Self-Image In The Workplace With Julienne Waters

With so many things going on and the ever-increasing competition in the workplace, we sometimes forget that we are unique and brilliant, and we have so much that is our own potential to give to the world. It’s time to get rid of our negative self-talk and limiting beliefs and start building a positive self-image and rediscover our inward and outward beauty. Today, Julienne Waters joins Rosie Zilinskas to discuss the importance of self-image in the workplace. Julienne is an image consultant and life transformation stylist who helps women go from unhappy with their lives to feeling confident and alive.

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Self-Image In The Workplace With Julienne Waters

Our guest is Julienne Waters. She is known as a life transformation artist who sees the hidden potential in people. She has been helping thousands of women for several decades go from unhappy with their lives to feeling confident and alive. She helps them envision their life as they want to be in their highest state and brings out the courage to live them. She has worked with mayors, news anchors, bestselling authors, TV stars, and even a world-famous author who has appeared on Oprah. She has represented brands such as Estée Lauder, Clinique, and Vidal Sassoon. She has been featured in Forbes Magazine and had her paintings exhibited in art galleries. As someone who has overcome numerous traumatic events, she is living proof of the possibility of personal reinvention. Her clients marvel at how she gives them permission to be who they are. Not some version of who they are told they should be. She has gone through some tremendous trials and tribulations. She came out radiant and glowing on the other side. Julienne’s smile is beautiful, and she is an image consultant. We are going to talk a lot about how your image translates into your career. With that, stay tuned for Julienne Waters.

Julienne Waters, thank you for being here, and thank you, everyone, for reading. She is a certified executive coach. I’m going to start right off the bat. I know that you give women permission to be who they are and not the version of who they are told that they should be. Tell me, what do you mean by that because I want to know. Rosie, thank you so much for having me in. I’m excited to be able to share here with your readers the information that could help their business grow and help them grow individually. I help people to feel, look, think and live better women to upgrade into an even higher version of themselves. We’ve lived in a lot of lies. We have been told in our life that, “We are not good, pretty, and smart enough. We will never do this and that.” These are lies. I want to give permission to women. I do give permission to be who they are in their unique beauty because there’s no one that doesn’t have this energy, aura and life to them that isn’t fantastic, gorgeous, beautiful, and worth sharing. That’s what I mean about that. That’s a great answer because allowing someone to be who they are from their inner beauty is going to transform their life. Tell me more about how you do something. The show is about empowering women in their career development. They can advance and move up the corporate ladder. How do you do that specifically, Julienne, with the work that you do with some of your clients? I do NLP coaching. For several years, I’ve worked in the fashion industry as a hair stylist, makeup artist, and even in clothing design. It’s easy to apply the principles of how to look your best. How do you put your makeup on for your face? How do you wear your hair? What colors pop on you? All of those things are principles that you apply. It’s hard to see yourself. You can look in the mirror and see yourself because you have been looking at yourself since childhood, but how do you look at yourself with that eye that says, “That looks good?” It’s challenging for all of us. It’s challenging for me. “How’s my hair going to look? What makeup should I be wearing? What colors look the best on me?” Those are styling principles to apply. How do you wear your jewelry to enhance and not distract? One thing I do is I wear earrings because, on Zoom, there’s something a little bit memorable. Here’s something that’s moving, and it’s a little signature. The most important thing is how you feel about yourself because it’s one thing to work from the outside in. One of the mistakes that many of us make is to work from the outside in or on the outside, and forget the inside. We have these belief systems about who we are and what we can and can’t do, limiting our potential. If you ask a human potentialist, they are going to tell you that your infinite potential. Scientists and psychologists have pinpointed what is underneath success or failure. That is your self-image. That’s what’s deep inside of you. Sometimes it’s buried, and it’s important for us to find out what that self-talk is going on in our head because sometimes it’s automatic that we don’t even pay attention anymore. It’s in the background. When you start paying attention, you start hearing yourself, and you know those times. When you look in the mirror, and you have that negative thought, “Who is that? Bad hair day,” or whatever self-talk we have is there in the background. You can look in the mirror and see yourself because you've been looking at yourself since childhood,but how do you look at yourself with that eye that says,“Oh, man, that looks good?” – Julienne Waters Click To Tweet My work with women is to work on the deeper mindsets and the limiting beliefs that we have. That’s why I say, “Live, think, look, and feel better because all of that is part of it.” Our mental health is wrapped up in that limiting belief, our relationships, money flow, success in whatever facet of our life, love life, friends, and associates. There’s so much going on and competition. We forget that we are unique and brilliant, and we have much that is our own potential