How Erin Wood's Personal Brand and Style Finally Aligned

You can build a voice people trust, sharpen your message, grow into a real leader in your industry, and still feel like the way you look hasn't caught up to any of it. The clothes work. They're professional. They follow the rules. But when you see yourself in photos or watch yourself back on stage, something is off, and it's not your message.

That's where Erin Wood was for a long time. She's a certified financial planner and SVP of Advanced Planning at AssetMark, named Thought Leader of the Year at WealthManagement.com's 2023 Wealthies Awards, and a 2024 InvestmentNews Women to Watch Financial Literacy Champion. She's built a career around humanizing money and regularly speaks on stages, teaching other advisors how to do the work she does. Her voice had matured. Her style hadn't.

In this episode of The Visibility Shift, I'm talking with Erin about what it took to finally ask for help with her style, and the ripple effects she didn't expect. She opens up about the unwritten rules of her conservative industry, her experience with subscription boxes and stylist appointments, and what she found on the other side. You'll hear why she now sees style as a financially adjacent conversation women aren't having enough.

3:05 – The disconnect Erin felt between her evolving leadership and her existing wardrobe

7:15 – How more publicity and seeing a shift in two other women made Erin realize she needed a shift of her own

10:50 – Why subscription boxes and retail stylists couldn’t close the misalignment gap that Erin felt

16:44 – How Erin recognized her self-enforcement of the financial industry dress code “rules” and what happened when she stopped following them

19:39 – How creating her own style rules that still fit inside her industry reflects Erin’s message and personal branding

23:11 – How Erin navigates the occasional temptation to return to the old ways, and the results she didn’t anticipate

25:52 – Using style curation as a way to manage introvert energy and intentionally choose when to be “seen” and when to blend in

28:14 – The comment that caught Erin off guard, and a way of seeing style as a financial-adjacent tool

32:54 – What Erin has gained now that she’s on the other side of this kind of experience

37:10 – My favorite takeaway from this conversation and how it ties into what I strive to do for clients

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Transcript

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Ellie Steinbrink: Welcome to The Visibility Shift, the podcast where style becomes your most powerful strategy for being seen, standing out and leading boldly. I'm Ellie Steinbrink, stylist and personal brand coach. And if you've ever thought, my style just isn't working anymore, take this as your sign. You're ready for your next level. And instead of launching into a panicked shopping spree, what you really need is a strategy. A style strategy that reflects where you're headed, not who you used to be, or who you think you need to be to fit in. Because when your style aligns with your brand and your vision, everything shifts. You lead with more presence, you attract the right opportunities and clients and you fully step into the woman you're becoming. Because showing up as yourself, that's the most strategic thing you can do. Now, let's get visible. 

Welcome back to another episode of The Visibility Shift. I'm so glad you're here with me today. I am super excited to introduce you to one of my clients. Her name is Erin Wood. Erin Wood is, by trade, a certified financial planner, but is now the head of financial planning for AssetMark. And one of the ways in which she differentiates herself is that she humanizes financial advice. And she does that through showing up on stages. She's a thought leader. She's a visible leader in her space. She was named “InvestmentNews Women to Watch”, was awarded one of their Excellence Awards. So this is truly a woman to watch. 

What you're going to hear in this episode is what it was like for Erin as a highly visible thought leader in her space to realize that the voice and the brand that she had developed herself, for herself, was out of alignment with her style. So she had developed a truly authentic voice. That was humanized, that was easy to digest, that had become very recognized and she realized that her style was really just a shell that was keeping her hidden. You're going to hear her talk about what it felt like to start to break some of those rules within her industry about how you show up, sometimes self-imposed rules. You're going to hear her talk about her experience with other styling services, whether those be subscription boxes or working with stylists at retailers and where those services were helpful and where they fell short and ultimately her SOS moment where she realized, I need to enlist help. And finally, what you're going to hear from her is the unexpected effect that asking for help with your style had on her life, her mindset and ultimately her career. And with that, I can't wait to dive in. Erin, welcome to the show. 

