390 – From Psychology to Fashion: Tom interviews Nova Lorraine

Episode 390 – Nova Lorraine
[00:00:09] Welcome to Screw the Commute. The entrepreneurial podcast dedicated to getting you out of the car and into the money, with your host, lifelong entrepreneur and multimillionaire, Tom Antion.

[00:00:24] Hey, everybody it's Tom here with episode three hundred ninety of Screw the Commute podcast. I'm here with Nova Lorraine. Wow, what a lady this is. And let me just tell you, I heard her newest entrepreneurial pursuit. I just love this is the launch of Pink Kangaru. It's a podcast network for Wild Thinkers, and she's also got the Raine School of fashion, because you're going to want to follow up and check out all her stuff. And she focuses on innovation and sustainability. I guess that's in the fashion industry. We'll get her to tell you and I'll tell you more about her when I bring her on. Hope you didn't miss Episode 389. That was Andrew Deutsch. And this guy taught us about fractions. And it wasn't a math lesson, but it's a lesson on how we can get big time CEO level people on a fractional basis.

[00:01:24] In other words, maybe once a month you can talk to some high level person that can help your business. So he was episode 389. Any time you want to get to a an older episode, you go to screwthecommute.com and then slash and then the episode number 389. This is 390, which I know you want to listen to her again. All right. How would you like to hear your own voice here on Screw the Commute? Well, if the show has helped you out at all in your business or giving you ideas to help you start a business, we want to hear about it. Visit, screwthecommute.com and look for a little blue sidebar that says send a voicemail, click on it, talking to your phone or computer and tell me how the show has helped you.

[00:02:06] And hey, put your website in there, too, so we can give you a big shout out in your own voice on a future episode of Screw the Commute. Now pick up a copy of our Automation eBook. Just one of the tips. One of the tips in this book, folks, is we actually figured it out. This is not any kind of made up hype. We estimated that just one of the tips in the book has saved me seven and a half million keystrokes. And it helps me steal customers ethically from people because they're too slow to get back to people. And I'm lightning fast because of the things in this book. It just knocked your workload down all the way to almost nothing.

[00:02:46] So check it out, grab a copy at screwthecommute.com/automatefree. While you're over there, pick up a copy of our podcast app. You can take us with you on the road on your cell phone and tablet. And we've got videos and screen captures the show you how to use the darn thing. Now people are freaking out because of this pandemic. But I'm not and my students aren't because we know how to sell from home. I've been doing it since the commercial Internet started in 1994 and ever since I've been living this lifestyle business the best. I've been in business for four years, but this is the best one. I got to tell you. You know, I had a nightclub and people were trying to kill me there. Not one not one person has hit me on the head with a beer bottle since I had an Internet business. So that's always a good thing. But we're teaching this. We formalized my training in the form of a school. It's the only licensed, dedicated Internet marketing school in the country, probably the world where the State Council on Higher Education in Virginia has licensed us. And you don't have to be in Virginia, though, because it's distance learning and it's good quality distance learning. It's not what they're trying to do to your kindergartners to get on Zoom and oh, it's a mess there.

[00:04:05] But and hey, the people have to quit their jobs if they have a job to come home and take care of their kids who are doing on Zoom. I mean, it's just a mess. But if you could sell from home, you wouldn't be stuck in this mess. So check it out at IMTCVA.org and a little later I'll show you how you can get a scholarship to the school that you can either use yourself or gift to somebody that you love. And it would be one of the best legacy gifts you could ever possibly give them, because instead of going to a four year college and getting in deep debt and then competing for jobs at Starbucks, they can be making money. We have people making money just a couple of months into the school. That's how powerful this is. And the skills that we teach are in high demand by every business on Earth. So check that out when you get a chance.

[00:04:53] But let's bring on the main event, Nova Lorraine. She was born in Jamaica and raised in Connecticut, where there's a culture shock there with her five siblings. She's an award winning fashion designer, brand adviser, and she's been so kind not to comment on my pitiful fashion like Antion. That's about it. And she's the founder of the premiere Platform for Creative Entrepreneurs Raine magazine. Nova's debut fashion collection earned her the best. And since I'm from the wrong side of the tracks, I hope I can pronounce this right. Haute Couture Designer of the Year. She'll correct me if I'm wrong. I have no idea how to say that right. Her designs have been featured on The View, in essence in Vogue Italian magazines. Wow. She's a poet and a storyteller at heart and has found success in her award winning nominated podcast, Unleash Your Supernova. Nova are you ready to screw? The commute?

[00:06:07] Yeah, that's right.

[00:06:11] There you go. Yeah, we got to put the commute part on there. I don't want to have coming down from Earth to beat me up with a baseball bat. I had enough of that in the nightclub days. So. So tell everybody what you're doing now and then we're going to take you back and see how you came up through the ranks.

