Women get help to find confidence

Leanne Mulcahy wants to help women create an image and brand to make them and their business stand out. Photo/Supplied

Leanne Mulcahy is on a mission to help Rotorua business women create a confident image.

The "retired" fashion designer and former boutique owner has just launched her new business LM International Ltd. It offers workshops and one-on-one coaching for women to "align their image to who they are and what they do", she said.

It was a recent trip to Los Angeles as part of a US-based business training course that gave Ms Mulcahy the final push she needed to turn an idea that had been "simmering away" for years into a well-defined reality.

"That was when the world changed for me," she said. "[Before that] I knew I was doing something, I just wasn't clear on what it would be. I gained the clarity in the States."

Running former Rotorua store the Design House, Ms Mulcahy regularly encountered customers who asked her "what do I do?", she said.

"Something had changed in their life whether it was body shape, relationship, a new job or they'd ended something," she said. "They wanted to reconnect with who they really were."

She said while confidence was about a whole lot more than clothes, they could make a "huge difference".

"When we look in the mirror and we look at ourselves and we see the image and we think 'wow, I'm ready to face whatever'."

With a passion for business and a background in fashion and image, Ms Mulcahy decided to combine the two and focus on women in business - whether entrepreneurs or business owners starting out or those who had been in business a while but wanted to step it up.

"Women in business are often confident to a point. [That point is] stepping out from behind the computer to network, get in front of their target audience or even speak at events," she said. "Confidence is not all about image but it is part of it . . . if your image is aligned with what you do, it creates a sense of trust with your target audience."

As harsh as it was, people made judgment calls as soon as they met someone, she said.

And women were often their own worst critics, although she said men too can struggle with image and confidence.

Ms Mulcahy said to build confidence you often needed to get out of your comfort zone. A "painfully shy child", that all changed at the age of 16 when, desperate to leave school, her mother told her she had to find a job first. So she did, despite all the anxiety that came with it.

She is confident there is demand in Rotorua - and around the world - for her niche service.

"I think it will work here but I think it will work better globally," she said.

The first two Rotorua Brand New Me workshops will be held on the evenings of June 12 and 26 at Flair Space, with Ms Mulcahy presenting "five steps to a confident image and personal brand" in a fun, friendly and interactive environment.

For more information or to book go to www.leannemulcahy.com or Style Guru on Facebook.