Erin Wood: Thanks for having me, Ellie. As you know, I'm a huge fan of the work you do, so I'm happy to be here today. 

Ellie Steinbrink: Yeah, I'm so glad you took time out of your busy schedule. A lot of my clients have very busy schedules and so I'm grateful that you're here today. Where I want to dive in is, where many women come to me, I think, is, and this was true for you too, because I was looking back at your original intake form and reminding myself, because it's been a year since we've… you know, over a year, since we officially started. And a lot of the same… a lot of things come up, when I'm first getting started to work with women, which is frustrations around particulars about your body. Or just frustration in finding clothes that actually fit your shape. And I think those are very true and legitimate things that are happening and that cause real frustration, especially for someone like you, who is very visible. You're on stages, you're on podcasts, you're doing recording videos, you're in networking scenarios and working with clients, you're highly visible, every day. And I think also what we learned through this process is not only were there frustrations from that aspect of just finding the clothes that fit your body and that made you feel like yourself on stage, but there was also an alignment issue that we discovered, that you were feeling maybe there was misalignment between where you were going as a leader and then how you were showing up. How difficult was that to navigate as someone who is highly visible? 

Erin Wood: Yeah, so I'd agree on everything you just said. You know, there was frustrations on finding the right clothes, the right fit of the right clothes, where to even go. I am shorter, although most people don't always know that, because I typically wear like three inch heels. But I am 5'4" and so that puts me on the petite end of clothes as well. And frankly, I didn't even know where to go to find those clothes. I think a lot of us who are shorter statued, we know that there are a few lines of clothes that have women's business clothes and petites and those are the only places you go. And so, you know, there's supply issues, there's color issues, there's fit issues, there's trying to blend in. And I think that was the, you know, the last part where you said on alignment, I think I was trying to blend in. I was trying to, even all the time I've been in this career and I get asked to speak on stage as, you know, a thought leader and an expert and teaching other advisors how to do the work I do. And yet I still found myself trying to blend in, instead of stand out. And so somewhere along the way, in the last five-ish years, I found my voice is what I will say. I found a way to start bringing my voice to my authentic self. But yet I wasn't finding a way yet to do that with my wardrobe. And so I would stand in my closet like I know a lot of women do and I had way more clothes than you could possibly ever imagine and I hated all of them. I would have my one dress or my one outfit that we all loved and 99% of the other stuff in there I never touched, or I hated and I bought it, because some subscription sent it to me and I was like well you know that this is probably better than what I'm doing and none of it was working and I was just collecting more needless and unflattering clothes. 

Ellie Steinbrink: I think you paint a picture of a very common scenario for a woman like you, who is a leader. And what the reality of the day-to-day looks like is I have a lot of pressure to show up looking a certain way. People are looking to me as an expert, as in a thought leader. So there's pressure just in that alone. There's pressure in that I need to look polished. I need to look like I'm a thought leader. And that's a whole other conversation about what a thought leader looks like. But then it's just the time and energy to figure this all out. You know, like you said, I don't necessarily have the time to go find all the things that are going to be perfect. So we do get ourselves in a little bit of a rut. And I know, when we started working together, you had kind of found a few things that worked and we just kind of hit repeat. And I think what you're describing is that point, where you're just kind of being okay with okay. And now if you looked around the industry, it's not like you, like you said, it's not like you didn't fit in, because you did. How did you start to come to realize that that wasn't… that sort of state, status of your life was not good enough anymore? How did you get to that point, where you realized, oh, okay, maybe, maybe this is time for a shift. 