[00:06:27] Yeah. So right now I'm prepping for the release of my book, Unleash Your Supernova, which really helps entrepreneurs, especially creatives who are entrepreneurial, stay on the roller coaster ride of what we call entrepreneurship and along the way, teach them how to be balanced and happy so they can increase their creativity and which is so important right now, beat burning. So super excited about that. And as you mentioned earlier, the newly launched Pink Kangaru Network, a podcast network for wild thinkers. You know, I think outside the box, I've always felt that I did things differently. I went from academia to, you know, the creative industries.

[00:07:12] And so this network really targets those individuals that can align with that, with that, what should I say, ethos in terms of doing things differently, following their own path, you know, beating their own drum. And we target creatives and entrepreneurs and excited about that much as well. All right. So.

[00:07:34] Tell me how to pronounce what I tried to pronounce and what exactly does it mean?

[00:07:40] Pretty good, yes. Haute couture or it's yes, it's French for high dressmaking. So I said out, out. Some people say it probably. Yeah, no, it's it's fine.

[00:07:56] You know, it's it's high dressmaking and French.

[00:08:00] Very fancy when you say high fancy dress making it so. In the early nineteen hundreds designers would design one of a kind pieces for their clients and everything was to hand done, handmade and measured. The clients would come and get fitted several times with what we call a muslin, and it's a cotton mockup of the actual design. And then once that is finished to perfection, it gets put into the actual fabrication. And so women, you know, once upon a time would go into their dressmaker's shops and get their clothing made and come and get fitted. And it was a whole production.

[00:08:42] So this is only for women, right?

[00:08:45] No. Men can also get pieces custom made, but they're their designers are typically known as tailors.

[00:08:51] And and we don't get a fancy term now.

[00:08:56] You get bespoke, you get bespoke garments and piece of tailored garments and they tailored garments for men. But the for women, yes, it's it is referred to as haute couture.

[00:09:07] So I was thinking maybe I was haute couture when you said they're one of a kind because if you wear a hoodie for 23 years, it becomes, you know, kind of unique to you.

[00:09:19] Yeah. I'm not sure if that qualifies, but OK, it may be borderline.

[00:09:26] I you know, Haute Couture for me is the art of fashion. Wow. And there is so much attention, detail, love, handwork, craftsmanship that's put into each and every garment. And you have designers that do pieces are a little more avant garde and which would be called wearable art. And some of them are really just made for show an exhibition. And then you have those that design for the red carpet and for individuals that can't afford those gowns. There's one of a kind gowns that they would wear to special events and weddings. And so but I love it for the art of it. I love it for the craftsmanship and the detail that goes into it, and especially the fact that these garments are made to last for generations.

[00:10:14] I mean, you can hand it down and hand it down and handed down. And there there really works of art that can stay in a museum, you know, for centuries, just like just like my hoodies, just like your hoodie.

[00:10:28] I think it would be in a different museum that's maybe or at least a different section in the museum.

[00:10:34] Oh, man. So so Vogue Italian magazine is an Italian like the the top of the heap when it comes to fashion, Milan and all that stuff.

[00:10:47] Oh, yeah. I mean, some people argue it's between bin Laden and Patti and but I absolutely love the aesthetic of Italian Vogue. I've been fortunate enough to visit Italy and it's one of my favorite places besides Jamaica, of course. And yes, what they showcase in their magazines does exemplify art. But then they also for this particular issue, they were highlighting diversity and the rising talents of color, especially in within the the black community here in the U.S. And I was selected to represent the designer category.

[00:11:28] Wow. That that's quite, quite an honor there. Now, here's something I'm not trying to be mean or facetious, but I mean, there's been some kind of movement. Now you're statuesque, beautiful woman. All right. But they got people bigger than me on Sports Illustrated swimsuit cover.

[00:11:47] Don't know what's what's that about?

[00:11:52] Yes. What's that about?

[00:11:55] So it's it's called exclusivity. It's it's the call for fashion to recognize beauty in all forms and all women.

[00:12:06] And it ranges from diversity and culture and race through diversity and sizing. And so to help with that messaging in that narrative, the modeling industry is answering that call for consumers that, you know, are a size 12 and up, which is, you know, your standard sizing traditionally that you would see featured in catalogs and fashion magazines would be from your sample size of two and four upwards to 12 and 14, and then it would move into the plus category.

[00:12:46] And so the inclusive movement really highlights the plus woman, the plus size woman, also known as the curvy woman, even though I'm I always call myself curvy, you know, the Coca-Cola bottle sort of figure. But I'm also a size four. So, you know, this is highlighting the curvy women that are in the plus category.

[00:13:12] Well, you know, and I'm all for part of that. But what I'm worried about because, you know, I've been big and luckily I was in, you know, near professional level athletics and could handle it.

[00:13:25] But what I'm worried about is normalizing being way overweight because there's no statistics that say that that's really healthy. So many things that happen with people that are overweight. Yeah, that's what that's what I worry about, because you can feel you can feel good mentally about yourself. Great. But then die diabetes. So I'm not sure that that's a fair tradeoff, right?

