We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Dianne Wilson a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Dianne, thank you so much for making time for us. We’ve always admired your ability to take risks and so maybe we can kick things off with a discussion around how you developed your ability to take and bear risk?
It all started with curiosity. I grew up in a fairly socially conservative, middle-class family. In many ways, I am grateful for my upbringing because it taught me to be prudent, put my faith in Jesus, and have a “plan B” in life—as my father would often say. I still hold these values.
The downside was there were certain valuable experiences that I didn’t have growing up because I was taught that they were “too risky”. I realized once I became an adult that the reasoning for why we didn’t do certain things was based on assumptions or a lack of understanding and even as a child, I would often think about the “what if’s”. Once I gained the ability to make my own decisions, I began to explore the possibilities.
I believe that’s why entrepreneurship was so appealing to me as a career path. I love that by finding new ways to add value and provide unique solutions to problems, you can push the limits of what’s possible and see greater rewards in life!
Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
I founded Suited to Reign with the desire to help entrepreneurial pageant women build impactful brands through their platform, to better their communities and elevate their potential in pageantry and beyond. Initially, I got into branding after I started a wardrobe styling business a few years ago. The opportunity to work with women in diverse professional fields, led me to gain greater curiosity about the world of brand development and go beyond visual identity. The most exciting thing is that I get to collaborate with women with big aspirations. It’s my personal belief that the most successful women in the pageant industry have two things: a heart to serve and a “big picture” mindset. As a strategist, my goal is to guide women towards cultivating those things so that they can be put in the best position to serve their target market.
Most people may not know this, but the pageant industry has been an avenue for countless women to go achieve their goals because of the soft & hard skills and resources they obtained as a titleholder. Many women use their platform and skills to tackle various social causes. It’s because of pageantry that I was encouraged to create a platform that supported female entrepreneurs, when I was a local titleholder under the Miss North Carolina America system. Naturally, my own entrepreneurial journey brought me full circle to the industry that gave me my wings.
While I have great respect for the contributions of my industry, I do think we are doing a disservice to titleholders when we make “winning the title” the focal point of our messaging because there is so much more to the story of a titleholder’s life. Time and time again, I have seen ambitious women get discouraged because they believed that the crown was the “end all, be all” in their journey.
I started to think a lot about what I believe was missing in my industry and that was a clear action plan to position titleholders (not just for the win) but for building a brand that would thrive outside of pageantry. With this in mind, I started offering my virtual services as a VIP Day, which is a structured 1-day session that allows my clients create a personalized roadmap and that help them make greater progress towards their goals. We develop a strong foundation for variety of areas from social media content & growth strategy, service project development, wardrobe styling, and more!
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
I believe being a creative, self-critic, and visionary were necessary for me to grow. I think some people are born with these qualities, but I also think they are qualities that anyone can be develop overtime.
I am a naturally creative person, but I learned very fast that part of creativity was problem solving. I also had to get comfortable with the discomfort to criticizing myself and the work I put out. When you first start out, it can be easy to think that everything is just going to fall into place because you worked hard. The harsh truth is that nothing is guaranteed, and you have to be willing to pivot when things don’t go the way you planned it. This is where being a visionary as an entrepreneur is a must because everything you do must connect to the big picture. You have to see the vision through to completion, even when other people don’t see it.
My advice to people that are early in their journey is to prioritize your wellness. You may not realize it now, but everything is connected. Take care of your mental, physical, & spiritual health and your household (including if you have a spouse or dependents) first! If these things are out of order, you’re more likely to burnout.
What do you do when you feel overwhelmed? Any advice or strategies?
I go back to my top list of priorities and identify which ones I have neglected. Chances are if you’re feeling overwhelmed, it’s because you’re overlooking something that is an important part of your overall wellness.
An exercise that my first business coach taught me was to create a home system. Think of 1 area of your life that you believe you have neglected the most, it can be yourself, your family, your work, etc. Make that area the center of your home system because that is the thing you need to prioritize for everything else to run efficiently. List what is needed to improve that area. Once you’ve done that, list out all of the other areas of your life that you believe are necessary for a quality life. Then list ways that you can improve each category.
If you’re a visual learner like me, I literally created a bubble map as my laptop screensaver that has all of the things that I need to have a functioning home system. When I start to feel overwhelmed, my map is a reminder of what’s important!
Contact Info:
- Website: suitedtoreign.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/suitedtoreign/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/suitedtoreign
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dianne-wilson-suited-to-reign/
Image Credits
Rodgers Polk Photography JQ Bratton Media