Erin Wood: There's two things. One, I saw more and more pictures and videos of myself naturally. The more you're out in public, the more people are taking pictures of you. And being an hourglass frame and smaller, what I found was my clothes were making me look way bigger than I actually am. And so I was like, why do I look so big all the time? Which as a woman, nobody wants to make themselves look bigger. And so that was happening. And at the same time, there are two women that I know, which is how I found you and you know this, that I watched transform themselves. And it wasn't like they came into work as this different person. They were standing next to each other one day and both of them, I had noticed over and over again, just looking awesome. Like there was something different and I couldn't put my finger on it. It wasn't like their clothes took this substantial shift into a new universe. It was different, though and different enough that finally, they were standing next to each other one day and I was like, okay, that's it. Like, what did you two do? Like, there is something going on here. And they both kind of looked at each other and laughed and said, you know, we've been working with Ellie. And I'm like, I don't know who Ellie is, but I need to and like, tell me more. And so like that conversation started to happen and then I started watching you. At the time you didn't know it, but I started following you on social media and I started watching some of the things that were happening to them and what I noticed was, people were responding to them differently. They were getting asked more questions in large meeting rooms. They were getting asked questions more from an authoritative, what's your opinion? How do you see this? They were getting more stage time in places that they weren't previously getting it before. And I watched it, them both kind of elevate up their own selves and their own image, to the point that I was like, okay, like I need to figure out how to do this and be happy with my wardrobe and make my wardrobe actually represent the voice and message that's coming out of my mouth, as much as what people are seeing from me. 

Ellie Steinbrink: Yeah. Wow. There's so many good things in there. I don't even know where to start because one, I was laughing just hearing you talk about that, because it was true. I think you later shared it was like a five-year period, where it was a long time. 

Erin Wood: I think it was two years. 

Ellie Steinbrink: Yeah. It felt like a really long time, but I remember I came to speak at your organization at the time. You came up to me and said, I've been watching you for a really long time, you know and I think you came with a lot of hesitation, because it is something as a visible leader that can feel a little vulnerable to hand over to someone else, right, which is where… Which is why you were collecting proof. You know, you were collecting proof and watching, but I think I just want to pin what you said. It wasn't necessarily about what they were wearing. It was how they were holding themselves and how they were presenting themselves and then how that was being perceived by other people. At that time, I mean, I know you had been using, you had been going about different ways of trying to solve your style. You know, I'll just call them style problems or style challenges. What ways did those satisfy your needs? So, for example, I know you had talked about doing, working with, you know, services through retailers themselves, like Nordstrom or M.M.LaFleur, I believe, if I'm remembering right, but also doing box subscription services. How did those either, you know, somewhat satisfy your need, but then also didn't satisfy your need? And what would you say, was attractive about then, what we were going to do that felt different? 

Erin Wood: Yeah, so at the point that you and I started working together, I think I had used almost all of the subscription boxes at one time or another and always had this problem with fit in a lot of them. The fit was just not right, especially if you're needing petite clothes, until a couple of the petite boxes came out. That wasn't an option when they first came out. And some of those boxes were quite expensive. I remember one of them, showing up my house was you know $1,000 and you you had to sign for it and so there was those types of subscriptions I was doing. I also had done some of the stylings at the different retail type shops, M.M.LaFleur is a great example of I… There was not any of those stores and there's not that many of those stores in the United States. And so I was making appointments at them, when I was on business trips. And so I was also like sneaking like into the beginning or end of my business trip, trying to get into these places, to actually get help. And what I found is sometimes it was great. Yes, you could try things on. They would give you some ideas. I found some great pieces and clothes I really love. The boxes over time got to be very rinse and repeat. You could tell there's an algorithm there. I would pick one shirt and three months later I'd get the same shirt in another color. And then I would get the same shirt in another color. And so now you're like, okay, I'm just, you know, looking like a different version and a different color of the same outfit over and over again. But the sad thing I think really became, when you'd get these colors and I was like, these are not the patterns I want. They're not the colors I want. They're just not making me feel better. But I feel like, because some stylist put them in a box and I know it's a computer algorithm. I know a real person didn't decide that subscription box that was sent to me. Even though you message them, like I know it's a fake bot. I start to feel guilty, like the box showed up and I had to buy something out of the box, which is how I ended up with all of this stuff in my closet that I was like, it's okay, I don't love it. Or it would only work with this one outfit. And then I found I couldn't mix and match things the way I wanted to. And it got to the point, like, I just I was unhappy with all of them. And so I turned off every subscription and I was like, SOS Like, I need something else here. 

