Emerald’s Closet
-Part 1-
by Linda Potgieter
Your sense of fashion has everything to do with how you were formed in your mother’s womb.
With so many style experts out there, why do so many women still lack confidence in knowing what their personal style is? And why are we constantly shopping yet still saying “I have nothing to wear!”?
Style is just a skill, and if you are prepared to invest the time, money and effort, then you can become your own style guru.
And to do that you must start at the beginning….
…start with your heart. And that’s where the GEMS© Style Profile comes in.
Our Style Profile is based on Dani Johnson’s GEMS© product, a personality profile that is directly connected to how you like to dress. Of all the tools out there, this one demonstrates beautifully how we are made in God’s image, yet that each of us is utterly unique. Therefore, understanding your personal preferences well leads to a powerful sense of style.
My beautiful friend, Aiga from Latvia in Europe, is an Emerald. She is blessed with natural organisational skills, and brings a sense of efficiency and order to everything she lays her hand to. Asan Emerald, her wardrobe leans distinctively toward order and purpose, simple and clean lines. So, join us as we explore the 1st of these 4 primary styles, and as you do, bear in mind nature vs nurture –how you were designed versus how you were raised. This dramatically impacts the way you dress. If you were raised to behave differently than how you were designed – as many of us were – you might find shopping, dressing and the whole concept of fashion pretty frustrating.
I look forward to exploring more of your personal style more with you next week. Because as representatives of our faith, our marriage, our family and our business, wardrobe is a simple, powerful form of ambassadorship!
~Linda
Linda is a wife and mother, and Partner & Director of JPA Ltd, a global negotiation training firm headquartered in London. She is also Founder of LindaPaige, a fashion brand that empowers women to be a bold light on a hill in this world. Born and raised in South Africa, she currently lives in the UK with her husband and 2 children.
Linda started working at age 17 and spent most of her career in the corporate arena, often the youngest on the team enjoying powerful on the job training, learning from ambitious, accomplished executives what the marketplace wants.
Linda had the immense privilege of serving on former President Nelson Mandela’s PR team in 1998. As the final member of a team of 5, Linda and her colleagues organized the Vulindlela Water Supply Scheme in Kwa-Zulu Natal, South Africa, on Human Rights Day in March 1998. Awarded along with her team members for her performance in this role, she cites this experience as one of her distinct career highlights, referencing Nelson Mandela as her leadership standard in life, and continues her involvement today in fighting oppression and injustice.
After relocating to the UK in 2002, Linda won a national sales award in January 2006 from the Institute of Sales and Marketing Management (UK) (ISMM) for ‘Best New Sales Professional in Britain’. She is passionate about sales and loves working with people, a combination that opened up fantastic career opportunities for her across geographical and cultural boundaries, working on negotiation training projects with some of the worlds largest brands such as Adidas, Network Rail, EON, Mercer, Nestle, Pfizer, Nokia, and Vodafone. Her clients cite her training style as “…highly motivational, passionate and performance impacting”.
Linda is extremely dedicated to her own personal growth and attends regular leadership training in the USA which she cites as life changing. On a personal note, she is an adrenalin junkie continuing her pursuit of the next thrill in adventure sports, she loves traveling the world exploring good food, good wine and when there are gaps, she is home socialising with her family and friends.
