We were lucky to catch up with Jenilee Samuel recently and have shared our conversation below.
Jenilee, so good to have you with us today. We’ve always been impressed with folks who have a very clear sense of purpose and so maybe we can jump right in and talk about how you found your purpose?
I grew up un-allowed to look at fashion magazines, and almost wasn’t allowed to have Barbies because my mom didn’t want me to develop a sense of insecurity around my looks. I thought it was annoying, and that there must be something horrible in fashion magazines but I complied. I appreciate my mom’s intentions and realize she very well may have protected me from unnecessary comparison issues when I was young. However, in many encounters in my life and circles I was in, there was an idea that female beauty was nothing more than vanity, and that us girls (especially as we passed puberty) needed to make sure we were covered up! No spaghetti strap shirts, shorts almost to the knees, nothing fitted, because my goodness you wouldn’t want to be responsible for making a boy lust after you. Now, no one said these things so dramatically, it was kind of just the undercurrent and the strict dress codes that sent this message. Again, well intentioned, but the delivery suffered. When I became an adult, grew into my woman body and began having children, everything changed so much with how I was shaped, but inside I still had a resounding sense of self-confidence and self respect that made me want to dress stylishly and respectably, even if I was going through lots of changes. However because of my upbringing, the idea of pursuing fashion, or giving much attention to my clothing still carried a tone of “vain” and “materialistic”.
As I straddled the limbo between wanting to take care of myself and be an attractive woman out of self respect and respect for others, yet not wanting to fall into vanity, I went on a personal journey of discovery. As I took that journey, i discovered a divine plan for my life through various circumstances, strange encounters and personal study. It turns out, as I studied for myself (A pastor by trade), and saw unusual doors of opportunity open up to me, I realized my steps were being ordered by a bigger plan, and they were leading me right into the fashion industry and wardrobe styling. I felt like a fish out of water, but at the same time, it struck a chord deep down in my soul that felt familiar.
As I continued in the path of styling people with the world’s largest styling company, and learned a LOT about all these different women and men behind the boxes of clothes we sent, I realized how much our fashion and wardrobe is so intimately connected to our sense of identity, self worth, self image, and confidence. It is reflected onto the way we dress! Not only that, but as I studied the Bible and tried to figure out what does God think about this stuff, I came away with a whole different mentality, realizing it matters a lot to him, and God himself was the first fashion designer there was! (Hello, Adam and Eve.). There’s so much meaning to me now, when it comes to redeeming women’s right to feel and be beautiful, as it’s one of the qualities of God that he wrote into our souls, and I want to see women set free to embrace who they are without shame, and I love that now I have the practical tools to help them do that! I believe in the WHOLE person, and being healthy spirit, soul and body. And when we are, it will show up on the outside, clothing included. 🙂
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
Due to this passion growing inside of me, I recently decided to go full time with my Podcast (Java with Jen) and my wardrobe styling business, J. Samuel Styling. In a perfect world, I’d love to speak at women’s conferences, addressing the power of beauty, and overcoming the shame that has tried to attach itself to this quality that God himself has given us. A woman’s soul is wired from the core to need to feel LOVELY, truly lovely, inside and outside. We want to know we’re desirable, lovable, helpful, refreshing, attractive, that we bring life and make people’s lives better. It’s just plain built into us. And when we are not allowed to step fully into the virtuous, lovely qualities that reside in our uniqueness, it causes a pain and wounding that can take years or a life time to recover from. I want to help women heal, to break off shame that causes them to feel like it’s not ok to put on lipstick or buy a great outfit. I want women to learn how their beauty is a powerful gift that is meant to draw people to them so that they can allow their love, nurturing, compassion, wisdom and all their wonderful qualities to bless and rescue others.