Ellie Steinbrink: I think you make a great point, though, because what I'll often say about a stylist at a retailer, like you're describing or any of these subscription boxes, they do solve a problem within this whole overarching category of style. OK, so they solve a problem of shopping, which is they're curating things for you to some extent, you know, and it does make it easier. You don't have to be the one going out to the stores, or finding the brands. And, you know, if it's a through one brand, obviously is just their brand, but you don't have to do that. So it's a personal, it ends up being like a personal shopper. And sometimes they can do a really good job with fit and color. But I think what is missed along the way is there's not a lot of discussion around identity. There's not a lot of discussion around where maybe you're holding yourself back, in terms of what you'll allow yourself to wear, or how you want to show up. And then I think to your point, there is no support on the aspect of, OK, great, I love this piece, maybe, but now I don't know any other way to wear it, other than the ways I have been wearing it. So it gets to be really boring really quickly. 

Erin Wood: Yes, I agree with that. And, you know, that piece I had said about guilt, it's so surprising to me, even though I, as a person who talked to people about, you know, how to make better money decisions all the time, found myself buying something out of a box, because I felt guilty that I needed to buy something out of that box. And the colors, nobody did my colors in any of these situations. And so they would find something and be like, oh yeah, this dress is great, we have it in these three colors. It wasn't until I met you and we actually worked on what is my body shape and what are the clothes that look good that way and what are my colors and what colors are the right colors that actually things started coming together in a really cohesive way. 

Ellie Steinbrink: Yeah. And I just will say, shout out to all the petites out there listening, because Erin and I both know, and I have actually quite a few petite clients, it is a struggle. And I think in those cases, you know, M.M.LeFleur in particular, they have petite friendly pieces…

Erin Wood: Yes.

Ellie Steinbrink: … which depending on the shape of your body, you know, can work and sometimes they don't. I mean, I know a lot of petite women, you know, I think you were the same case where it's like there's portions of your body that are definitely petite, you know, and then other portions that can kind of sway into regular or petite sizing. And, you know, it's not until you take a look at the actual measurements of your body and really look at it to understand, oh, OK, this is what you need. And this is where I can get by with maybe a regular sizing. And here's where I can get by where I can absolutely not bend on petite. And I remember us going through a couple of repetitions, when we first started playing around with that. Right. And a lot of great feedback for you. I want to talk a little bit about where we got to unraveling yourself from some rules. And so as Erin has already stated, she works in the financial industry, which if you know anything about the financial industry, they're still fairly conservative. And I think that is unraveling a little bit. I think I've seen people push the boundaries, which is really great. But I would say there's still like heavily a code. And then on top of that, you're in the financial industry and you're a speaker. So then it's kind of like pile on the rules for every single role you play, whether it's a female leader, you know, full of, you know, a heavily male dominated field. But then also there's all sorts of rules around speaking. Do you remember the exercise where we went through and we talked about, you know, naming some of these rules that were ultimately holding you back and which… What are a few that popped out to you as you did that exercise? 

