What founders should know about executive presence and personal style

When Asma Parvez met Poppi co-founder Allison Ellsworth, she was styling Ellsworth for the cover of Austin Woman Magazine.

Parvez had spent about two years styling women featured in the Austin publication, putting together five or six outfits for each magazine shoot.

In working with Ellsworth, Parvez noticed something familiar: The founder had a lot of places to be.

Ellsworth was running a growing beverage company, regularly appearing on social media, television, and at events, and raising three young children. As Parvez helped her prepare for the magazine shoot, she realized Ellsworth needed more than five outfits for a photo shoot. She needed clothes for everything else on her calendar, too.

“I saw this space that wasn’t being catered to,” Parvez told Founder Brew.

After the photo shoot, Ellsworth hired Parvez directly. Parvez began pulling outfits that could work across Ellsworth’s schedule, mixing new pieces with clothes already in her closet. For TV appearances, magazine shoots, and other moments when Ellsworth represented the company, Parvez chose bright, colorful pieces that reflected Poppi’s colorful branding while keeping often overlooked functional details in mind. That meant, for instance, avoiding sleeves with ruffles that could distract from a Poppi can in Ellsworth’s hand.

“Things that just are so simple that you wouldn’t even think about it necessarily,” Parvez explained.

It’s a problem at the center of Parvez’s company Styled By Asma: Founders don’t necessarily need help figuring out what they like. They need a wardrobe that won’t compete with the demands of running a growing company.

Executive presence

For Parvez, “executive presence” isn’t just about looking polished—or even wearing a suit. It’s about closing the gap between how a founder feels and how she appears.

“One of the first questions is literally: ‘How do you want to be seen? How do you want others to see you?’” Parvez told Founder Brew.

Answering that requires understanding where her clients are actually showing up. One client, for example, is a nephrologist who runs her own clinic, speaks onstage, and works with sports teams. Her wardrobe has to work across all of those environments. A stage appearance might call for one look, while attending a marathon calls for another.

“These people are showing up at work, and they need to be dressed in a way that portrays how they want the world—and then in a smaller place, like their employees or their customers or their consumers, clients—to view them,” she said. “They are looking to go to that next level, and they hire me to help them get there.”

Style as agency

That instinct is personal for Parvez. She became one of the first hijabi fashion bloggers in the US, writing about fashion and modest style. Wearing the garment, she said, made her acutely aware of how quickly people can form opinions about her based on what they see.

“I’m super cognizant of how someone else wants to be seen,” she said. “I know how I want to be seen.”

That perspective now informs how she works with founders. Her clients may not wear a hijab, but they are always navigating the gap between who they are and what people assume about them.

“You’re going to be the one going on stage or going in front of the public eye, and you’re going to tell other people how you want to be seen—versus them making opinions about you,” she said.

The right fit

The idea of a founder uniform isn’t new. Steve Jobs had his black turtleneck; Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has his leather jacket. Silicon Valley’s hoodie and T-shirt era turned dressing down into its own kind of uniform.

Parvez has a simple rule for founders looking to create their own uniform: “It has to feel like you.”

“It has to be genuine and it has to be intentional,” she said. “It can’t just be like, ‘Oh, I’m going to grab this random blazer,’ and I’ve never worn a blazer in my life.”

Parvez, whose services start at $1,500 for a 90-minute virtual consultation, advises founders to consider their wardrobes earlier than they might expect. She’s increasingly working with clients before they’ve reached the level of visibility they’re preparing for—giving them a “blueprint” they can rely on as their companies grow, rather than scrambling to figure it out once the invitations to stages, television appearances, and major events start coming in.

“The goal is for the person talking to them to see them as who they are,” she said. “To sort of go past, ‘Okay, everything looks fine. You look like everything’s great. You look great.’’ Now let’s talk about really what’s going on.’”

Parvez said the ultimate goal isn’t to give founders confidence. It’s to remove the distractions that can get in the way of using it.

“I am not giving my clients confidence. I’m helping them find it within themselves,” she said. “I’m giving you the tools to get there.”

By taking those decisions—and that mental fatigue—off the table, Parvez wants her clients to have one less thing competing for their attention.

“They can actually focus on the business at hand,” she said.