Kelly: How you step into the room, how you present, all the visual aspects—from your dress to your poise and carriage—it's important. You might have a ton of knowledge and clinical experience. What I always say when I step on stage is that before I ever open my mouth, you decide if I have something to offer or not.
Anne: Hello, everyone. It's Anne Duffy, and welcome to the Just DeW It podcast. I have a very good friend. We've only been friends about, I think, maybe four years, but when I first met her, I knew that she had something special to share with the dental community. Let me tell you a little bit about her before we get started.
Kelly Duggan, founder of Kelly Duggan Image Consulting, is a certified image consultant and coach with a 30-plus-year career in dental hygiene. Since 1999, she has helped executives and organizations elevate their professional presence. An award-winning member of the Association of Image Consultants International, she empowers clients to project confidence and achieve success.
I have seen her do that with so many of our DeWs, and I'm so glad to welcome Kelly Duggan. Hey, Kelly. How are you?
Kelly: Hey, Anne. I'm great. Thanks so much. I was really looking forward to our time here today.
Anne: I am, too. I remember meeting you at Vanessa Emerson's Institute for Speaking.
Kelly: Yes.
Anne: I'll never forget, you popped up, and a thought came to me: this is something that we not only need if we're speakers and KOLs, but just showing up in a dental office, showing up in Bunco, coffee, any of these things. I love it. I think we can use a lot of help from you to make it simple so that we're not always trying on 50,000 things and walking out the door feeling like crap.
First of all, dental hygiene. I love that you're a dental hygienist, and I also love your strengths, which I think lend themselves to what you're doing with image consulting. I’m going to talk just a second because I also remember we did Color Me Beautiful.
Kelly: Yes.
Anne: You and I had that in common. I did Color Me Beautiful, like, 40 years ago. I thought that was really cool, and it's really true. You are a Color Me Beautiful image consultant, right? Didn't you start that way?
Kelly: Yes. I started in a hobby business. I was working hygiene full time and had my colors done in ’91. I was intrigued by it. I always liked fashion and style and started this little side gig of color analysis and makeup. What I found is that I really liked makeup technique more than anything, and what happened on the inside, which we'll probably talk a little bit more about.
Anne: Sure, because you were a hygienist. To all you clinical hygienists out there, and clinicians in general, it is really fun to practice clinical hygiene and have a side gig. So why did a hygienist become an image consultant?
Kelly: It fell into that inner part. When I was in my training, when you're learning color, you have no makeup on, you're kind of raw there, and we're learning it. These image consultants were all duded up and everything. But what I saw in these women, and even in myself, was this inner confidence that came out. There were women in tears because they saw the beauty that they had from within as well as on the outside. The whole thought, the inside out, is where that passion was rooted.
I was also raised by my grandma. Because of family situations, my brothers and I ended up with her, and I saw this woman who had this—I would be curious what her strengths were because she was this hard-charging, career-focused woman in church education, has a building named after her, and all these things.
Anne: Wow.
Kelly: But sadly, she went to her grave not feeling she was beautiful, that her sister was the beautiful one and so forth. So the combination of that working together in my past was like, I can help women, I can help men. I work with both men and women to grow that inner confidence, that self-esteem, and that understanding that they are beautiful, because there's no one cookie-cutter way that spells beauty.
So that's where I started. I was practicing full time as a hygienist and then went into part time, and the story goes on. The side business started to grow, and then I was introduced to the image industry as a whole and joined the Association of Image Consultants International. That also grew into where I found this comfortable, happy home in the image industry and went more into business or corporate image consulting.
The appearance piece, we still use color because color is fascinating and goes multiple ways. But you could look great, so what is going to keep you in the door? What I say is appearance is what will help you make that first impression strong and step into a door. But with AICI, if you're certified with them, it's on appearance, behavior, communications, and now digital presence.
What I teach and practice is a total presence model, a combination of that. What's right for one person is going to be different than for another. It depends on what your own natural skill set is or what you've done. I've worked with clients where we move right to voice and how they can use their voice. I've had many others where we start with personal style development from the ground floor, where style hasn't been anything that's been of interest, and individuals who have a really nice style.
What I say is you can be strategic in all of it: how you think, look, act, and speak. You can be a heat-seeking missile to get done what you want to get done, that you yourself are your greatest asset.