to give to the world. We have to be real, be beautiful, and be ourselves but when you feel it on the inside, you can’t make it up on the outside. You have to have it from the inside. That inner glow then brings out the smile and the light in the eyes. It’s magnetic. That’s what is going to attract more success, beauty, and radiance to the work that anybody is doing. It’s going to affect their relationships as they move up on the path to their own success, whatever that might be. You, being comfortable with who you are and the inner glow. I know that I have good days when I feel good about myself and not-so-good days when I don’t feel good about myself. It comes from within to the outside world. Thinking about the state of the world now and the pandemic. My company, for example, closed doors, so everybody is working from home. Have you noticed if there’s any type of side effect about working from home? I’ve noticed that, more often than not, people are not turning on their cameras. I’m thinking more than anything because they are not presentable. How do you think, Julienne, that impacts someone in the workplace? They are not visible. They are not taking care of themselves. Maybe they are working in their pajamas. Is there some psychological side effect to that? Absolutely. I have those days. I will get on a Zoom call, and if I don’t feel like I look good, I don’t want to turn that camera on. If I haven’t put my makeup on, combed my hair, or I’m still wearing a pajama, T-shirt, or something, I don’t want to appear on camera. It’s not the personal appearance. It’s also how you feel about the work you do. The question would be, “Can you feel your very best if you haven’t put yourself together if you aren’t showing up in your confidence and power?” We are talking to women who are trying to grow their businesses or grow in their companies and to show up even if you aren’t on camera because you feel better. You remember what it feels like when you step into a pair of high heels. You immediately feel taller. You feel sexier. Your energy changes because you’ve done one little thing that has shifted your perspective of yourself. You put on makeup in the mirror. You are ready to go. You put your lipstick on, and suddenly, your face pops with energy. It makes a huge difference in the psychology of the place you are working from. It’s not about what you look like on camera. That’s important too, but it’s also about how you feel about what you are saying, what you are presenting, and who you are talking to. It’s both respects for that person as respect for yourself to show up in all your glory and the highest version of yourself. Not sometimes, all the time. I wonder if there’s a person that is doing some sale in their home. Do you think their decisions might be different if on Wednesday, they are in their pajamas and feeling blot, and on Thursday, they are at least in a little bit of makeup, hair, and business schedule? Do you think that decision-making is different on those 2 days for that same person in those 2 different outfits?
NWB 19 | Workplace Self Image
Workplace Self Image: We forget that we are unique and brilliant, and we have so much that is our own potential to give to the world.
It’s going to be different because, with the pajamas, you are relaxed. You are not as turned on as you are when you are ready to go. In all your space, you are a higher version of yourself. You are laid back. Your decisions are going to be laid back. You are going to match how you feel with how your appearance. It always matches. We see that all the time. I also know that you help clients with some life-altering transitions. Tell me a little bit about how you help your clients in those situations. What are they? Life gives us opportunities to grow. Some of them are simpler to go through than others. There are many tools within the realm of NLP that can take you back and help you to change the beliefs that you have in sight about a situation. No matter what the situation is, it’s how your perspective is on it rather than the situation itself. The situation has power, but you have the power to how you are going to weave it into your life and whether you are going to grow through the challenge. I personally have gone through quite a few traumatic events, and I could share some with the readers. I would love for you to share but before you share, can you please explain to the readers what NLP is? It’s Neuro-Linguistic Programming. That is a way of shifting perspective always to be able to control the end results of your experience with your thinking. It’s a powerful tool to go back into your timeline, reconstruct things, make decisions, balance out, look at things from the mega into the macro and find which way is the best way to decipher and break down a situation to make it the best learning and example for you. Along with NLP, we also talk about rapport and how do you make rapport? That’s powerful, too. I talk about the inner glow coming out. NLP talks about what you are giving off with your eyes, smile, facial expression, and breath. What is your breath saying about you? It’s a powerful tool to grow, understand, and be able to have communication with others. I know a little bit about it. I know Matt Brauning, who is our mutual coach, he teaches NLP. I believe you are an NLP Master Practitioner. Is that correct? Yes, and an NLP teacher certified. One of the mistakes that so many of us make is to work on the outside and forget the inside. Wehave these belief systems about who we are and what we can and can'tdo, limiting our potential.