Mastering Professional Presence & Building a Polished Image in the Workplace

Unlock the secret to commanding any room — starting with your wardrobe and presence. In this episode, Torri Silver reveals the timeless principles of mastering professional presence and building a polished, impactful image that opens doors and elevates your career. Whether you're stepping into an interview, a high-stakes meeting, or a networking event, discover how to craft a professional package that speaks volumes before you even say a word. Torri takes you through her own journey, from childhood standards shaped by her mother’s unwavering emphasis on presentation, to her transition from television news to organizational development. She shares practical strategies for dressing confidently for professional events.  Learn the significance of authenticity and aligning wardrobe with personal brand. Your career’s next level begins with how you show up!

Transcript

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Welcome to Spark Talks, a special edition of the Spark Factor with Tori Silver, where conversations ignite new ideas, spark new energy, and fuel momentum in the workplace. In this series, I'm both your moderator and your career guide, providing real insights, practical advice, and winning winning strategies based on my professional experiences. Today we'll be focusing on how to master professional presence and build a polished image in the workplace and any setting. Let's get started. Thinking about my career over the last decade or so, I'm always with the same reaction from executives or leaders in organizations when I am sitting in front of a panel for a position in their organization. And at some point, someone will always say, you know, there's something about you that I can't quite put my finger on. I can't identify with what it is, but there's something about you that stands out from our other candidates. And for me, I like to think that part of that is not just what I'm saying to them, you know, proving myself, sharing my expertise and why I am the top candidate for the position that I'm vying for. It is also my professional package, is how I represent myself from the moment that I walk into the room, you know, um, you know, owning the situation by my professional appearance. That for me is it. I like to think of that as my wow factor or the spark factor. The spark factor, right? It's something that um I've been committed to throughout the course of my career, dressing the part and dressing for the position that you want, right? Being polished is something that is a must for each and every position that you are seeking in organizations. You want to make sure that you understand the requirements of the organization, but you also want to make sure that you are conveying to the hiring managers or the hiring team that you are serious, that you are confident, that you are prepared, that you respect yourself enough to dress professionally for the role, and that you respect their space. You respect their space, you respect their organization, and you respect their time, right? So that is essential in terms of being, you know, in our environment now and seeking new opportunities. When I think about mastering professional presence and building a polished image, I think about the standard really being built in my childhood. Um, growing up in a household with a single woman uh from North Carolina, um, my mother, Shirley, um, a lot of people who know me personally know that I call her Big Shirley. Um, she grew up in the South in a home with seven other siblings. And one of the things that her mother took pride in was making sure that when her children went to school and went to church on Sundays, that they looked well and presentable. Um, and so that sort of was the standard that my mother Shirley built in my household growing up, making sure that um each and every school season, you know, making sure that I had, you know, um a plethora of dresses going to school, um, you know, ribbon bows in my hair, making sure that I had Bobby socks and patent leather shoes for, you know, various holidays and things of that sort. But the the real big lesson was drilling in this piece of pastoring professional presence. And that's something that I don't even know that we knew that that's what she was doing, but she was. Growing up um in the Washington, D.C. area, mother would always get all of my, you know, my holiday dresses, um, you know, all my birthday dresses, school clothes from Woodies and Garfinkels. That was a standard that my mother set um throughout my childhood, you know, from elementary to middle school to high school, even through college. And it's something that sort of stayed with me throughout my career and having worked two careers um with two very different sets of um style of dress. I will say that the standards that my mother set have helped me tremendously to elevate my professional brand. And I know, without a shadow of a doubt, that um on many occasions I have landed the opportunity to sit in front of a panel, to interview, to land the job because of my professional packaging. I know that to be true. Um, mastering professional presence and building a polished image is critical in the times that we're living in. Um, we have so much information and we can make so many observations by what we see on social media. Um, someone can be anywhere in the world that we look up to, um, where we find inspiration. And they may be inappropriately dressed, but because this is someone that you look up to, that you admire, you see as a hero or shiro, you might be inspired to um, you know, take on or follow their lead in terms of the dress. Um, and that's a no-no, right? Um, mastering