An Evolution in Style

Catherine Cassidy’s fashion career aspirations started at a young age. It’s funny how we know exactly what we’re going to ‘be’ when we grow up when we’re young,though we often let ourselves get in the way.

Reflecting back, it all seems so natural and obvious that Catherine would settle into a career in the Fashion Industry and start her own company, but it took a detour from middle school through college.

Catherine’s passion for fashion started at the tender age of 9 years old. Religiously watching the runway shows on the Style Network in lieu of Saturday morning cartoons, constantly sketching dress designs in the margins of her school notebooks and declaring in her 5th grade yearbook, “I’m going to be a Fashion Designer when I grow up!”

Moving from Farmington Hills, MI to Hinsdale, IL in the middle of her 5th grade year was quite a shock. Not only was she in a new town and a new school, but she also was now in a public school. After years of a Catholic school uniform, Catherine now had the chance to pick out her outfit every day! She still remembers to this day exactly what she chose for her 5th grade school photo and not to mention the first day at a new school!! Some people remember momentous occasions … Catherine remembers exactly what she WORE for those occasions!

The detour from Catherine’s passion for Fashion was a whole bunch of ‘shoulds.’ While she loved her time at USC (they were National Champions, who wouldn’t!?!), her internships and classes throughout school were focused on Finance, Consulting, Real Estate, etc. So, of course, she thought she’d follow the pack.

It wasn’t until a few things fell into place.

One, she took a summer job at Nordstrom.

Two, she decided to take Intro to Entrepreneurship with lead to her assignment to write a Feasibility Analysis. She chose to create a store called “Denim Obsession” which it turns out was quite feasible … especially since a small chain of stores with a similar concept opened up the semester after that assignment.

Three, she stumbled upon the field of Retail Buying.

This was a wake up call! She could follow her passion for Fashion AND business and merge them into one!

Catherine’ corporate career started with Robinsons May which soon led to BCBG where Catherine was an integral part in building their merchandising team. While at BCBG, Catherine noticed that she had a knack for picking out perfect gifts for her friends and family (thank you employee discount!) and she loved seeing them thoroughly enjoying their wardrobe updates that were the perfect size, color and shape for them.

This got her thinking about what she loved most about her job and how she could focus on that full time. While she loved her job, she also saw that so many women were sacrificing their personal lives for the sake of advancing their careers. She began thinking about how she could take her natural talents and intuitive abilities to understand someone’s personal style while giving women an opportunity to find a bit of balance in their lives.

With that, U*styled was born! Why can’t there be balance? You deserve to live the life of your dreams!

When she took the leap to launch U*styled in August of 2008, Catherine’s mission was to create a company that empowered women to live their lives in STYLE.

U*styled’s mission is YOU and supporting you in transforming your life and style from GOOD to GREAT!

Since founding U*styled, Catherine has worked with time-starved professional women across industries who understand the importance of their personal brand image to help them streamline their wardrobe, create their own personal Style Statement, and make getting ready simply easy and effortless.

Catherine is passionate about spreading her message of a life in style and is available for group presentations, interviews and expert appearances. For a complete list of Catherine’s presentations, please click here for a downloadable a bio and presentation PDF.