–Julienne Waters Click To Tweet You have a story, and based on your story is why you are doing some of the work. Tell us a little bit about your story and how you got to do this type of work that you are doing. When I was a young woman, I left a cult that I had been raised in. I grew up feeling powerless. I felt shame, humiliation, and everything. What I did was being controlled by the cult and my dad, who was very abusive. Between my abusive dad and the cult, who told me how to think, behave, dress, feel, and everything, I grew up feeling powerless. There were a couple of things that were acceptable for a woman to do, which a woman was to marry and be under the supervision of her husband. That wasn’t me. That’s not what I did. One thing that was acceptable was to go in and get a trade. I went to a trade school. It happened to be hair styling, cosmetology, facials, and aesthetics. I did that as a default because that’s something I could create independence with. I loved it, and I was good at it. For many years, I’ve held a license in cosmetology. I’ve worked with mayors, news anchors, television stars, and writers who have best sellers and have been on Oprah. I’ve done well in that profession and wanted to do more. When I left the cult, I was 36 years old. I had five children. I didn’t know who I was. I didn’t know how to parent outside of those boundaries that I grew up in and I had taught my children. I had to reinvent myself. In my personal journey, I became certified in NLP, transformational breathwork, sound healing, and anything outside came. Touch for health and things that I could grow with a lot of energy work. I’m a Reiki, and whatever I could grow. I always had my clients. I still have clients that are my hair styling clients. I will go visit them once a year when I go back to California. I love that personal interaction. What I want to do is to work from the inside out because I know how important that is now. I’ve worked with thousands of women. I’ve made shifts on the outside. You see the change in them, and it’s remarkable. When they change on the inside, my clients who I’ve worked with who in their transformation, getting a divorce, their children going off, and now they are empty nesters. They lose a child. All of these things have a huge impact on them, and it affects every aspect of their life. It’s no longer enough for me to work on my physical appearance but it’s important to us as women to show up beautiful, to feel good, and look good when we look in the mirror like, “I like that person in the mirror.” We need to feel that way but we also need to do the inside work to grow. I’m putting the two together and looking at what are the hidden belief systems that continue to circulate in your world. Amongst the traumas that I’ve gone through, going through the violent home, the cult, and losing a daughter who passed away, and my husband passed away from cancer, I’ve had a lot of trauma to go through. Every time is a challenge. Sometimes you feel like you are not going to make it but you find yourself, and that light comes back. It was always there because there’s this higher consciousness that’s always working for us and through us but we don’t always hold onto, recognize, and reach for it. That’s the work that I feel blessed to do.
NWB 19 | Workplace Self Image
Workplace Self Image: You have to have it from the inside. That inner glow brings out the smile. It brings out the light in the eyes. It’s magnetic, and that’s what will attract more success and radiance to the work that anybody is doing.
I do want to ask you a little bit. You said that you are a cult, and you felt powerless because either your dad or the cult were dictating what you wore, what you thought, and what you did. You started getting a little independence once you started your aesthetics career. Was your husband okay with you leaving the cult? What were some of the decisions or the thoughts that were going through your head as far as why did you feel the need to leave the cult? What was the purpose? That’s the longer story. I had been raised in the cult since I was two years old. I didn’t know anything different. When my kids were born, I did the same thing. I taught them the same things that I was taught. At one point, I recognized how deep sexual abuse was in the cult, both boys and girls, and then it was my daughter. It wasn’t a choice at that time. I knew I had to go out because I needed to protect my children. That was endless. I said, “This is not what I want anymore. I can’t be here anymore.” My husband was supportive throughout the whole process. When my five children, ages 4 to 15, and myself at 36, walked out of the cult. We didn’t look back. We had lots of support from my husband but I didn’t know how to even interact. I had my clients. When you are in a cult, everybody is at a distance because it’s about mind control. They are the outsider but not the insider. That was challenging. My thought process was, “This is it. I’m out of here. I cannot do this again with my children. I’m not going to put my children. I want them to grow up powerful.” I cannot commend you enough for recognizing that you wanted a better life for your children. I can see the connection as to why you are doing the work that you are doing now because of all of the obstacles and the challenges that you had growing up and being controlled in the cult. I believe that you are this beautiful person. You radiate love. You are welcoming and accepting. I see all the work that you did. It shows, Julienne. I want you to know that. I’m bringing the conversation back to women that are trying to advance in their careers. What would you say to a woman that is stuck in their career as far as that thought process? Sometimes, you don’t know what you don’t know. You don’t know that you are stuck in your career or maybe not doing things that you could be doing better to be able to have that advancement. Is there anything that you can think of that fits that question? It’s important to begin looking at your life and what’s working well and what isn’t working well to go back and remember what your dreams were. What did you take and put up on a shelf that you no longer even want to think about anymore because that’s not part of your life? You know that it’s something that you wanted or want so bad, but you don’t think you can have it. Start looking at who you are. What do you have? What