professional presence and building a polished image requires you to um each and every single time you attend an event or you step out the door or you um have an opportunity to sit in front of a panel to think about what you are going to wear. Because remember, um long before you even open your mouth and you make the introduction and you introduce yourself, your professional packaging, your image, what you're wearing is speaking for you. It's doing all the talking. Um, one of the reasons why I found this session to be really critical in our personal transformation and growth series of the Spark Factor is um last year I went to a professional event, a professional event that was probably in its um fifth or sixth year of um development, and was really disappointed to see um the dress, the attire of a number of the participants as well as the panelists. Um and so um what I thought I would see would be people who would have on things like, you know, blazers and slacks, um, skirt suits and cardigans, you know, jazzy tops and nice bottoms, um, you know, some um, you know, professional pumps, um nice flat shoes, maybe some loafers, anything that represent your standard business attire. And I didn't really see a lot of that. What I did see was a lot of um, you know, jeans and foot flops, um, hoodies, sweatshirts, and um very much disappointed and very much um disheartened to see that, right? Because this was a professional event where you had um a number of uh professionals from various fields. Um, and the institution that it was held at was a higher education institution. So really disappointed to see that individuals um didn't put a lot of stock in how to dress for this particular event. And um, and so I walked around, you know, sort of, you know, going through my day, you know, as part of registration, you know, meeting people, greeting people, having conversations, and then sitting at workshops and just sort of navigating through the day. And a lot of folks approached me because they thought that I was a panelist. They thought I was a panelist because of the way that I presented, right? And the way that I showed up at the event. Um, and so I had to explain on probably five or six occasions that I was not a panelist, that I was an attendee just like them. And um, they were shocked. And so um, lesson there, make sure that when you are going to an event, even if it'sn't if it isn't for um, you know, a job or you're not necessarily networking for a new opportunity, but you're going for growth and development, do your due diligence and make sure that you are dressing the part. Because again, the moment that you step into um, you know, the organization, the arena, folks are going to be looking at you. And before you say, hello, my name is your outer appearance, your professional package, it's going to speak for you. And you wanted to say, again, I am serious, I am professional, I respect this space, I respect you, and I respect myself, right? And so that goes back to having standards and really having good old-fashioned values, right? You know, um, dressing well is a part of your own personal value system, right? How you see yourself, how you believe in yourself, how you want people to see you, how you want people to treat you, right? Um, I'm sure it was pretty embarrassing for um a number of the panelists that were, you know, around me when people were coming to me asking me if I was going to be a part of the program. And here they were, um, you know, standing alongside me and no one is talking to them, you know, because they don't know that they're a panelist, right? So making sure that you understand where you're going and you want to make sure that you convey the right messaging in your professional attire. When I think about mastering professional presence and building a polished image, I think about the starting point, and that is building a polished wardrobe. Your wardrobe is key, right? Um, and so that's where you're gonna start. You're gonna start in your closet with your wardrobe. Um, and let me just say this: this by no means is your invitation to go out and to spend a lot of money on high-end clothes because you think that, you know, spending money on high-end clothes is gonna make you look better, perform better. No. This is about finding the right pieces to add to your closet, right? Finding the right pieces to have variety in your closet and being able to um pull from different pieces and be able to plug and play and go to any event, whether it is a happy hour, whether it is a professional meetup, or you are going to um, you know, a job interview and you're a little bit fuzzy on the details of the organization, right? And I'll say this. Um, when we talk about the the money factor, right? The money factor. Um, I remember back in my days of doing television news, um, I was out reporting the news in the street. I was on the desk anchoring. I was chasing, you know, five-car pile-up down the highway. But you couldn't tell me, honey, at the time that I was not fabulous and I was not bringing it in the wardrobe department. Um, and I wasn't spending a lot of money, right? I wasn't spending a lot of money because I didn't have it to spend. Um, you know, my first job in television news was fresh out of college and I was living at home with my mom and I was making peanuts. Peanuts. So I was bringing home very little money every two weeks. And so I didn't have the funds to spend on high-end luxury clothes. Um, but what I did do was find cost-effective stores that were in budget, right? Um, that aligned to my resources, and I was able to find blazers, I was able to find slacks, um, cardigans, dresses. I wanted to make sure that as a television