Keren is an award winning Personal Stylist and has worked in the Fashion industry for over 16 years.
Having been Director of Buying at Ralph Lauren, she decided to launch her own business. She has styled celebrities for red carpet appearances and her advice has been featured in publications such as Grazia, Travel Supermarket and The Times Series.
Keren is an expert in helping people to find their ‘Unique personal style’ and teaching people how to look their best. She understands that first impressions are vital to one’s success and Keren’s workshops and talks leave her audience informed of how to dress to be more effective.
Tell us a bit about yourself, background and your current role
I am the founder of a Keren Beaumont Personal Styling. My clients range from people who have lots of clothes but nothing that suits their current lifestyle, to celebrities attending red carpet events, to busy business people who don’t have time to shop. Every client is taken on a journey that begins with the discovery of their individual style. I believe that it is only possible to look great if you are dressed in a way that is authentic to who you are. The wardrobe is then detoxed of any unsuitable clothing and replenished with hand-picked items that make getting dressed a breeze.
I’ve worked in fashion for 16 years, initially in Buying for some huge international brands such as Coach and Ralph Lauren. In my Styling work, I use a lot of the skills that I gained as a Buyer such as Product Selection and understanding my Clients. One major difference however is that I’m now selecting for individuals rather than for a brand so it’s a much more intimate type of work. I love the freedom and sense of empowerment that comes alongside running my own business. At the same time there is a different type of pressure that comes with freelancing, in that the success of my company rests entirely on my own shoulders.
Did you ever sit down and plan your career?
When I started out in Buying I had ideas about opening my own store one day. Things rarely turn out the way you plan especially in the early stages of one’s career when you are still very much in the phase of self-discovery and finding out what you are good at. I started with an end goal in mind, which I believe is important in giving purpose to one’s life. At the same time, I was open to learning about other opportunities that were a good fit for my skill set and aspirations. I became hooked on Buying and spent 15 years climbing the ranks in that function. The switch to Styling was in some ways planned although again with a fairly loose framework and an open mind. I had become a Director at the brand I was working for and although I was delighted to reach that position, I found that the work I was doing was no longer satisfying me. I’d turned 30 and I felt the need to do something that added value in some way to the lives of others but I wasn’t exactly sure which direction I wanted to go in and so I started exploring different avenues and paving the way for a transition through networking and taking training courses.
Have you faced any challenges along the way?
Getting into Buying was not simple since I had not studied Fashion nor had I completed a Buying internship. My way in was through leveraging contacts to get some unpaid work experience, working hard and converting that opportunity into a permanent paid role.
I had quite a few rounds of promotions during my time in Buying, some of these came easier than others. I found that you need to visualise yourself as already being at the level you are aiming to reach and behave as if you are already there. There’s nothing like self-belief to convince other people!
Starting up on your own means that you are an-all functioning one person army. Your skill set needs to broaden overnight. In my corporate life, I used to leave PR, marketing, IT and finance people to ‘do their thing’. Now I am all of these functions and more! I picked up new skills through networking and online tutorials. The most helpful people to know are not only experts in their functions, but other entrepreneurs. These individuals will also be gathering the skills needed to run a business and will have discovered some great hacks along the way. I regularly trade tips, information and introductions with other small business owners.
If you could change one thing for women in the workplace, what would it be?
I’d like to normalise Job Share for high level executives. This would allow women to keep the roles that they’ve worked so hard to obtain whilst giving them the freedom to have their chosen level of involvement in family life. This would depend on team work between two individuals and lots of handover but nonetheless very possible and liberating.
What has been your biggest achievement to date?
My husband says it was convincing him to marry me. My answer to this always changes depending on what’s most prevalent in my mind at that point in time. Right now, I’m very proud of having styled four celebrities within my first year as a Stylist, for being featured in Grazia and Travel Supermarket and for winning an award from Harrods for my Styling services.
What is your next challenge and what are you hoping to achieve in the future?
I’m happy with the size of business that I’ve built in a relatively short time but it’s now time to expand. I’m exploring opportunities with various partners to see how I can grow my network reach. I’m aiming to be the ‘go-to’ Personal Stylist in London and Hertfordshire known for making people look the best possible version of themselves.