is the unique gift that you bring, and find out if it fits in your life, work, and what you are doing now? If you feel stuck, there’s likely something that you have put away that you need to be sharing with the world. When you find that, you start living into the vibration of lively. It’s meant for you. Your unique vibration becomes clear. Life gives us opportunities to grow, and some of them are simpler to go through than others. – Julienne Waters Click To Tweet When I had to get out, I had to get out. There was no choice. I knew there was something that had to happen. You will know that something has to happen if you start finding who you are and what it is that you want. You do that with creative visioning. You that with believing that you are worth it and you can. Many women don’t step up. They don’t ask for a raise. They don’t stand up to the authoritative figure and say, “No, that’s not okay. That’s not what I want to do.” They take it, step down, and leave their truth behind. Getting a good picture of who you are and what you want changes that. It’s amazing what happens, how other people respect that. There are many stories of women who have gotten the job they wanted. They got the raise they wanted because they shifted inside here. When you have a life-changing transition like the one that you had, not only does it impact your personal life but it impacts your work. It’s the same thing. If you are miserable at your work, it’s going to bleed over into your personal life. When you are stuck in your job, not engaged, and keep doing the same thing over and over without doing the soul searching that you are saying, that’s when you start feeling blah about your job, and it bleeds over into your personal life. If you start trying to go back and figure out, as you said, what were you good at? Not dreams but your creative juices. What did you enjoy when you were a kid? You start going back and thinking about it. The most ideal thing is if you are miserable in your job and start doing that soul searching, try to find a job that matches those creative skills so that you are fulfilled in your work. Hopefully, that’s going to bleed positively into your life. Would you agree with that? One more thing to add to that is that sometimes, it’s extracurricular, and we are working hard at scaling up that we don’t take the time to take care of ourselves and do the things that we love to do. Whatever that might be, reading, riding your bike, hiking in the mountains, and personal time. We are not taking care of ourselves, but maybe sometimes that shift can be on the outside. What is it? When was the last time you took a vacation? When is the last time you’ve gone on a date with your husband and let go of all work, laughed, had a good time, and enjoyed every minute of your life? This life is here to enjoy, love, and shine forth your personal brilliance and skills. If you are not doing that, you are not fully living out. You are not living into your potential to hop into that, and everything falls into place, including your work. You also talk about having the best version of yourself to move into, whether it’s entrepreneurship or the corporate ladder. Let’s talk about the outside image. Maybe I don’t feel like doing full hair and makeup. What are some tips or tricks as far as what can I do for basics where I could feel good, but maybe I don’t have to go the whole thing of hair and makeup? This is what I find makes a huge difference. Lipstick makes a huge difference, and so does having some type of a business-style jacket or top on. If you have a top or a jacket sitting somewhere nearby, you are on a chair, and you have a quick business meeting, put the jacket on real quickly, show up on the camera with a little lipstick, brush your hair and jewelry stands out. Something that stands out but makes you feel a little energetic or something. You are not sunk down in your pajamas and your slippers, but you are like, “It’s lipstick. It translates on camera.”
NWB 19 | Workplace Self Image
Workplace Self Image: It’s important to begin looking at your life and what’s working well and what isn’t, to go back and remember what your dreams are and what you have put away that you need to share with the world.
Be bigger in camera than you are because everything comes down. The 50% of color is minimized. Your voice and smile are minimized. On camera, feel big and take care of those few little things like the lipstick and the jacket that’s maybe handy to put on if you are not feeling good, and that might take three minutes to put it all together, brushing your hair and doing that. If you want to put on a little mascara, you don’t have to put on the full makeup. You can still feel and look good on camera. Julienne, if someone wanted to talk to you, whether it’s NLP or maybe image consulting, how can they get ahold of you? I have a Calendly, and you can set up an appointment. On this show, if you reach out to me, I will give you a 45 minutes consultation. My scheduled time is 45 minutes. We can look at where you are and what you might want if it’s consulting on your hair, makeup, and the way you feel about yourself. I also work with mental health. Depression is a big thing now. It might not be that you feel like you want to put on your makeup and look good on the camera, and you want to wear your pajamas because you don’t feel good inside. You are depressed. I work with that to re-enliven you to feel good, how to think, feel, look and live better. All of the psychology of what makes that happen, I can look at what you are so unique. You are unique. There is going to be a mold for you but there’s not going to be a mold that fits everybody. What you need is going to be different than what somebody else needs. What I think has been helpful for me is actual personal transformational pieces where you are on a one-on-one, in a retreat or doing something. I want to work with my clients to create what they need. If it’s a consultation on Zoom, we can do that. If