Erin Wood: Yeah, you know, in the financial industry, there's definitely rules about black, gray and navy. Like, those are the call sign for this industry, I'm pretty sure. And as it turns out, my colors, I don't look good in black, huh? Who knew? For 20 years, I've been wearing black suits and it's like, washes me out. Bad idea. And so, like, that rule definitely existed. The suits, the blazers, the very formal look. And as I said before, like, many of those suits were just swallowing me, to the point where I looked way heavier than I actually am. And so, getting those rules of colors are not an industry. I don't know that I've ever said that out loud before, but it's so true. Colors are not an industry and neither is a specific type of clothes. Now, does that mean I show up in pajamas? Absolutely not. I look professional every single day. You have done an amazing job helping me find the clothes that align to the vision that I want, but nobody notices that I get on stage and I've broken those rules. They might be there, but I would say they're self-enforced rules. Nobody is sitting on the side of the stage by the stairs saying, oh no, Erin, you can't come up here. You're not wearing a black suit. If anything, I would say people don't even actually notice that I'm not doing it until I point it out. And when I point out that I just no longer am following those rules, then everyone's like, oh, wait, you don't. But what they realize is I show up professional. I show up in an image and an aura that fits me really well. They're able to hear me speak in a way that I want to speak and show up in a way that I want to show up. And I've created my own rules that fit inside of the industry in the way that I want to do it. 

Ellie Steinbrink: Yeah. And I think what's ironic, or just perfectly in harmony, is that you've done that with your own personal branding and your message too. You've created your own rules. And for those of you who aren't familiar with Erin, what you should know about her is she's someone who, let's see, how do you say, humanizing financial advice, right? And so you're taking a highly complex topic that can be very intimidating and making it more palatable, which thank you for that. But I think that's also what you're saying is you're sort of debunking those rules and allowing yourself to do it with your style as well. We got to talk about the blazer though, Erin, because the blazer was the thing, right? You're talking about neutrals. And what I think is, you know, interesting with your shift is you didn't really move a lot away from the neutrals. We discovered that you really did love neutrals. It was a shift in which neutrals you were wearing. And we've kind of delved into some deeper, richer colors like forest greens and burgundy, but you know, I think there was a way that you've owned that and made that feel really professional and luxe. But let's talk about the blazer. What was it about the blazer? You know, what you would use to tell me is that I feel like every time I'm in a professional setting, in order to legitimize, you know, or give myself credibility, I feel like the blazer needs to be there. Did it feel scary to admit that and then wanted to be able to walk away from it? 

Erin Wood: It truthfully is one of those things that we reinforce these rules on ourselves in so many ways. And I don't want to say that there are no guardrails that we should be in. There's absolutely guardrails in our industry. But there is not this really fine rule. And the blazer one, I've been dealing with for more than 20 years. And it started when I was young in my career. And it was, if you want someone to take you seriously, then you dress like the part, you dress like success, you dress like the person that's sitting across from the table expects you to be. And that started very young in the career. And then as I moved up and moved into different groups, you know, some of those groups were even more so. I moved into private wealth and trust companies and multi-generational wealth. And I saw that become even more constrictive there, where it was definitely, you know, most of us walk into a bank and you have a certain perception of what someone's going to look like. 

Ellie Steinbrink: Yeah. 

Erin Wood: And then as I navigated my career further, what I kept finding is, to your point of, I love to talk about finance to the normal person. All of us are normal people and we all have our superpowers. And my superpower is taking something that sounds like French to a lot of people and turning it into English. Your superpower is taking style and color, which totally blows my mind and I can't do it and turning that into English for me. And so we all have our own superpowers. And what I realized is my superpower of who I want to talk to and how I want to talk to people was actually being clouded by the clothes I was wearing, because it was actually taking away from that humanizing financial advice. A lot of people just want to talk to someone like a person. They want to be able to see the person on the other end. And for a lot of people, suits are intimidating. If you're coming to someone who is really formal in a suit, it makes it hard to be vulnerable and talk about something. And so I was like, I can talk to people all day long. I just need to put my clothes in alignment with that. 

Ellie Steinbrink: That's really powerful. And how has it felt? How has that ship felt? I mean, because I think the goal was alignment. Maybe we didn't realize the goal was alignment until we really started to dig in. But how has it felt? And maybe talk about where it's felt like a risk or felt scary too. 