[00:13:49] No, I definitely think, you know, you have a point there in terms of the health side of things. And, you know, I'm really into wellness and fitness. I was an athlete most of my life. I still run and try to get out to at least walk, you know, most days of the week when the weather is on my side and my children are athletes.

[00:14:11] And I do advocate for eating well for, you know, trying to avoid processed foods as much as possible. You know, I do believe that our health does play into our ability to be creative, to be productive. And so, yeah, there's definitely an issue when it comes to unhealthy eating habits or lifestyle habits. And then there's the side of, you know, addressing the current needs of the existing population. And where do you you know, where do you go within that spectrum? I do feel that the movement in fashion is more focused on letting women know that, ah, this is exciting size, that there are there are pieces and fashionable pieces out there and you can still be fashionable even if you're not a traditional runway model. And then I do also for me highlight health above all things. Right. You know, wherever you are in life, no matter what age you are, you know, look at ways where you can. Increase your mental health and your physical health, you know, and the environment that you're in as well. I think all of those things I touch on this in my book, the balance between those three and paying attention to, you know, what you're putting in your body, what you're putting on your body, the things that are around you, the people that are around you, the thoughts that you're putting in your mind. You know, all of these things affect your health in one way or another. And I feel that, you know, women have this sort of yo yo seesaw journey that they go through.

[00:15:54] A lot of women, not all women that they go through based on the standards that are put in front of and bikini season and bikini season.

[00:16:02] Because, listen, it's about the warm up. And I'm already like, listen, I got to go.

[00:16:07] So so were you actually on The View or you your designs were there. Did you get to attend the the taping and stuff?

[00:16:16] Yeah, I was there for the taping. I was backstage. I was so fortunate to have met this amazing stylist, Catherine Schuler, who's still killing it in the fashion industry. She actually is an ambassador of plus size fashion. And I was invited on The View to provide pieces as a stylist, as a designer for a makeover segment. And so actually it was individuals, women who had lost a good amount of weight and but still were a larger size. Some of them were larger size. And the designs I had to really cater to any woman and made her feel beautiful. I did made to order early on. I did couture early on, but I had these drapes, these really floaty silk patterned drapes, which I made out of saris.

[00:17:09] You made that drapes?

[00:17:11] Well, I called it a drape, but it's not occur in. Oh, like what?

[00:17:18] But it was it was draped on the dress form, which I have had all these beautiful folds and pleats that would land in the perfect places to enhance your assets. And so women could adorn their outfits with these really floaty pieces that I created. And then I did a lot of lace and I did stretch knits as well. And she was looking for high quality, high end pieces that would fit a range of women and still let them look glamorous.

[00:17:49] In their makeover segment, you could tell you're talking to a country bumpkin here.

[00:17:54] I feel like you put them in, you know. No.

[00:18:01] All right. Another question I have about The View is, did you at any point feel like punching Joy Behar in the mouth?

[00:18:10] Oh, you know what? Listen, so before the taping, I actually met all the women backstage and they were amazing.

[00:18:18] And I was in my world because the show is still very new. And it was you know, it was everyone was watching The View. And at the time they brought on artists that were dropping new album so that they would have live music.

[00:18:33] They weren't so mean to everybody.

[00:18:35] In other words, you know, they were good. Yeah. Yeah. Now, it was it was a really interesting format at that time. And I loved every minute being a part of that experience.

[00:18:46] All right. So let's take you back, see how you got here. So you grew up in well, you didn't grow up in Jamaica. You were born in Jamaica, right?

[00:18:54] That's right. And then you were as a baby. You actually were raised in Connecticut, right?

[00:19:00] That's correct.

[00:19:01] Ok, now, was your family entrepreneurial? How did you how did you ever have the dreaded job and how did you get to where you are now? Bring us up through the ranks?

[00:19:14] Yeah. Yes and yes. I had the job. I had several jobs. And my family is and my parents are still very entrepreneurial. Most of my siblings have traditional jobs, but then they have their side hustles as a consultant and then I have or in traditional professions. But then some are also entrepreneurs like myself, creative entrepreneurs.

[00:19:38] Where do you fall in the mix of your siblings?

[00:19:41] I'm number four and the first girl, OK?

[00:19:46] And my parents actually, my mom is in the nursing field. My father worked in the aerospace industry as a machinist and.

[00:19:59] They've been at their positions like forever, like whatever they had when I was a kid. They're still doing it now. I mean, it was, you know, that's the generation and they didn't waver. But what they did do is similar to yourself.

[00:20:10] They opened up a nightclub and it was, you know, being Jamaican, a lot of the customers in Connecticut at the time, you know, and still does have a tremendous a huge population of Jamaicans. So word of mouth hit the streets. So we had a we would always have like Jamaican party weekend and we were allowed to go as teenagers. So that was really cool because we thought we were so cool coming in to the owners club.

