Pamela V. Brown
Write Path, an L.L.C.
Kauai Business Report July 2004
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Pamela V. Brown Write Path, an L.L.C. |
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Kauai Business Report July 2004 |
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IlluminEssensce: Fashion for the Soul By Pamela V. Brown LIHUE - As a former teacher-turned Kauai Community College Chancellor, Peggy Cha had never thought all that much about the impression her clothes made on people she met until her job began requiring her to make more public and high profile appearances. As her job evolved, she found herself needing to look a particular part: some days approachable, some days credible, some days convincing. Through long time island resident Dore Jean's IlluminEssensce program, Cha learned how to make such impressions more easily through a combination of learning what style of clothes and which colors look best on her. The program "tries to give you a sense of your own personal style that connects how you look with how you feel about things and how you behave," Cha said. "It's much more than just colors or that 'dress for success' kind of thing." Finding and showing your true essence, your inner self, is the key to the program, Jean said. "Essensce allows you to get in alignment with yourself within what you say you want to do, and what you really do," she said. "I found with Essensce that it creates such a level of self-empowerment that you just start blowing through stuff. The self-sabotage and resistance seems to go away or you just blow through it so much faster." Having learned the curriculum from Taylore Sinclaire who founded IlluminEssensce 24 years ago, Jean has been offering her skills as a certified Essensce facilitator on Kauai since last fall. She has worked in the personal growth industry for many years, recently coordinating workshops of Stephen Covey's "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People" for seven years on Kauai, so her new gig fits right in with her life's work. "I've always been about helping people do what they want," she said. "If you can get people clear about what they want and empower them to love themselves and trust themselves, then they can do it. Then the tools work." The tools that IlluminEssensce offer begin with determining which of four "tones" a person is. Each tone describes personality traits as well as colors and styles that are best for people falling within that tone. Jean notes that these are not limits - there is much variety within each tone: for example, all the Tone 4s are not Stepford clones of each other. "Essensce defined is your harmonic tone. All of us are like a radio station. We emit a signal. That signal is your true tone," Jean said. "Interference can be from lots of things and the clothes we wear is one of them," causing mixed messages to be sent. On subtle and not-so-subtle levels, people feel that, Jean said. Once Jean tests customers and determines what tone she thinks they are, she'll confer with program founder Sinclaire. "You've gotta get this right," she said. "This changes people's lives." Customers are then given a book describing the finer points of their tone, and a fan with tips and hints for shopping for the right clothes. A closet review comes next - an event that can take up to 90 minutes to evaluate the good, the bad and the ugly. In a final session that men usually skip, Jean reviews make-up and jewelry choices. Cha learned that she could be a lot bolder with colors than she realized. She also changed her hairstyle as a result of the program. "Growing up in the 60s I had a tendency to big hair," she said. Now she's gone with a "less poofy," more sleek hairstyle. "I've gotten a number of different remarks in different venues, that I look really good or snazzy," she said. "I feel more confident when I know I've hit it right and that inevitably has an effect on what's going on." That effect is what it's all about, Jean said. "I love that phrase that you must be present to win. (When you are in your tone) you look present and people respond to that," Jean said. "I think that as much as we want to think that it doesn't matter what people think of us, it does matter. Because so much of our communication is non-verbal, people give us feedback all day long." Gaylord's Restaurant owner Roberta Wallace, who took the IlluminEssensce class from founder Sinclaire and enjoyed it, says you have to be careful how much stock you put in the tools of the class. "What she has to teach is very valid but it's not the be all and end all," Wallace said. "It's not the only thing that makes you believable. I believe a well-rounded person can get a lot out of it. I believe that a person with lower self-esteem can end up being a slave to one concept." That's why Jean says that a good candidate for having success through IlluminEssensce is someone who is looking for self-renewal, Jean said. "Stephen Covey calls it 'Sharpening the Saw' - putting yourself first. Anyone who feels like they've stopped paying attention to themselves or that they haven't done anything nice for themselves for awhile." As a self-confident person herself, Wallace said she did learn valuable skills in the class. "Once you put on the right colors . . . it's like you're comfortable in your own skin, and that's a really neat thing," she said. "It also helps you to walk away from those clothes that are so cute but that look better on your daughter." In Wallace's class, at least one person had very strong emotional reactions to learning that the impression they thought they'd been giving over the years probably wasn't really how they had been perceived. "Part of it is supposed to be so core to you that it was very emotional for this person. To find out you're not who you think you are, that's an earth-shaking thing," Wallace said. But if your approach is open-minded, it can be fun, said Nani Larsen, who went through IlluminEssensce as part of the Kauai Chamber of Commerce's "Makeover" program in April. "Initially I was hesitant to do it. I didn't see that it was something for me at the time," Larsen said. "Then I thought 'It's 2004. Get out of your comfort zone and have fun with it.' It was time well-spent because Dore Jean made the experience valuable. It was amazing to me to see that somebody cares enough about you who's not married to you to spend this much time with you." Larsen, whose new look was unveiled at the Chamber dinner at the Hyatt, said she found it helpful to learn her strengths. "The more you know, hopefully the more effective you can be in the work you do helping others," she said. # # # |
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Contact Information: Pamela V. Brown (808) 651-3533 cell (808) 821-1027 fax |
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"Individuality of expression is the beginning and end of all art." --- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Proverbs in Prose |
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© Copyright 2004 Write Path, an L.L.C. and Pamela V. Brown All material, pictures, concepts, intellectual property and rights reserved. |
© Copyright 2004 Magical Concepts §©ª¨ |
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