are encouraged by Proven That Perfect podcast, whether it's being responsible for the people that I'm entrusted to touch their lives and hence their families' lives in my career, whether it's the babies that I brought into this world and wanting them to know that there's nothing that they will go through that I will not want to absolutely be a part of and cheer them on all the things, right?
SPEAKER_00:That's amazing.
SPEAKER_01:And so I I think, you know, as I listen to those words and you play that back to me, the responsibility one is the one that can be a good, cool thing for me, but it's also the one that can tell myself lies when I look in the mirror. And instead of acknowledging that you've gone hard the last couple days or you've gone hard the last week and you need to rest, that responsibility piece makes me think, get in the saddle, you can do this, boo.
SPEAKER_00:Gotta get up. Yeah. Yeah. And I think, and you, you know, you know, you're an intelligent woman, Toronto, right? You've you've you've you've I'm sure you've experienced these things in in terms of the mindset and limiting beliefs as you've gone and spoken to people in your podcast, right? Our mind plays tricks on us, the voices play tricks on us, and until you start to unpick some of that, you know, that woman who's hit, I don't know, who's hit 40, she's got two, she's got two children under five, right? Feels that responsibility is weighing her down and she doesn't have time, energy, or money to look after herself and get dressed every day. That's the woman I'm trying to encourage and support. Um, so we deal with the mindset. And then I take that from once we start to work on some of that, what is the what's the ambition around your style? Because I'm I'm a believer that the big dreams and goals that you have, you have to dress up and show up for those dreams and goals.
SPEAKER_01:Talk about it, right? And that is mama, that is a southern woman script, full stuff, right? Like show up like you want to be in first class or invite. There you go. There you go. Your budget says you weigh in the back. If you show up like you're first class, if somebody gets bumped up, it's probably you. It's gonna be you. Show up exactly that like you want you want the top office, right? You might start off as whatever, but yeah, show up like you where you're going.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, it's it's and it's really important. And that it's that it's that connection to your big dreams, you know, to who she wants to be and who she's becoming, that we are gonna just make that style connection and try and understand then how does she need to dress? How does she want to show up every day? What are the routines in her life that she needs to establish to make that work for her every day? And let me just say, this is not about spending money. Yeah, this is not about designer items. This is about acknowledging that you have more that you want to do with your life, and there are things you might need to shift to help you on that journey.
SPEAKER_01:I love that. You know, I I think uh for all of the great style that you see um walking around the high school.
SPEAKER_00:There's loads of it, right?
SPEAKER_01:Right. Um, I do think that's another trait that I just remember picking up on when I was there at a young age, which was I did not find the women brandishing every single Single brand of anything.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:It was much more understated, even though it might have been the great brand in the in in that part of the world, it was a more classic understatement. Like that you were wearing the VB top. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:But not everyone has to know, right? Exactly right.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:You know, but I also think as well, you know, that there's so many nuances to style, so many nuances to so many conversations, right? Because, you know, I'm not going to encourage women who work with me to go shopping until we understand those things we've just talked about, until we understand your body shape, uh, what you would like to reflect, right? Because your proportions, the how the dress skims, how the jacket fits you. It's no point going to Instagram or any of the social media platforms and downloading the list from the influencer. That does not make any sense. Because what looks good on that, you know, six-foot beautiful, uh tall model is not going to look the same on your body. Oh my God.
SPEAKER_01:So what you said right there, I think somebody needed to hear.
SPEAKER_00:Truly. We all need to hear it.
SPEAKER_01:Girl, look, how many of us start with the Pinterest board to style whatever thing you're going to do without real grounding on how you probably look very different.
SPEAKER_00:Very different.
SPEAKER_01:Actually, I think this might be an exercise for anybody listening to us. An exercise for anyone listening to us, go to Pinterest, go to your Pinterest board, go to Instagram, go to your favorite Instagram accounts, the ones that you go to for inspiration to dress for anything. Yeah. The test, the the little test project that I'd like to put out there, do an honest assessment. I'm gonna do it too. Do an honest assessment of compare who I am, me, when I look in the mirror, looking in the mirror, to who I have tagged. That's right, and who I am following, and ask myself in with a short of a God miracle. Yeah, I shall not be her.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, you look nothing like her, but yet we will buy the jeans, the top, the dress, the boots that she is recommending when it does nothing for your body shape, nothing, and we get it home, right? We spend the money, a lot of that stuff doesn't go back to the shop, and so the cycle continues.