[00:20:34] And we you know, we're not drinking age, but our parents are here. So we could be a club, you know, and we weren't allowed to drink.

[00:20:41] But it was just fun hanging out with my siblings and cousins, you know, with all the grown ups. And so that was my first opportunity, witnessing entrepreneurship via my parents.

[00:20:54] Wait a minute. I don't know how you're so skinny because I ran into a Jamaican lady one time and she wouldn't pay me a check. She made me come over and pick up cash every time, but I never walked in the house ever. Even to fix something didn't matter when it was that there weren't chickens everywhere. And this and the stove, everything is full of food. The place you could smell a from a block away.

[00:21:23] We love cooking and we love feeding people.

[00:21:27] And oh yeah, she's like, come on here. Have some of this. Yeah.

[00:21:31] You can't come into the house and leave without eating. Right. That was sacrilegious.

[00:21:37] If you said no, if you were offered food when you would come into my house when we were growing up and there was always I mean there was eight of us on a regular, but then there were our friends and there's each sibling has a friend. And so I remember as a kid, like having 12 plates on the table because I would have to dish out the food and like regularly 12 plates. So somebody, you know, our friends, my parents friends were eating every night how my parents did this. And so we would cook in these huge pots and prepare this food on a nightly basis, slow cooked food from fresh every single night. There was no going to McDonald's or a drive thru or anything like that. And that was the norm.

[00:22:23] Was it dumped on you because you were a girl?

[00:22:26] I when I was 11, I had the mandate of coming into the kitchen to start apprenticing and watching my parents cook so I could learn how to cook.

[00:22:35] And the boys, the boys didn't have to do it?

[00:22:39] No, they didn't have to. But they all know how to cook and very well.

[00:22:43] So they weren't cooking for the family, but they all cook very well for themselves and and for those that are married for their spouses. And so, yeah, it was and even my uncles, they're all like all can throw down in the kitchen.

[00:22:59] So I don't know if you can get people to be throwing up in the kitchen.

[00:23:05] You know, it is a treat going to family events, which there was one at least every weekend or every other weekend. There was some birthday, some wedding, some anniversary, something to celebrate. We love partying. And, you know, everyone would bring a dish. And so we had the tree of sampling all of our aunts and uncles cooking and easily they could each open a restaurant. I mean, I definitely was spoiled with the level of quality, the level.

[00:23:36] Is it like that in your family today?

[00:23:39] Yes, I could throw it out now. And I got a budding chef.

[00:23:43] He's fourteen and he cooks maybe three or four meals from scratch every week. Either he's baking, baking something or grilling or cooking something. And but yeah, I learned all the traditional I can't say all I learned many of the traditional dishes growing up, having to cook them from scratch nightly for my family.

[00:24:08] And so, yeah, I still I mean, really, when I got to college, I lost weight because I wasn't used to eating American food. I was like, what's this? And I and I just wasn't accustomed to pasta salad.

[00:24:21] And what do you think of this? I was like, what is this?

[00:24:27] I'm I remember because my parents live forty five minutes from where I went to school and they would drive up on the weekends and they would literally leave like two or three days worth of food with me on Sundays.

[00:24:39] And my my roommate had a microwave, so we were all set for like two or three days.

[00:24:43] But it took me a while to get used to eating non Jamaican food because that's just all I ate growing up. And then going back to the question about the job, my first job was a paper route and I help my brothers. When I was like six or seven with theirs, and then I had my own at 11 years old, and then that went from I went from paper shooting to babysitting to waitressing to then working in traditional corporate America, then retail and then back to corporate America before I officially launched my first business.

[00:25:18] All right. So so a couple of things here. Yeah, we got to talk stop talking about food because I'll be on your door here like tomorrow.

[00:25:26] Say, hey, you got anything extra? I mean, come on over some curry chicken. I'm your friend, you know. So.

[00:25:33] So but six or seven, you were helping with a paper route that's that's awful young. And it.

[00:25:40] Well, then you could have a paper out at 10, 11, 12 years old and I had older brothers and they were.

[00:25:48] Yeah, they hired myself and my younger brother. And let me tell you, this is going to go way back. So I might date me, but I will. I remember at the end of the week, because you got paid by your tips that your your customers would give you for dropping off their papers. And it was cash and it wasn't a lot. But this is when there was still penny candy. Right. You can still buy candy for penny. Five cents. Ten cents. Right. So a dollar. It was like ten bucks. So, Candy, that was a lot of money back then. And one hundred pieces. Yeah, you're right. Depending on the candy. Right. Took the Tootsie Roll and so my brother's mom.

[00:26:24] So at the end of the week we get into that, we go into the little four year between our rooms and we count the money and a lot of a lot of customers, they tip in quarters. And so my younger brother and I, he was like, he's two years younger than me, two and a half years younger than me. And we were laying on the floor. We all were laying on the floor like intently as my older brothers counted the quarters. And then I remember my oldest one. He dropped four quarters in front of myself and in front of my younger brother. And he's like, Here, here's your payment.