news journalist, that I looked apart, right? Um, because for me, growing up, um, you know, the standards that were already set, you know, looking at the women on the view, looking at Barbara Walters, looking at Oprah Winfrey, right? The television journalist um looked a certain way, the television anchor. And again, very polished, um, beautiful image that's built, very professional, um, from head to toe. The standard is, you know, um, beautiful jewelry, earrings, blazer, dresses, whatever they were wearing, they owned it, right? And then they mastered that professional presence and they had already sort of built that polished image that we're talking about. So that was the standard. And so I, you know, built my packaging around my budget, right? But you couldn't tell me, honey, that I wasn't fabulous. You couldn't tell me that I wasn't fabulous, and you know, that I didn't look the part or didn't dress the part because I wanted to be taken seriously, right? And I wanted to show that, you know, I was serious, I was confident, that I respected the space, I respected my industry. That's a nugget. I respected my industry enough to um to wear the appropriate attire to align with that industry. And that's major. Mastering professional presence and building a polished image. One of the things I learned going from TV to OD the hard way, um, is that each and every industry has its own um style, right? Its own style, its own standard, its own professional business attire, right? Own presentation. And that's something that, you know, you are going to have to spend a lot of time, you know, understanding if you are um heading into your first job, making a transition, if you're going from architecture to um, you know, academia, you want to make sure that you understand the style, right? The professional attire, um, the requirements in those industries. Um, because I will say this um making my transition or making the pivot from TV to OD, I had to do a like an entire change. My wardrobe at the time, you know, was filled with, you know, um orange and pink and blue and yellow and green suits, right? Floral dresses and things of that sort. Um, because, you know, what we believe in the television business is that color makes the presence kick on camera. And the camera loves color, right? And so um, you know, all of the things that I had um that I would wear in the television news business, I couldn't wear in organizational development. Um, case in point, you know, I go in the early days of making the transition to interview for positions that were um in OD, and I'd be in some cases overdressed, right? Overdressed, and maybe my suits were a little bit too bright or too festive for the occasion. Because, you know, I'd be maybe in a pink or blue suit, and then the panel have on, you know, black, brown, navy blue, and so it's huge contrast, right, from um, you know, the interviewee to the panelist, right? So you want to make sure that you do your homework to understand your industry. Um, but in terms of having that polished look, you want to make sure that you have staples in your closet, like, you know, a series of blazers, um, you know, black, blue, navy blazers. Um, want to have, you know, um a set of slacks right in your closet to go to different events. Um, making sure that you have um, you know, dresses, cardigans that you can use um to throw on, you know, a dress if you're going to, you know, a happy hour event and you know that someone might be there that you are interested in speaking with. You want to have a lot of staples in your closet that you can sort of plug and play with that are fit truly for any occasion. Here's a bonus for ladies um the little black dress. I first heard about the value of a little black dress um my first year out of Howard University, and I was working in television news. And I read a book by um Monique Greenwood called Having What Matters. And um she outlined essentials um for women at the time, um, career women, what you should have. And she talked about the importance of a little black dress. A little black dress can take you from nine to five, five to 10 p.m. in any event. And so um, what I know to be true, what I know for sure, is that little black dress has tons of value and it can take you from any event from um the panel interview to the networking session to the happy hour. It's all in how you choose to wear it and how you choose to rock it. You can um add a cardigan, you can add a blazer, you can add a brooch, you can dress it up or down, any way you want. And so back then, um, because I talked a bit about budget and resources earlier, um, I don't know that I had too many little black dresses. I think I maybe had maybe one at the time. Now, I probably have about 12. And so uh a little black dress 12 for every occasion because again, they can take you from morning to evening, um, any event activity. The little black dress, ladies, is your friend. Let's say you don't know about the organization, then what do we do? We do our homework, right? Um, doing homework is essential for um job opportunities, interviews, for networking, professional opportunities. Do your homework. Um, if you can, right, and you are going through the process with um the hiring manager in an organization and they are getting you prepared for an interview. They're in a scheduling process. And if you don't know, be comfortable asking the questions because it's better to ask the question and be prepared than to show up overdressed, right, or underdressed. You want to make sure that you have on the appropriate attire for the panel that you'll be sitting with. And that is super important. And so a lot of times, trust me, they are going to thank you because