Because I’m equal parts motivator AND creator, I love to inspire women, and then teach them HOW to do the thing! So, I currently have an online course called “Fashion|Sense: 2 Hours to a More Stylish You” where I take the knowledge and experience I gained from styling over 9,000 people and I condense it down to the most essential truths and tools to help women have a fashion transformation. It’s broken up into seven short videos where I tackle “Why fashion matters”, “What is your body shape & how to dress it”, “Choosing your best colors”, “Identifying your style”, “Building your wardrobe”, “Putting together outfits that flatter you”, and more. It has a 35 page workbook, and comes with all sorts of tools, links and resources to give them as much value in a simple-to-digest way possible. It is live video from an in-person workshop that I did, and I have gotten such great feedback on it! They can find it at www.JSamuelStyling.com as well as any other resources I have. I encourage them to join my email list as I’ll also be doing a True Beauty challenge soon, and they’ll hear about it there, as well as receiving monthly emails with fashion tips and great shopping secrets.
If they’d like to follow my podcast where I talk more faith-based content to build the soul, they can find me at www.JavaWithJenPodcast.com.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
Looking back, I think three things that really helped me continue were:
1. Prayer and knowing what God’s plan for me was. I faced some opposition in taking the path I was taking, and knowing that I was fulfilling a bigger purpose helped me stay the course even when it got confusing or painful. The Lord was always so kind to send encouragement, fresh opportunities or answers to prayer every time I wanted to quit.
2. Being a never-satisfied learner. I have learned the ins and outs of about 7 different industries in the last handful of years… I’ve learned so much I feel like I should have a college degree! But whenever I would face a challenge that I didn’t have knowledge to navigate (Like how to start a business or podcast lol), I just set out to learn. I’ve watched so many hours of youtube, joined so many masterclasses, hired two coaches, read books, listened to podcasts, read so many articles… ALL THE THINGS. And I will always continue to learn. I actually feel so much more intelligent, like my brain is bigger because of it lol. Every time I’d feel exhausted at the idea of learning something else, I just reminded myself, “Jenilee, the more you learn, the more of an asset you are. You’re just putting more tools in your tool belt and creating more opportunities with your newly acquired skills. You lose nothing when you learn something new.”
3. Perseverance. Continuing to build toward the vision, regardless the discouragement that came, pressures that came, frustrations, lack of resources or lack of time. I just kept looking at things determined that there is a WAY to make it work. Sometimes that meant taking a step back to breath, rest, and then try again. Sometimes that meant spending some time in prayer so I could cry and vent and get some direction. Sometimes that meant stepping back and looking at what I HAD accomplished so I wasn’t disillusioned by feeling like I was going nowhere, even though I was indeed moving forward. Perseverance requires hope, and hope requires encouragement. To be perseverant, you have to be good at encouraging yourself and surrounding yourself by people who will encourage you. But I couldn’t have done any of it without the guidance and help from the Lord… in fact I’m typing on a laptop I just bought yesterday after I told the Lord I’d. need one in order to go full time, and he provided the money for it so quickly. It was crazy how it came together. Bottom line: one step at a time, and never stop cheering for yourself.
Before we go, any advice you can share with people who are feeling overwhelmed?
When I feel overwhelmed, the first thing I do is identify where the overwhelm is coming from. Is it my schedule is too full? Am I needing to sit down and organize my tasks? Is it financial pressure I’m feeling? Is discouragement weighing heavy? Taking time to be self aware is hugely important.
From there, I tackle whatever is driving my overwhelm. If I need a better system for staying on top of the demands, then I take time to brainstorm organization tools for managing my time. This was a game changer for my podcasting responsibilities especially.
I also have to regularly evaluate where I’m putting my time to see if there are time wasters eating my energy or taking me away from my vision and mission.
If discouragement has me down, I take time to reflect over the last year and see what has been accomplished, and all the wonderful things the Lord has done. It never fails to lift me. Then, I just focus on staying in gratitude.
Lastly, often times overwhelm comes from overworking. In those cases, I just tell myself “Jen, it won’t fall apart if you step away for a few hours or the rest of the day. If it does, you need a better plan. Take some time to refresh, and come back tomorrow.” Margin time, the time to just breathe, dream, rest, play, create, is so important for the soul.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.jsamuelstyling.com and www.javawithjenpodcast.com
- Instagram: @jsamuelstyling and @javawithjen
- Facebook: @jsamuelstyling & @javawithjenpodcast
- Other: I’m the most active on Instagram.. I’d love to see you over there! Drop me a DM and let me know you found me from this article!