[00:26:56] And we just looked at each other with the brightest eyes, like, whoa, quarters.

[00:27:04] That's awesome. So it didn't take much to get us working back then.

[00:27:08] All right. So you're in a corporate situation. Yeah. And so tell us about the transition. Did you just quit and then start your business or did you save up money? Did you plan how did you make the transition? Because a lot of people on here are sitting there in that cubicle or sitting at home now thinking, man, this is not for me. I want to get out of this mess.

[00:27:30] Yeah, well, you know what? For a long time, I was heading down a very traditional path of becoming a doctor. And in when I was in college, one of my professors who was the chairman of the Department of Psychology took me under his wing as a mentor and really thought I could impact the field of psychology in a great way. And so he then grooming to go into grad school. And so that was my path.

[00:27:57] I wanted to be a child psychologist. I wanted to help children, teens, young adults. And when I finished college, I took a year off and I worked in corporate and it was that was when I had the aha moment of, oh my gosh, there has to be more to life than just the same routine of the nine to five, and especially when you're working for a Cray great boss, which I had at the time. And even though I love what I was doing, which was recruiting for the IT industry, which I probably should've stayed in, I would be like retire by now. But anyway, my boss was just out of her mind and I, I started questioning myself and I said if I could do anything in the world, what would it be? And then fashion design popped in my head. Now, mind you, this is in the middle of Connecticut. I did not have any designers or artists around me. My father was very musical, his family's very musical. So he played instruments and he sang. And so I had that around me. But that was pretty much it from the artistic side and traditional artistic side. And so I really was like, whoa, where did that come from? My mother was always very stylish and really believed in quality, like finding quality pieces and having pieces that would last and looking her best whenever you would go step out the door. And so that absolutely impacted me. But I innately wanted to design and create clothes for women like beautiful clothes for women. And so I took a leap of faith. I took a course, an art course, and then decided to apply to design school. Now, this was at the same time that I was applying to grad school because this was a plan, right? I worked for a year, then go to grad school.

[00:29:41] And so I got into grad school, full scholarship and a job offer. And so how could I refuse? Well, within days, I got accepted into all the fashion design programs and that's how you can refuse. And I was like, oh, my gosh. And then then reality sort of sunk in. And I said, well, you know what? That was a nice thought. That was a nice dream. I'll do that when I retire. But I'm going to do this doctor thing. I've wanted to do this for years. I had this incredible offer. How could I refuse? So I said no to the design schools and yes to grad school. And I started grad school. I had gotten married a month later. I started my classes and life was good. But within eight weeks or so I kept getting haunted by the words that kept coming to me. You have to go to New York. You have to go to New York to the point where I started getting anxiety, like heart palpitations that I couldn't explain. When I got checked out by the doctor and they said, your heart's healthy, is there something that's on your mind that's stressing you out? It came back to me, this whole design school thing and pursuing a career in fashion design. And so when I finally decided to pay attention to that, the heart palpitations went away. I had a face to face conversation with the directors of the program, and they agreed to help me finish up early with my masters. And at the end of that year, I was off to New York City and I never looked back. Wow.

[00:31:10] So you so you didn't just drop the grad school. You finished it in the early.

[00:31:16] Yeah, this is very much me, like I already had put so much time and energy into that program and I'd be darned if I was going to leave without something in my head, OK?

[00:31:24] Yeah, I was thinking, was this the one that was going to help all the kids?

[00:31:31] I thought maybe you started looking at the kids and saying, oh, man, you're hopeless, there's no well, that kind of influence now.

[00:31:38] Actually, I had clients I did have patients that I was seeing.

[00:31:42] And I wanted to have a greater impact and a greater change in their lives. I mean, they would come to me week after week with the same issue. And I said there has to be more. And so for me, fashion, I didn't know this at the time. I didn't connect the dots then. But what I knew was there was going to be a way that I was going to use that desire, that love of fashion to combine the psychology piece to help people. And so when I launched my collection and I knew going into design school that I wanted to own my own fashion company, like I wanted to impact the history of fashion. I wanted to control the narrative. And in order to do that, I needed to run my own company and grow it into the way that I envisioned. But I never shied away from apprenticeships or internships or working and learning for experience, which I think is incredible. So so anyway, when I did launch my fashion company, my slogan was Beauty from the Inside Out, because I wanted women to recognize their inner beauty and I wanted to use clothes to help them recognize that, to help empower them to tap into that inner beauty and so they can shine brighter and they could hold their head taller. And if you're wearing a garment that, again, from the inside out, when you flip it inside out, it's just as beautiful. And when it touches your skin, it makes you feel beautiful. That's going to have a psychological impact on how you feel. And then when you're standing that much taller, you're going to receive that from the world and then it's a reciprocal effect.

[00:33:16] So I very much use and still use psychology and all that I do, from designing to consulting to advising.

