Notes on Cinderella (Amended)

Come close, I'll tell you a story - the only ones I tell are true. When I was a girl, I was teased for using big words and a having a flat chest, although those mocking loved to cheat off my papers, handsy too.

Soul searching led me back to my roots, a little Community in Houston, English at UT, wanting to work the fashion industry and coming up bone-dry in 2010 with a BA and the economy on the outs. I couldn't even volunteer abroad despite being heavily over-qualified (remember that recession?), so I took a job in retail trying to get close-up with clothes. Eating PB&J five days a week felt like starving, no art. I thought I sold out when I took a job in corporate, but science was my second love, and I knew I'd be able to dress the part.

I worked the only way I know how, like my mother's only daughter, with all I have, and with heart. Still, over a decade later, kept feeling this hole where my art was, until one day there was a break. One man, then one woman told me yes - You Can Do That - and so I did.

I started managing budgets and projects and timelines. With every spare dollar and moment, I was curating clothing and images and content. I went a little wild and started a business called MAVEN, thinking I should see how far this ship can sail. I trademarked my clothing because I'm making some of that too. People ask me what She Does - this MAVEN, and like most new business owners, I don't really know. What began as a name for a blog parked on a star has grown to include celebrity wardrobe styling for editorial and video shoots, consultation services for creative direction & set design, and this archive of weekly publications. I might be sleepless and broke as hell but I’m full of glee.

So the crestfallen girl who dreamed of working for Lucky Magazine but figured a career the next best way to make people healthier in Corporate America while starting this fledgeling side-hustle may have come full-circle... and ended up front-row at Soho House for the PatBo Fashion Show during SXSW. Walt Disney much? Only if the shoe fits.

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