Erin Wood: Yeah, there were still times, I will admit, where, you know, I'm packing for a trip and I stand in the closet and I'm like, do I take this one or do I take this one? And sometimes I catch myself going back to those old, well, oh, this is what I should do. But I have found like I use the app, I map out my clothes, I've gotten rid of everything old in my closet, so like it doesn't even exist anymore. I think I'm down to like the last 20% and it is going in the next round of clothes. But what I did find, when I started just being me, people started commenting. And it was the same kind of comments I was making, you know, before I went to a conference and walked by a woman I didn't know. And she's like, that outfit is amazing. She's like, I wish I could emulate that. And then I went somewhere else, one time it was a coffee shop. I had just gotten off stage. I was wearing my… I always call them my money green pants, because they are like the bright green pants. And I had those on and I had on a white shirt and heels. And I ran into this coffee shop and I was kind of in a hurry. And the woman behind the counter goes, whoa, you're stepping. And I was like I'm getting like people just like throwing out comments. And more and more I had people commenting on where did you get that? What brand is that? Where did you… you know like do you go into boutiques? Are you shopping online? I had people asking me all sorts of questions about where I was finding things and I frequently am like, well, I actually don't know where it came from. You have to check the label, because Ellie picked it out for me. But that, you know, is how you start. I started to notice it was the way people were gravitating to it. I don't remember anyone ever asking me before where I got my clothes from, or if I did, it was so rare, where it happens to me now, I would say on almost a weekly basis. 

Ellie Steinbrink: Wow. I have to imagine that some of that noticing is the energy that you're bringing now. Would you agree? Or is it just a stunning piece of clothing that's drawing them in? Or is it all of it? 

Erin Wood: So I think it’s all of it. I am an introvert by nature, which always surprises everyone, because they're like, you don't come off as an introvert. 

Ellie Steinbrink: Me too. 

Erin Wood: But I know like energy. What I find is at the end of, you know, a conference or at the end of a day, I need to recharge my battery, where the extroverts are like, oh, let's go out. And I'm like, no, I need to go to sleep. So I do think there's always a little bit of, you know, when you're an introvert, you can pick clothes that allow you to blend into the crowd and not be seen so that you can energy conserve a little bit. And when you start showing up in a way that people notice you, you can't blend in, where you're truly not wanting to blend in anymore. And so I do think a little bit of it was me deciding how to use my energy. And I had to truly be like, when I'm in this one space, I'm going to be seen and I'm going to talk to everyone and I'm going to use all of my energy up, in the next two hours. And then I'm going to go to my room and I'm going to go to sleep. And so I changed a little bit of just my whole mindset of I'm going to show the best version of myself in this time period. And then I'm going to allow myself to recharge my battery and then I'll do it again tomorrow and then I'll recharge my battery. But I had to be OK with that. I don't have to be there for, you know, 15 hours a day and be 130 percent for those 15 hours. I need to be my best at the certain times that I'm going to do it. 

Ellie Steinbrink: Yeah, I think you made a really good point. I'm so thankful you shared all of that. It's really vulnerable of you to share all that, but I think it's true. I think through this process, what I've noticed with you and not only you, but other clients is that when you start to lean into a more authentic style, it is hard for people not to notice, because there is a different energy there. But then in some ways it does, it puts you out there, in a different way. And that can feel differently depending on who you are. And obviously you and I are both introverts, I know what that feels like to walk into a space and where maybe you could have just hidden before, or just allowed yourself to not be seen, that's not even an option anymore. But I think it propels you forward in such a great way, right? And I love that reflection of being able to use your energy in a different way. So I'm curious, what was the surprising part of this process that you really just didn't expect? Anything come to mind? 

Erin Wood: My 12-year-old daughter started complimenting me on the way I look. I will say, my husband and my family, they're all very lovely people. But when you have a 12-year-old daughter who looks at you and she's like, Mom, you look really nice today. I was like, oh, I'm going to take that and like run with that for the rest of the month. And so that one did catch me off guard. The first time it happened, I looked at my husband. I was like, you just heard that, right? Like, we didn't imagine that. He's like, yeah, she just… she just said it. 