SPEAKER_01:You're saying, Mandy, honestly, be how do you design a life where you are your own influencer?
SPEAKER_00:Oh, I love that. I'm taking that, I'm taking that. You're welcome. No, that's beautiful, but exactly that. You're your job, y'all.
SPEAKER_01:That's what I do, y'all. I take the complex and I swoop it's simple. They call me the laser shoot, the laser shot. I'm the laser shot.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, no, you are, and that and it's exactly that because yeah, you need to influence yourself with you know your your perspective on life, your perspective about your style, your body shade, what you're doing every day, and no one else. That's how you become and have a style that you love and will work for you.
SPEAKER_01:I love it. And you have a you that you love.
SPEAKER_00:When you look in the mirror, oh my god, how how more beautiful can that be? That that image will resonate so closely with that vision that you started with.
SPEAKER_01:Mandy, that is such worthy work that you're that you're building.
SPEAKER_00:Do you see yourself expanding into this full time and just letting it take you wherever it takes you and how oh my gosh, Chantra, don't get me started on the dreams and the goals that I have right now. I mean, 25 2025 was great for me. Uh it really was. Lots of great clients. I ran an event in the June in July with so many midlife women there just experiencing, you know, you know, um, conversation, network, helping them to see themselves and value themselves more. Um, but I do see it expanding into hopefully a full-time gig, right? Um, and me working in 2026 with corporates around their personal branding for their mid, you know, their mid-managers, their executives, um, and just really helping people see style as a tool, right? We've we build the skill set, we build the CV, you know, we go to our doctors, we have the dentist. Your style has to play a part in the life and career that you're building.
SPEAKER_01:I love that. I think that is so incredible. It's reminiscent to um a concept that was really, really popular. I talked about it on the podcast before, um, probably late to late, late, probably early 2000s-ish time frame, the pie model, right? Performance, image, and exposure.
SPEAKER_00:There you go.
SPEAKER_01:And um, you know, so many of us um initially spent so much time focused on the performance portion of the pie. Yeah, thinking that if I could just work harder, run faster, fit further, all the things, I would see that future that I expect. But too few people actually fully understood and appreciated the image portion. And I love that you are taking it beyond put on a suit.
SPEAKER_00:Oh my god.
SPEAKER_01:Because half people show up to the meeting in a suit and they still shrink, they still shrink.
SPEAKER_00:Exactly. Because the nuance, the nuance here, Chantra, and this is why I chose you know, these women, is the midlife women. The changes that we are going through are so unique to our stage of life, but we still have big dreams and goals. So, yeah, 20 years ago, that suit might have got you through the door. But as you've as you've touched on, right, our confidence drops. Yeah. We see others who are younger than us as as comparison and as our competitors. So we need to nurture ourselves differently at this stage of life. And a lot of the time it comes down to, again, what we see in the mirror that's going to help us to continue to thrive.
SPEAKER_01:So why uh so I would imagine part of our part of your work is unpacking the desire to compare with the younger women because honestly, I hope that that's never something that that is said about me, because that's not that's not who I choose to to be. I am hopeful that I continue to see myself in such a way that I am unique and distinct.
SPEAKER_00:Yes.
SPEAKER_01:And I am growing with the seasonal shifts in my life. Um because I think that it's the whether whether you're starting your career and you're comparing yourself to your peers, whether you're mid-career and you're comparing yourself to to your peers who are younger, I the I think the one thing that has limited the people that were maybe running the race with me, the people that I've seen that that became Carnage on the side of the road were the ones that were so busy looking left and right that they missed their own path.
SPEAKER_00:Oh my god, that's so good. Yeah, that's so good and so true. And I love that, you know, you're evolving with your own seasonal shifts. I love that because everyone has to go through the seasons, right? But it's how you continue to love on those branches, feed and water that tree, and make sure that you are flourishing and thriving at every season. Um, and for me, that's the important work. It's not comparison, however, you you you're right, we all want to see ourselves as unique, right? And that's maybe what we're saying to ourselves, but truly, there's comparison going on, and we just need to be honest with ourselves, and that will help us on the journey as we evolve. You're saying be brutally honest with yourself, be honest, we have to be honest, and I think that's why I start the process with the mindset stuff, because that's where it starts. There's no point me saying, let's go shopping, let's go shopping, let's buy some stuff, let's buy some that that's money, let's buy that viral jacket, right? And let's all walk around in in brown suede, and then you get that home and you look in the mirror and you're like, I still hate what I see. Because we've not done the groundwork.