[00:33:25] So so if someone came to you for a design, would you actually use your psychological knowledge to interview them and see what they're all about before you do the design?

[00:33:36] Absolutely. So when I did my when I was doing my made to order from day one, I'd have my client sessions. Now, I had a collection, I created that collection. And if you wanted to buy it as is, you could. But when clients would come to me with a specific request, then we yes, we would have that interview process. I would assess them in terms of their body type, their height, the goal that they're trying to achieve with this garment, the venue, the time of day that the the season and try to really be meticulous in bringing all those details together and not just give them a design that I thought was just a pretty design for design sake, but give them a design that I absolutely love, but then would optimize who they were and what they were trying to achieve within that piece.

[00:34:21] Ok, but what if it's like I you know, I joke around a lot. And so if I'm getting my haircut, I, you know, I joke around with the hairstylist and we talk about all the people that come in with a picture of of hairstyle that they want. And there's just like no way on earth that makes sense.

[00:34:41] Yeah.

[00:34:42] And what do you do if you're standing there and this person is wanting something like totally. That makes no sense for them going to make them look like a doofus?

[00:34:52] Well, I feel that my training and schooling outfit really played in with that. I mean, because you're you are knowledgeable on a variety of silhouettes and the body types that they they can best work with, then you can educate the customer.

[00:35:10] And I feel that, yeah, you can do it my way.

[00:35:15] You interviewed me the day you're going to my mind goes crazy. So I'm thinking if I was you and I'm talking to this this woman and I know there's no way that she can have what she wants, I say, well, now let's let's look at some of these examples here.

[00:35:31] Here's our current collection.

[00:35:33] You're a hot mess, but here's our tent.

[00:35:38] Yeah. You know, it's hilarious.

[00:35:43] I designed to, what would I say, enhance the female silhouette and silhouette.

[00:35:51] What if it's like an eclipse of the sun?

[00:35:54] Then you you created you create that silhouette. You get you know, you look at fabrics. And again, I love fabric.

[00:36:04] I think for me, I start with the fabric when I design.

[00:36:07] Ok, let's stop right there because because you're talking to a country bumpkin. This is exactly what happened to me. I'm looking for some socks and on Amazon and these socks in the description, it says these are made these are bamboo socks. OK, my mind is picture like long tubes that like guns. You're going to walk on this thing.

[00:36:42] Oh my gosh, I.

[00:36:44] How back fabric out of things. And even if you slivered it down, you'd have splinters in your feet, the holes that work.

[00:36:52] Yeah. No, that's a really good point in terms of the bamboo. Yes.

[00:36:57] Haven't been made out of bamboo. There's also fabric being made out of spoiled milk and you could buy T-shirts made out of spoiled milk.

[00:37:04] Listen, salmon skin, fish skin.

[00:37:07] Well, I've heard of placenta shampoo.

[00:37:10] Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no. I don't know if that's going to make the market.

[00:37:14] No, no. This actually was on there years years ago for a shampoo.

[00:37:22] They had the same meaning. But it was, to me, funny as all get out.

[00:37:28] You know, one of the things that I do love about the fashion industry is the innovation that it has and has been undergoing these last couple of decades, especially now where consumers are calling for more ethically made products, for higher quality products, for more sustainable products, and to see the inventions that are coming from these creative individuals is mind blowing.

[00:37:58] I told you the other day about the black electrical tape there. Yes. Yes.

[00:38:03] And that's on the art side, too. And you do have that like there.

[00:38:07] You know, 3D printing has allowed for garments to be printed from a machine. You know, you put your design in and out comes these pieces that can get constructed into a garment that you could wear like that is mind blowing to me, mind blowing.

[00:38:24] But it seems to me you're too nice to be in this field. Don't you have to be Devil Wears Prada or something to to make it in this field?

[00:38:32] There are plenty of those. There are plenty.

[00:38:36] I've been very intentional in finding individuals that that just don't like the drama. And I've never felt that I needed to be like that. I'm definitely you know, when I when I started, I was worried, actually, that the majority of people that I would meet would be, you know, very much like what you saw in The Devil Wears Prada. And I almost decided not to go into fashion for that reason because I did not want to deal with those types of personalities or the pretentiousness and the attitudes just for no reason. And I personally have yes, I've experienced some of that, but the majority of my experiences have been opposite. And I was very intentional. When I decided to move forward with studying fashion and making that a career was that I was going to choose who I would work with and where I work and how I would work and have control over that experience. And so having your own business allows you to do that. You know, curating your own team allows you to do that, you know, from the fashion company to the magazine to the podcasting, you know, to even selecting the publishing company that I work with for my book. Everyone has been very similar in terms of their mindset, individuals that are doing what they love for a greater purpose. And that purpose usually is to help others in one aspect or another.

[00:40:03] Yeah, that's that's the way I run my whole business and I promote entrepreneurial stuff, is that if I don't like you, you can just take a hike. I don't work with anybody.