Ellie Steinbrink: That's a big deal. 

Erin Wood: He, you know, he loves me immensely as well, but he has complimented me. He'll come in frequently, when I'm getting ready in the morning and he's like, oh, that's a really good outfit. I really like that. And so even like my family members, I have gotten more just appreciation from or acknowledgement. And I don't think any of us want to be, you know, known for, I can't find the right word for this right now, but like, oh, just I look good all the time. 

Ellie Steinbrink: Right, yes.

Erin Wood: Like, that's not what I want to be known for. But it is nice. It is very nice, when people notice it. And the other part that I do remember saying to you and I have since said this on stage, especially when I've been talking to women about working with professional women and how do we help professional women more, especially from a finance perspective, I always talk about working with women, there's lots of things that are financial adjacent. And what occurred to me during this whole process is that men have been doing this forever. Men, my whole career, have had the, you know, wherever they go, or come into the office and they get measured up and they have a custom suit made and they get delivered to the office and next season or six months later, that person shows up at the office again and measures them up and adjusts their clothes. Men have been doing this forever. And it didn't occur to me that men have done this and it has helped them progress through their careers and helped them move up the ladder. And however you want to acknowledge that, as women, we haven't really done that. As women, we've been told, oh, you like to go to the mall or you like to shop. Well, I don't like to shop. I found it really infuriating, because I could never find what I wanted anyway. And so like this idea that, oh, wait, we can, from a financially adjacent perspective, I help women negotiate better contracts. I help women talk about how to get paid more, or how to get better benefits for themselves, or what kind of stock options or equity they get. But another financially adjacent conversation is how do we help women be noticed in their career? How do we help them dress in a way that helps them move up the ladder or move up to that next position? And it's something men have allowed themselves to do forever and we've never had those conversations. And so I think that was the other really eye-opening moment for me is that as a person who talks to women about increasing their careers all the time, this is another way to think about what are the things that we can do that help us show up in a new way to even get noticed, to get that interview, to get, you know, that recommendation, or to get someone to advocate for us. 

Ellie Steinbrink: Yeah, love it. What can we do to help women be more noticed? I love it. And another thing that comes to mind for me, when you're talking about this, and I know it's true in your world as well, is that we hesitate, I've noticed women hesitate to ask for help in many regards, okay, right? And this goes across our entire landscape of our daily lives. But I think in particular what you pointed out is that for some reason we believe we should just be all equally skilled, in terms of getting yourself dressed, which is just not the truth. And so I'm, you know, thankful for when clients come to me and say, I actually really hate shopping and this is like a nightmare for me and it's the last thing I want to do. And that's how I feel about some financial topics. And so like, of course, I don't think twice in going to get help with my financial needs, or taxes, or whatever it may be, or investments. But for some reason, as women, we hesitate to go and ask for that help in areas where we think we should just naturally be skilled. So I'm so grateful you brought that up. The last thing I want to ask, I want you to just speak to a listener right now, who maybe is finding herself in your story, finding herself as someone who is wanting to expand, is in a leadership or a visible position, maybe running her own business. What would you say to her? What could be waiting for her on the other side of an experience like this? 