SPEAKER_01:I love it. That's so good. Okay, so now I gotta be a bit um American, and perhaps you're gonna say a little trivial, but I need to understand what's the vibe around Megan, Duchess of York. Like, what are we saying on the streets there? What's the vibe? Because I think she showed up at Paris Fashion Show slaying and saying, catch my drift, y'all. Just catch catch my dust.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, hey, look, I mean, she always looks good. She does. I she does, she does, she always looks good, she's a beautiful woman, right? Um, yeah, I don't think you try.
SPEAKER_01:Why don't why are well okay? So I'm just gonna I'm just gonna go there. I'm just gonna go there. What's the deal? Why does it feel like there's so much hate for her? That's what I was gonna say.
SPEAKER_00:That's what I was gonna say. You know, she looks beautiful, you know. We great, we know that. Um, but yeah, I I think she she she was never gonna win over here for for various reasons.
SPEAKER_01:Okay, I need to know that. Why?
SPEAKER_00:Well, it's the establishment, right? The establishment will always found it difficult to accept, and I think there is a portion of of the UK that is obviously establishment, they love the establishment, so they were always gonna take that stance, but I think where it's difficult. Harry was always seen as the the young upstart. I think, you know, people love the boys, they do. I was a great Diana fan, so you know, what can I say? Um I think she was just Yeah, I loved her. I think Megan was always gonna be up against it, right? And then, you know, when we saw how they quickly shifted in terms of right, we're out of here, we're going back to the States. That wasn't take. I think if they'd have stuck it out for a few years at least, that would have served them very well in terms of the in terms of the British public. So yeah, I think that didn't quite work out. But I hope they continue, right? I hope they continue to thrive as a couple because they've been through a lot, right? Um, but you know what? While we just talk on celebrity, you know what I did watch recently is the Victoria Beckham.
SPEAKER_01:Yes. Oh I love her. I so do I. But honestly, in that little exercise that I gave you, she's probably she's one of the ones that I would have had to look at because I it's not her, but it's her fashion brand. I love like if there was if somebody said, Okay, you got a budget and you cannot ever go across the line, you have to pick just one brand, and that's the only closet you can walk into every single day. Wow, would it be that one? Would have been my pick. She would have been wow, yeah. Wow, because she brings she brings the funk and the edge, which I love, and but she also brings a bit of the sophistication, the sophistic sophistication, just a little bit more. I was gonna say class, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I get it, right? And the the the I love, yeah, I love the style and the fashion that she produces. I love that. But you know what I loved about that story? What is is her story is that she is the pivot, yeah, is the pivot. That's what got me, and it's how she did it because it resonates so much with my messages.
SPEAKER_01:But hang on, hang on though. If we're gonna go there, we're gonna go there. So many people talk about pivot, yes, but not enough people tell the truth about pivot. Yes, yes, but let me tell, let me let me just break make that plain what I'm trying to say. Yeah, I've heard pivot as a book, as a concept, as a speech. I've heard it glamorized over and over and over again. People even ask me about you know your pivot, blah blah blah. What people don't say, I have said, because I call it proven not perfect, but what people don't say is the pivot doesn't come in pretty. The pivot usually comes in stuck, dead, yes, yes, not working, not flying, painful, painful pivot. You keep going. So there's this notion that you can go from flying high to I think I'm gonna pivot. That's not how that goes. And anybody that says that is not telling the truth.
SPEAKER_00:I completely agree with you because just to touch quickly on my own pivot, right? I spent a good few years in that in that 20 to 25 space questioning whether I was good enough, questioning whether people would would um question my integrity because I work in technology, right? She's a corporate woman. What's she doing as a stylist? You know, but I think in Victoria's story, although she's got all this money, right? Yes, I think they really leaned into the fact that she was hurt so much by how the the the world saw her, yes, and they saw her as this ditzy pop star. Yes, how can you have a fashion house and be seen as that, you know, compared to all the biggest in fashion? That's the bit, and I think she did it so well. She had to change how she showed up, right? She had to change how she walked into a room, what she wore, you know, the lipstick, the makeup, the whole brand. Yes. And when you have big dreams and goals like she had, that's how you've got to do it. And it's not easy.