Anne: And everybody has it, right, Kelly?
Kelly: Yes.
Anne: That's so cool. It does lend itself very well to hygiene because, in hygiene, we're creating beautiful smiles. A smile is such a big part of somebody's ambiance and first impression, right? This is just another layer that none of us studied. I mean, nobody studied that unless you were in fashion design. So no wonder, you had a grandmother who made you feel like this was something that you needed to do, part of your calling.
A lot of women will ask me, "How did you get your style?" Well, my mom and I went and picked out fabric, and she sewed my clothes. Those are little tiny things that helped me, and some women just don't have the innate interest, if you will, because you have to be interested in it. Not necessarily in style, but you're working with KOLs and professionals. They know they need it, but they don't know where to start. A lot of times, you don't get into that professional KOL role until you're in your late 30s or 40s, so you've got a whole closet full of stuff that isn't your color.
Kelly: One hundred percent. Yes.
Anne: So what role does professional image and stage presence play in establishing credibility as a dental speaker or KOL? Because we have so many women, and men—the dudes.
Kelly: The dudes. I love it.
Anne: They just don't know where to start. How do you work with somebody who's just saying, "Help me"?
Kelly: I think first it's realization, understanding that how you step into the room, how you present, all the visual aspects from your dress to your poise and your carriage, and those pieces—not to put fear into people here, but it's important.
You might have a ton of knowledge and, say, clinical experience or know-how in a specific product or something. What I always say when I step on stage—and I get into this in my initial program—is that before I ever open my mouth, you decide if I have something to offer or not. Whether it was subconscious or conscious, thinking, "Oh, I'm going to listen to her," your brain has already decided.
Anne: Well, that is scary, by the way.
Kelly: It is a little bit scary, but it's sadly the truth. You have your audience already deciding whether you appear confident, credible, trustworthy, all those things that you want. It's nothing that's really difficult to do. It's in simple things. My work is built around things that we've been doing since we've been born.
Anne: Mm.
Kelly: Our brains have been functioning and moving, hopefully—a pure blessing if you don't have health issues. But we get dressed, we move our bodies, we talk, all those things. You might think, "Well, why would I need help with that?" But again, when we think about presence, it's shaping it so there's continuity and consistency, so that it supports an authentic presence. You don't need to be somebody else. You just need to be your best self, ultimately.
Anne: That makes so much sense, and it's like a one-degree shift when you think about it. I've seen people up on stage where maybe the outfit doesn't fit them properly or doesn't seem to say much about them. Or it could be kind of drab. Sometimes you just need to step out of your comfort zone, but it's a lot easier to do that when you've got someone like you saying, "I think these things will look good on you. Let's try them on and see which one you feel best in," right?
I love that you're also putting in voice and stage presence. I'm assuming posture. We get coached in everything, Kelly, but the actual image of how we show up. I'm thinking I need some help as well, and we all need help. We all need a little tweak to make ourselves better, and everybody that I know in DeW wants to be their best self and put their best self forward.
You've got discipline, responsibility, focus, harmony, and belief. Those are so strong. Discipline and responsibility—you kind of exude responsibility and discipline to me. If you said something, I'd be like, "Okay, let's go." You have looked at it. I love it. You know it. You're a strong leader in that.
And then focus is the new time, they say. If you have focus, it's more important than time because you can actually get more accomplished in a short period of time because you are focused. I don't know where it is on my strengths. I should look at that because I'm like squirrel. I get a lot done in the day, but I'm doing a lot of things that I could probably do better if I would complete one task and then move on to the other. But I know that about myself, so I work on that, and I also give myself a little grace on that.
And then harmony. You want everything to kind of go together and feel like it's a painting, if you will. That's a perfect person to put somebody's wardrobe together, including their makeup. And belief is strong, and you probably take that from your grandmother, who probably had strong belief. Like you say, she did so much, but maybe when she looked back, she didn't feel like she did enough, and I think that was because she didn't have that strong sense of confidence. It's all about that, I guess.
Kelly: Yes, it is at the core, I would say. The clients I work with, that's the hum. When I ask for testimonials or their wins or their ahas through our time together, confidence is across the board. And then that trickle effect, how it moves on out, how it impacts an individual.