it’s getting together and shopping together, we can do that. Going through your closet together, we can do that. If it’s changing your hairstyle, learning how to put on makeup so you are going to look and feel your best, that’s a possibility. I want to work individually with a client on what they need at the place they are in their life. To recap, give me two concrete tips that women can use in their careers. This is something we forget to do but hydrate before you caffeinate. If you are hydrated, you are going to feel and look better. Your skin is going to be glowing, and it helps to clean the toxins. It helps to keep you awake and alive feeling. That’s one tip. I shared to keep your jacket close to you so that you can put it on. When you are in the right frame of mind before you start talking to your Zoom audience, get yourself energized. There are several ways to do that. I learned this great method. I think you learned it with me, the Cooper Method. Before you turn on your Zoom video, to get yourself energized, you can jump up and down a little bit or do a little bit of moving, exercising, dancing or whatever works for you and begin to pat yourself. On your arms, pat yourself on your chest, go down on your legs, and all the way down to your feet. You will be surprised. If you try this out, your whole body starts tingling. Your energy comes up. You are no longer just in your head thinking about it. You are using your whole body as an instrument for your power, influence, confidence, and the impact you are going to have when you go on Zoom. It's no longer enough to just work on the physical appearance. We also need to do the inside work inorder to grow. – Julienne Waters Click To Tweet We are already out of time. There was so much good information and advice. For anybody struggling with their image, I highly encourage you to talk to Julienne because we spent three days together in Colorado Springs. Julienne was lovely. She was able to put herself together beautifully and professionally. If you are struggling with your career, and it might be the way you present yourself or maybe it’s not the outside but it’s the inside, and you are a little bit depressed, talk to Julienne. I highly encourage you to have a complimentary session with her. Julienne, thank you so much for being here. This was a wonderful conversation. Any last words? Thank you. It was my pleasure to be here. I want to tell your readers to tap into your divine and let it shine. Julienne, thank you so much for being here. Thanks, everyone. Thank you.

That conversation with Julienne got a little intense there when she talked about having to leave a cult with five kids. She left because she saw the damage that the cult was having on her kids. That’s pretty powerful. When you know that it’s time for you to take action, then you really know. Julienne is an image consultant. We talked a lot about how your image impacts your behavior at work. I hope that the next time you feel like staying in your pajamas all day long, at least change into street clothes so that you feel a little bit more responsive. The last thing we’re going to do is I’m going to recap the three tips that Julienne gave us. Tip number one, she said, “Hydrate before you caffeinate.” This will clear out the toxins, and it will make you feel more awake and alive. Tip number two, Julienne said, “Make sure whenever you’re working, keep a jacket like a blazer close by, because if you’re just wearing a t-shirt and you throw on your jacket, it’s a whole new look and it looks professional.” Julienne and I both went to a conference in Colorado Springs. Tip number three, use the Cooper Method to get yourself energized. The Cooper Method is you literally pat yourself on your arms and your legs and everywhere, then you jump up and down. You do that to energize yourself and you bring the focus into your body instead of your mind. You can do this before a big presentation, before a big meeting with a client, and before your performance review. You can go into the bathroom and then use the Cooper Method. I’ll give you a little bit of backstory on the Cooper Method. We adopted the Cooper Method from an airline pilot, Joy Cooper, who crashed. Her arm was hanging by just a few nerves. She lost feeling in her legs. The doctors told her that she would never walk again. Joy Cooper essentially was hitting her skin and legs to get the feeling back in her limbs. Through this method, in which again, she’s just tapping on herself and jumping up and down to get that energy, she not only was able to walk but dance. That’s the resiliency that happens when you are willing to do something. Matt Brauning, who is a tremendous speaker and a mentor to Julienne and me, taught us the Cooper Method. Again, tip number three is to use the Cooper Method to pump yourself up and energize yourself before some big event. With that, I thank you for your time. I hope you enjoy this episode with Julienne Waters. Remember to be brave, be bold and take action.

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About Julienne Waters

NWB 19 | Workplace Self ImageJulienne Waters is a life-transformation artist who sees the hidden potential in people. She has been helping thousands of women for over four decades go from unhappy with their lives to feeling confident and alive. She helps them envision their life as they want it to be in their highest state and brings out their courage to live it. Julienne has worked with mayors, news anchors, best-selling authors, television stars, and even a world-famous author who has appeared on Oprah. She has represented brands such as Estee Lauder, Clinique, and Vidal Sassoon. She has been featured in Forbes magazine and had her paintings exhibited in art galleries. As someone who has overcome numerous traumatic events, Julienne is living proof of the possibility of personal reinvention. Her clients marvel at how she gives them permission to be who they are, not some version of who they’re told they should be.