[00:40:12] I don't like it. Yeah, it's not worth it. It's not worth it.

[00:40:17] I mean, sometimes you have clients that you have and you can't change who they are, but you could always fire your client. Yeah.

[00:40:23] Yeah. So we've got to take a brief sponsor break here. When we come back, we're going to ask Nova what a typical day looks like for her, what kind of her main business model is and how she stays motivated. So, folks, about twenty two years ago, I kind of turned the Internet marketing guru world on its head in that guys like me, we're charging 50 or 100 thousand bucks up front to teach you this stuff. And I knew a lot of these people, if you give them 50000 bucks up front, they'd be down there with the Jamaica lottery scam, people hiding out and not giving you any help. So so I said it's not right for small business to be put in that situation. So I charged an entry fee and then a percentage of profits that was capped. So for me to get my fifty thousand, you had to clear two hundred thousand. Well, people really like this. They knew I wouldn't disappear on them because I wouldn't get my money. And seventeen hundred plus students later, over 20 plus years, it's still going strong. So it's the longest running most unique. Most. Successful mentor program of its kind ever, you have an immersion weekend at the great Internet Marketing Retreat Center, you shoot videos in our TV studio, you have one on one attention for a year with me. And my entire staff will even take over your computer, show you where to click. And you also get a scholarship to my school, which you can either use yourself for extra training or gift to someone. We had one guy join a mentor program, gift the scholarship to his daughter, and after four months, she was up to 6000 dollars a month as a side hustle and hadn't even graduated. So it's very, very powerful. It's at greatInternetmarketingtraining.com. Get in touch and we'll talk about your future online.

[00:42:21] Now let's get back to the main event. We got Nova Lorraine here.

[00:42:24] She was a or she is a fashion maven and a let me try it again.

[00:42:32] Haute couture designer. I don't know. I'm a country bumpkin that's had this same jacket for 22 years.

[00:42:45] So I did find something, though, Lorraine, that I'm kind of proud of this.

[00:42:51] I found something that I actually wore in college and it still fits. So I'm pretty proud of that. Yeah.

[00:42:59] Yeah, it's my ball cap. OK, I didn't see that. Come on.

[00:43:06] So so tell us what a typical day looks like for you and you know where your, you know, revenue comes from sources and how people work with you and all that.

[00:43:16] Yeah. So my days really vary, as you can imagine on and you know, like yourself, Tom. I've been working from home for many years, you know, but you are in a super fashion hub of the world right now.

[00:43:35] At this very moment, yeah, exactly where you live is.

[00:43:39] I mean, everybody wants Hershey Fashion, you know. Yeah.

[00:43:45] If would qualify as a hub, but yes, in my day to day usually comprises of.

[00:43:53] Well, now we're going to say current and pre Korona.

[00:43:58] But currently it's a variety of meetings with clients, maybe be consulting clients, new podcast host for Pink Kangaru individuals that are interested in joining the network. Additionally, I'm working on writing assignments depending on the day of the week and for book number two and. Managing different projects with the either the fashion company or the raine school of fashion, so no day is the same. Most days are filled with lots of calls, video or audio calls, meetings, and then, you know, addressing clients and consulting with clients. Now, when the gates are are open and we can we can travel more freely again, I usually am in different cities for events and or conferences and or meeting clients, and they are both domestic and internationally. So I do do a lot of travel.

[00:45:05] You know, you do those runway events where people wear your stuff out and then you come out and everybody applauds you at the end.

[00:45:11] Yes, I love that. First of all, there's so nerve racking.

[00:45:14] I mean, you never know by watching a show how much stress is backstage. I mean, the work.

[00:45:22] And I tell you, I got to tell you, I'm a real giver. So if you ever need help backstage, you want to be one of the dressing assistants.

[00:45:31] So what do you call it? Whatever you want. I'll have you on the hair. I'll have you do hair like that.

[00:45:37] No, no, no, no. I'm not good at hair, but I've been cut mine with dog clippers for the past week or so. All right. So that's cool. You do that stuff. That's that's very cool. So do you have work? Can we see some of your designs?

[00:45:55] Yes, so I'm working on a new collection that will be debuting in Paris. God willing, this summer, and that will be a hot couture collection. So as soon as those sketches are ready to be released, they will be online and via social media as well. And then when the event happens, which will be a live streamed event, then we'll be making those announcements so individuals can view the collection from wherever they are in the world. So looking forward to that. My last show was in Monaco for a fundraiser and some of those images are online as well. So if you just Google Nova Lorraine and or Lorraine Monaco, you'll be able to pull up some of the show images.

[00:46:44] That's very cool. And how do you stay motivated? You're working out of your house now and isolated from all this excitement, your life excitement anyway. So how do you stay motivated?

[00:46:57] I am really grateful to have taken a mindfulness course and learning and learning how to train others to be mindful. And that's been incredibly beneficial for me to maintain my level of creativity and productivity. And so I try to get outside when I can. I'm really intentional about my workspace. I have lots of plants around me.