Anne: Think about your grandmother. Just think if she would've had this confidence piece on top of all the amazing things that she accomplished. There's no time like the present, if you're listening to this, to reach out to you for sure.
We get people who listen to this podcast all over the place. You don't have to be a speaker or a KOL. You just might have to show up to your kid's soccer game and give the toast, or be the soccer mom, or show up to third grade and be the classroom mom. You still want to be able to gain respect from the minute you walk in the door.
But since our audience is mostly dental KOLs, and I say KOLs in general, how can dental KOLs align their personal brand, image, and message to increase influence, speaking opportunities, and audience engagement? This is such a great question because you don't just show up. You really have to prepare. Again, we need a coach to help us know those little nuances that are going to take your talk from good to great. How do you help them do that?
Kelly: Definitely. When we had set up this call and I was thinking about how I could best help, I would say that people are representing themselves out in business. We may have been sitting in a chair or behind a desk doing things, and then all of a sudden you're out and about and you need to really position yourself.
What I say is that alignment starts with clarity. Back to my focus strength.
Anne: Back to your focus.
Kelly: Yep. Focus, focus, focus. When we think about the most influential KOL speakers, focused on your career development however you want to look at it, they really know what they want to be known for.
Anne: Oh, okay.
Kelly: So really focusing in. I would say that even for myself, this isn't a one-time thing either. As I entered, coming back to dental land, because I left. I've done work in a lot of other industries, big corporate, like I did work for Kellogg Corporation earlier in the year. Right now I'm hoping to get in with a country club in our area to do dining etiquette work. It's part of business etiquette. It's in my wheelhouse.
Anne: So needed. Yeah.
Kelly: Now, as times change too, thinking about DeW's last Learning Crew and thinking about how you're going to position yourself in this AI, whatever we want to call it, time and all these things. We all need to look at what we want to be known for now. It needs to transition with us.
I particularly don't want to leave any men out because I know there are some dudes who are part of us. But women tend to wear more hats than the guys do out there, and life goes on. So again, that clarity, back to consistency, and really understanding, defining, and being strategic in what you want to be known for, which again, I'm looking at for myself right now.
One way that you can look at it in the thought of developing your personal brand and how it can support you in this is asking yourself a question: why should people listen to you? Really understanding and knowing why people should listen to you. For me, that's going to come back to the story that we shared about my grandma and my past. It's at the core. I had not even fully recognized how much it actually aligns with my strengths, my top five.
Anne: Isn't that so cool? I'm just thinking about when you even asked me that question, because I feel like I fell into DeW because I was mad my friend was bullied. That's pretty much it. I didn't have, "Oh, I want to be known as running a movement for women in dentistry." I'm going to have to get off this call and answer some questions for myself, because that's something you really have to, it's like an onion. You've got to peel so many layers until you get down to the center and say, "Okay, this is what I want to be known for." Because I know you're known as an image consultant. I don't even know what I'm known for. I'm going to have to think about this, Kelly. I'm the oldest lady.
Kelly: A caring connector.
Anne: A caring connector. Okay, I'll take that. I think that's a really great way to start, an easy way to start, but also the most important way to begin that process. You think of how long it takes to get the notoriety, to get the money that you're hoping you will make, not only as a speaker, but as a person that people want to listen to. You don't have to be on a big stage. You could be in a room, like I was saying, with 10 kids. Even those little ones, out of the mouth of babes, they'll tell you what they think about your outfit.
Kelly: Yes, they will.
Anne: It's funny. But I think they really could use that, starting with what they want to be known for. Then where else do you go with that? Once you get that, where do you go?
Kelly: It comes back into that continuity and consistency piece. How you're going to present yourself, thinking about your visual branding, that's more than your dress. It's your poise and your posture and carriage. It's what you have done in photography.
Recently, I've worked with a few different DeWs: one for TV, a couple for photo shoots, for the dress piece. Just like we were talking earlier before we started the recording, Anne, you were talking about somebody had suggested, and I would fully agree, that a darker background is better for you because of the contrast it creates with your hair color and so forth. It's those little things. It's those small details.
When we think about the KOL speaker or somebody who's career-minded in whatever they're doing, what are your social platforms like? Is there continuity in that, from your presentation materials to your actual, if you have hard-copy materials, all of it? So it's all cohesively working together, so it's branded and working for you, particularly if you are the face of your business.