Erin Wood: Yeah, I would say there are two things that really are waiting. And one of those I'm going to say has been my favorite part. But going through the experience is an eye-opening experience. You start to look into yourself of, you know, what are those words that you want to align with? Who's the person you want to be? How do you want to show up? What do you want people to know you for? And it's that starting with the why. Why are you even doing this and going through this process? And getting really crystal clear on it, helps move through the next step, which you have built a beautiful process for doing this. I remember as a person who does behavioral finance, I had made the joke, I'm like, Ellie behavioral financed me. I mean, I say it for… I appreciate it, because you spent a lot of time with like, let's get into your mind and figure out what's happening here. But the second part that I have found to be, you know, so freeing is I have not went shopping. Every time you and I talk, you're like, so what'd you buy since the last time we talked? I'm like, nothing. I have bought nothing. I don't go in stores. If I do, it's with my daughter. I don't get online. Every single one of those emails that comes into my email box with sales, or here's what's going, I've hit unsubscribe on all of them, my email box has never been so clean. And that lack of clutter in my closet, in my email box, in my time, in my mind has been the most freeing experience. And I don't want to ever have to go shopping again. Like you, when I talk to you, I'm like, here's the places I know that I have holes. Here's the things I want to look at. But that has been so freeing in a way that I never even imagined. And getting time back in our lives is the most precious thing any of us can get. You know, we're all busy. We have careers. We have families. We have kids. We have kids activities that never seem to end. And this is just one thing that was adding stress to me that I don't need. And, you know, I don't change my own oil. I don't work on my own water heater or whatever it is. This was something that I could completely outsource and has allowed me to be present in the places I want to be present, without having other things on my mind. 

Ellie Steinbrink: I love it. Yeah, I think we discount that mental clutter that is there. And I don't know why I think it feels heavier for women sometimes to show up and really be on. And then all of the pieces that come before getting to the event, like you said, of where do I buy it? Does this fit me? How am I feeling that day? Because Lord knows we don't always feel the same every day and certain outfits don't feel great on one day versus the other, but having options and knowing that that part of your life is locked and loaded is such a comforting thought. And all I got to say is I got you, girl. Got you. And I'm so grateful that you trusted me in this process and that you trusted yourself. I think that's even bigger than you trusting me is you took a lot of courageous steps into territory that felt really unfamiliar to you. So don't forget to remind yourself of that too, how far you've come. So this has been an incredible conversation. I thank you so much for your time. 

Erin Wood: Oh, Ellie, I thank you every day for what you do. My family will tell you like they have never met you, but they all know who Ellie is. And so Ellie has been, you know, the point of my life that has changed things in so many ways. And so I thank you, you know, for everything you do and for having me on. This has been a great pleasure. 

Ellie Steinbrink: The thing I can't stop thinking about from my conversation with Erin is when she was describing watching her two co-workers, whom I had worked with, she didn't know it at the time, watching those two co-workers up level, not just in their wardrobe. Yes, the wardrobe had indeed changed to, you know, further align with who they wanted to be as leaders. That is true. But what also changed is that their energy changed, their presence changed, they were getting different opportunities, their voices were getting heard. That was what she noticed. And this has really got me thinking about… I think sometimes clothing and style can get construed as a vehicle in which to make a splash, to make people pay attention. And I think that can be done in a way that's fake. And I think that can be done in a way that is truly authentic. And what I'm after here is getting women noticed, in a way that reveals their most authentic self. That is what this is all about. If I were to work with a woman and have it be a fake, just put on a costume, in order to get noticed, or in order to make a splash, or in order just to break the rules for breaking the rules sake, I wouldn't have the same pride in this work. But this is not only getting noticed from a more authentic standpoint where people can really see the real you, but it's allowing yourself to be noticed too. And that's the other thing Erin talked about in this episode, in this conversation, is that she realized through this process how much she was hiding herself. She was letting her clothes be a way in which she hid in certain rooms or hid at a conference. And when we started to make this shift in her style, she realized that that was no longer going to be an option. So it changed her. 

I hope something in this episode resonated with you. And if it did, please reach out, you know, drop a comment here on whatever platform you're listening, or head over to Instagram, where I'm very active as well as LinkedIn. I would love to hear what this brought up for you and what it's got you thinking. And with that, I will see you in the next episode. 

Thanks for joining me on The Visibility Shift. If something in today's episode made you pause, rethink, or gave you permission to stop playing small, it would mean so much to me if you'd leave a review at ratethispodcast.com/visibilityshift. 

Let's make it visible.