[00:47:21] I have my record player because I'm an old school girl.

[00:47:24] I still love records and I don't like Bob Marley record right there. So sometimes I put that on, I have my candles behind me.

[00:47:32] So I'm very conscientious and intentional about the space and mentoring to each day.

[00:47:40] And when I do get those monotony blues, then I change my environment. And so it's either getting outside, you know, if I can go to a local Starbucks, I will do that.

[00:47:54] I don't do that as often anymore, you know, and or working in a different space in the house at Starbucks, you see all those college students that sort of go into my school instead of before they tell you about your your book and your podcast.

[00:48:12] Yeah, so unleash your supernova. The book is released March 16th and the same name of the podcast, which was nominated for an award by the New Media Film Festival. And the book I offer hands on practical tips, words of wisdom, hacks that you can use immediately to improve your your creativity to help bring down stress, anxiety, but most importantly, help guide you on what is the right path for you as an entrepreneur and how to maximize your success as an entrepreneur. So we look at I explore or help you explore finding your wise, you know, your creative archetype and what your entrepreneurial DNA. How do you use the athletic mindset to really develop the right information, infrastructure and team to execute your ideas? And of course, I have to talk about mindfulness and the book and how to use that to help create balance. And so that's the book. I was inspired to write the book a couple of years ago because I would share stories with individuals. I do consulting and and I love helping individuals. And you don't have to be a client for me to share advice with you. And when I would share one of my crazy stories, which you couldn't make it up, I mean, it's better than fiction.

[00:49:41] And then the lesson that I learned, people would then comment, oh, my gosh, you should put that in a book. And then the more I would hear about that and I said, well, you know what? I probably can help so many, so many people from just my mistakes, my successes, the individuals that I've met over the years, the incredible entrepreneurs that I've interviewed you, Fortune magazine, and the wisdom that they've shared with me and put that into one go to guide and create a toolkit that complements Reign magazine for those creatives, for those entrepreneurs that truly want to successfully achieve their dreams and do it without burning out, do it without giving up, do it without the stress and anxiety that could potentially come with that choice. And the podcast allows me to take that same information and share it through one of the mediums that I love so much, which is audio. And to also get those interviews off the paper, off the screen, but through a microphone from amazing entrepreneurs around the globe that can share their insights as well to help others on their journey.

[00:50:49] Beautiful, beautiful boy. Your your.

[00:50:53] A dynamo, I got to tell you, it's so good to you're in the health because you're making me tired of all the things that you do. And I try not to know.

[00:51:04] It's funny because I know people ask, how are you doing all you're doing? Like, I don't want to think about everything I'm doing. I just do. Yes.

[00:51:11] Well, that's the whole thing about screw the commute. I mean, you can live two or three lives if you're not commuting back and forth to work every day. So to tell them how to get a hold of you. This is episode 390. Folks we'll have all her stuff in the show notes for you. So screwthecommute.com/390. But go ahead and tell them while we're at it.

[00:51:30] Yeah, check us out at Rainemagazine.com. And we're also on Instagram. Shoot us a DM. You can also contact us if you're interested in the podcast world, listening to great stories. If you feel like you're a wild thinker, go to Pink Kangaru and I'm on LinkedIn. I love connecting.

[00:51:51] And I do respond to messages on LinkedIn so you can search Nova Lorraine and find me on LinkedIn. And for those of you that are in Clubhouse, you can look for me again there @novalorraine. So that's my newest platform that I'm really enjoying is Clubhouse.

[00:52:09] Cracks me up because, you know, there's the old joke about Nova is don't doesn't go, but don't go.

[00:52:15] Go. I'm the opposite, right? That car should have worked and he should be standing. You know what's so funny about that car? So I'm in yeah. I'm in an area that has generations of mechanics that have lived here. I kid you not.

[00:52:32] And so you will see nova cars on the road. I mean, they have proven to laugh. I mean, to last. However, you know you know, obviously if your car name means no go.

[00:52:46] Right. But it's so ironic that there are still no cars, Chevy Nova on the road to this.

[00:52:52] Oh, boy. Well, thanks so much for sharing your story with us and exposing what a country bumpkin I am.

[00:52:58] I appreciate that. I mean, people knew it already, but we've kind of proved it on this episode.

[00:53:04] So, hey, you actually pronounce haute couture. So I don't know about how much of a Tom look it up.

[00:53:10] And I had to play it on YouTube to get somebody to say it out loud. So got America. So anyway, thanks so much for coming on.

[00:53:18] Thank you so much for having so much fun. Thank you, Tom.

[00:53:21] Okay, folks, check out her great stuff out at three ninety. Get yourself a set of curtains from her or drapes.

[00:53:31] That are not curtains.

[00:53:33] And you know, if you come to me you're going to get a tent probably. So we catch everybody on the next episode. See ya later.

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