Anne: Yeah.
Kelly: Like I am, and you are. Your organization's growing, so it's changing in some aspects in a different manner. But what that builds into is that you grow strategic presence.
Anne: That's number 11. I don't have any strategic until number 11. So you have categories. You need your looks, your makeup, your poise, your voice, and what else am I missing?
Kelly: Depending on the individual, you can go into the whole digital platform piece and area.
Anne: Oh, yeah. Right.
Kelly: The appearance piece goes so many different directions because if you are the face of your message, you're going to be out there in front of it. People are going to see you out networking at conferences and retreats. So think, how are you showing up at the next DeW retreat? Are you there as somebody who's the face of their organization? Not to say that you can't have some down-sloth time.
Anne: Right.
Kelly: I do, too. I'm not saying you have to be all dressed in heels and makeup done to a T, but put together. Again, with personal brand, what I say is I'm very romantic dramatic, romantic edgy in my style. So whether I'm dressed up or in my bathing suit or in my PJs, it's going to have a romantic, soft edginess to the look, no matter what.
Anne: And you know what? I have never seen you where you didn't have a soft, romantic, edgy look. That is your brand. You're walking the walk. That's responsibility and discipline. You're walking the walk every time I see you.
I love all the different avenues, and I think it's funny, appearance is so much more than just what you wear on your body.
Kelly: There are extended areas of image, too. We talked a little bit about digital presence, how you're seen on camera or out in your social. But years ago, I pulled in for an appointment with a local college, and I came inside, and she goes, "Oh, I knew who you were out in your car." So she was watching me.
Anne: Oh.
Kelly: Had I been in a heated conversation with my husband or picking my nose or doing something weird, I would've been seen.
Anne: That's another aha.
Kelly: What are your extended areas? If you have people in your office setting. I had an appointment one time with a younger gal, and her desk was nice and neat, but all around it she had bags thrown everywhere. She had a hairbrush halfway between her desk and one of her tote bags. I can't even remember what else, but it was fairly disheveled. Yes, we might have working offices, but there are fine-tune points, like the hairbrush could've been picked up off the floor.
Anne: It is kind of like, how important do you think this meeting is going to be? People have opinions. They're going to make judgments, and even though we say give people the benefit of the doubt—I think it's principle number seven, no judging—you're judged every time you step foot anywhere, I guess. It doesn't mean it's a negative thing. It just means that the judgment could be neutral.
I also love the idea that you can work with somebody on a photo shoot, because I have done photo shoots when I'm just like, "I wish I would've known this or that." Are you going to talk about that when we have the Learning Crew? Because I think that's a good piece for all of us, too, Kelly. Everybody's doing a headshot. We all have headshots and photo shoots.
Kelly: Yes, we can give you some pointers, give some tips on that.
Anne: You could give a couple Learning Crews, dear. We want to hear it.
Kelly: When I think about that, too, and back into the consistency and continuity and what you're doing socially for photo shoots, it's like be you still. That's some comments I've had actually with a DeW client, where she was saying she had seen some people who'd had photo shoots done, and they don't look like the same person that you see and run into at a conference or a meeting because they've been done up differently and it's not them. That could create a risk for you.
What I always preach is, it's in the little things. It's the details. It's the things you've been doing all along. You've all been getting dressed, and you talk, and you do your hair. Most of us have all been online socially, and most of us are doing really quite well. I always say, if I didn't put my arm around you and say, "Let's go have a conversation," we're doing good. With that thought, it's just subtle tweaks, generally speaking, so that you don't have to run into your closet and think, "Oh my gosh, I don't have anything to wear."
Or the emotional roller coaster of getting ready for photos and what you should wear. I just worked with a fellow DeW who was in Mexico City speaking. She had five hours to speak, so we were thinking about her comfort, as well as what was going to support how she presented.
Then also how you can use your voice. Another DeW I worked with was getting ready to shoot videos for a product that she was launching. When we connected and met, great gal, but she talked so fast I couldn't understand most of what she said, so we helped her work on pace, clarity, and pronunciation, and get her into confidence with it.