SPEAKER_01:So, first and foremost, she had to acknowledge that she was not in her best place. Yes. So that is the part of the pivot story that too many people want to see. I've the mindset piece. I will stand 10 toes down on that, right? Yes. I have to admit that this is not my best showing. I am not in my best spot. Okay. So I acknowledge that now. Am I going to accept it? Yeah. Getting on with the getting on, right? I'm at a bad position corporately. They don't acknowledge my skills, experience, impact, and they want my light to dim versus shine. Am I going to stay there? Hmm. Or I'm in a bad relationship. That relationship is not treating me well, not understanding who I am and my value. Am I going to stay there in that relationship? I can give multiple other examples, but once you realize where you are, and does it serve what you see in that mandal statement that's on the refrigerator? And when you acknowledge that it doesn't, yeah, now you get it real. And you say, There you go, I have a choice right here. Either I'm going to keep this and get on with the getting on and let it literally take my life, or I'm going to get on out. I'm going to I'm going to pivot and I'm going to add another P. I'm going to pursue.
SPEAKER_00:Yes.
SPEAKER_01:Pivot and pursue.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Pivot and pause are pivot and pursue. That's I believe.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. And that's so well articulated, Chantra. And I think it's it's I told you that's my gift, girl.
SPEAKER_01:That's my gift.
SPEAKER_00:Your gift, girl. And I think that's what a lot of women come up against, especially as they've you know, especially successful women in certain industries, as we've seen with Victoria, because that's how people knew her. And it would have been so easy for her to just stay at home, live with David's money and whatever. But it's how do you see yourself differently and go on that journey to help other people see it too?
SPEAKER_01:Amen. Well, I I already was rooting for her, she's pretty amazing. I would love to see the see the story that shows us how the other spice girls live and do now.
SPEAKER_00:Wouldn't that be good, right? I mean, yeah, I mean, we kind of think we kind of hear snippets, but I think although Victor and I love, and the thing is as well, she's shown her vulnerability, right? Because the story was not a success all the way through, right? Financially, they've hit hit rock bottom, whatever. But I think the other spice girls probably look at her and think, wow, you have to look at that story and think, wow, you've you've done a great job in in just re-envisioning who you are and how you show up.
SPEAKER_01:And I think also, I would say it goes back to something that you said earlier on. People have a tendency to look at what they see in the exterior and to make presumptions around what another person is going through. Yes. And I think, in particular, right now, whether you're in the UK, whether you're in the US, whether you're in China, whether you are in Africa, um, I have the privilege of having listeners that are in all those places around the world. But here's the thing no matter what it is, people can look externally and see what they see. That does not mean that you're okay.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, exactly.
SPEAKER_01:Be honest with you. Be honest with me. Do that make us wow. Mandy, honestly, this is so good. When if if somebody wants to talk to you um about their style, about their image, they want to do some of this work, want to unpack some of these things, how can they find you?
SPEAKER_00:That would be amazing. Um, so I'm on Instagram at Mandy Tucker Stylist. You can connect me with me there. Um, I'm also on um LinkedIn as well. Um, and my website is Mandy Tucker Personal Stylist. So you'll find all the details there. And I'd love to talk to some of our US counterparts. At the event I was at two days ago, I was talking to a lady in Toronto and she said, I am jumping on your virtual services. So I do all of my services online as well as in person. So yeah, I'd love to speak to some of your listeners.
SPEAKER_01:I love that. Well, Mandy, I um I couldn't be more proud of you. Um I picked you up on the journey, girl. Oh, it's so funny. So good to talk to you. It's a compliment that I thought it was 20 years longer.
SPEAKER_00:So good to talk to you. And all I would say to your listeners is keep shining right and keep believing in yourselves that whatever dreams you have can be fulfilled. It's just, yeah, just just just look at your journey as valuable enough and just keep moving, keep moving forward.
SPEAKER_01:Amen. We are enough. We are feeling and wonderfully made.
SPEAKER_00:Made. Oh, I mean to that.
SPEAKER_01:And not the tail.
SPEAKER_00:I love that. I love it. And we thank you so much, Chantra, to for inviting me on. It's amazing.
SPEAKER_01:You're welcome. Thank you.