Anne: The confidence. And then take that, and then you build that muscle, right? Then you don't have to worry so much about the things that you can change, and you just have to worry about your content and know that you're going to be showing up in the right color.
I'm even thinking, a lot of times I've seen presenters have slides that don't match. They're old, or they just don't match their persona, and I think that's a whole other thing that you can help them with.
Kelly: That's a part of your extended image, those other visual extended image points.
Anne: By golly, these young ones are coming up with that stuff. They're going on Claude and getting it spit out, and some of us who have been around for a long time are still working on it. There's just a lot for us to learn.
What's the most important thing that you see? The common denominator, I guess, is building confidence. What is the one tip?
Kelly: The first thing that comes to mind would be, it's in the details. It's in those little things that can help you showcase your expertise, can give you authenticity, can help develop a communication style in how you visually, verbally, and non-verbally communicate. That's going to allow people to say, when they're looking for somebody in a related area, they want that expertise, and they know you're the one to call for it, ultimately.
Anne: That's what you want. That's how you get yourself hired again. That spreads like wildfire. Boy, you can help all of us. I'm so happy to have this conversation today, and I've got some more questions. I'm so excited.
Your Learning Crew is September. Of course, you're on the coffees, the DeW Connect coffees on Wednesdays. You're giving advice, I'm sure, and then offline. How do people get in touch with you? I know there are a lot of gals who are speaking right now and have opportunities ahead of them. They know their content, but they're not so sure what to wear or how to show up.
The other thing I loved about it is, you want them to be authentic. Because somebody might say, "Well, you just always show up in a navy blue suit." I'm thinking of Brandi. That's not Brandi. Can you imagine if Brandi Marsalis showed up in a navy blue suit? I don't know. Maybe she'd be good, but I think that's not who she is. She's gorgeous and a little bohemian and just super cool. What do you think about that? The fact that you can be authentic and still be very powerful. That's what everybody wants.
Kelly: Right. That's at the core of where my business started. I think back to color and personal style development. Personal style development is based on color, proportion and line, what fits your body, and your clothing personality. Then you apply it and put it together into a style for the dress piece of it, and it impacts hair and makeup and how it all coordinates together. What's right for one person isn't for another.
So all you naturals out there who are looking at me like, "Heck no, man. I do not want to look like her. She's got too much makeup on and her hair's too done," and right now it's melting and dripping because it's so humid here.
Anne: Oh, I love it.
Kelly: But that's not the case. My goal and focus is to help you shine authentically in what is true to you, and it's built from your own physical characteristic traits, your coloring and your bone structure, and then your clothing personality piece. It's a combination. It's guided by your bone structure and coloring, but it's also your likes and dislikes. It's your personality. It's your strengths, too. That would feed into it. The personal brand assessment tool that I use, 360Reach, partners with StrengthsFinder.
Anne: Oh, wow.
Kelly: So we pair off from that in my advanced personal brand work as well.
Anne: I started down that path of how they get in touch with you. We'll have it in the show notes, but tell me, how does somebody, dudes and DeWs—and dudes are guys who support women in industries—get in touch with you?
Kelly: Dudes and DeWs, yes. I work with men, too. Actually, I advise with a custom men's clothing collection, too. You can reach me direct at KD, my initials, at K-E-L-L-Y-D-U-G-G-A-N.com. K-E-L-L-Y-D-U-G-G-A-N.com. Socially, I am on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram. You can always call me direct, which is 269-873-1598.
Anne: Oh my gosh. Well, we will be calling you. I'm so happy that I met you so many years ago, and that you've poured into so many DeWs. We have seen so many grow, haven't we, Kelly?
Kelly: Mm-hmm.
Anne: And there are so many more to come. They're all in line. Our doors are open. So if you're listening to this, join us. We're going to be in Charlotte, North Carolina, in November for our retreat, November 11th through the 14th. Everybody's welcome. Come sit at our table. We'll pour into you, and I think we've got some more information coming at the retreat from you, so we're in good shape here, Kelly. We are really doing it, girl. We are doing it. Thank you so much for joining me today.
Kelly: Thank you.
Anne: For all of you who are listening, remember, and Kelly will agree with this, the most important thing you can do is keep doing you. Thank you. Have fun. We'll see you next time.
Kelly: Bye-bye.
Anne: Bye.