you did take the time to ask the question. Because again, the interview process is really a two-way process. You want to understand the organization and they want to understand you. Um, they're mutual benefits. They want to hire you for your skill set and you want the position. So don't feel as though you can't ask questions about the wardrobe. You want to make sure that you have on the appropriate attire because trust me, if you show up um being underdressed, they're gonna frown on that and you probably won't get the job. Um, and what I'll say is this um probably over a decade ago, um, when I was transitioning from TV to OD, I was interviewing for a position with um an organization and their mission is to focus on wild places. And so what I knew, because I was learning, right? Learning lesson learned, um, that I needed to put a lot of value in understanding how to dress for this interview, wanted to make sure that I had on the appropriate attire. And so, what did I do at this stage in the game? And I am desperately trying to make a pivot. I sent the hiring manager a series of questions. Is it business attire? Is it business casual? Like, what is the attire? Um, and she wrote back and said there we're more business casual, and then I work from there. So didn't show up with a television news suit on, um, looking super out of place and awkward. I showed up in the appropriate attire and I landed the job. So again, these are real insights, practical advice, and winning strategies based on my own career. So I'm telling you things that have actually worked for me. If you do not know, be sure to do your homework, do a little bit of digging into that company and look at how, look at how they work when they're in workshops, when they're in learning and development opportunities, look at how they play when they're in happy hour, um, when they're doing retreats, right? You know, and the way that you want to, you know, master professional presence and build a polished image, you know, check out the organization. You know, do they have the same value system as you? You know, you know, can you see yourself working in the organization where they may not dress, you know, dress up, right? Can you see yourself working in an organization where um, you know, it's business casual that might not be a good fit for you, but again, you won't know until you do that research. Mastering professional presence and building a polished image requires you to do a lot of prep work, right? Prep work. I think a lot of times we focus on our interview, our resume, um, you know, mapping our uh conversation, our responses to questions back to our resume. And we are um filling our minds with um the narrative, how is this story going to play out for the interview? How is this story going to end? And ultimately it's gonna end with you getting a job, right? Um, but you want to make sure that a part of the prep work, um, focusing again on you, this concept of mastering professional presence and building a polished image. From the moment that um I start looking into an organization that I want to partner with, that I want to work with, um, I'll start to think a bit about like how my how my brand fits in with this organization because you are merging your brand, right, with their brand. You're merging your professional, your personal brand with their brand. And you want to make sure that, you know, sometimes you, again, we talked about finances, you don't have the finances to completely do a re-org, right, in your wardrobe, right? So you want to make sure that wherever you land is somewhere where you feel comfortable. And doing that prep work, you've done your homework, but also now, once you get to the place where you are preparing to go into the office or even um connect with someone virtually, making sure that you've done your due diligence and you are practicing the art of mastering professional presence. And building a polished image. And in the day that we live in now with so much incredible technology, I would encourage you to record yourself, right, in the ensemble that you plan to wear for your interview for this big event, just to see if, in fact, uh, judge yourself. Would you hire you? Would you hire you? Do you look polished? Do you look as if you are serious, confident, you respect yourself, you respect your organization? Do you feel polished? Right. These are the questions that I would ask you to ask yourself ahead of any any discussions, any career discussions. Making sure that you do your due diligence and you help yourself by sitting in front of a camera and, you know, whatever you choose to wear, are you comfortable, right? Are you comfortable when you sit? You know, are you comfortable, you know, speaking about your accomplishments, selling yourself, asking the right questions, right? Engaging with the panelist. Um, because I tell you, nothing is worse than getting in front of a team and um you have not done your due diligence and you are wearing something in an interview where you have had difficulty driving to the interview. Come on now. Driving to the interview, getting out of the car, you're fumbling around, you're moving your pants around, you're trying to get your jacket adjusted. It's a horrible feeling. And then when you're sitting in front of the team, it's even worse because you're sitting there, you're uncomfortable, you may be, you can't breathe, right? Can't breathe, you're sitting, you're tight, you've got these facial expressions happening. And here's the deal if you feel uncomfortable, they notice. They notice because if it's two or more people, trust me, they're all looking at different dimensions, they're assessing various different factors about you, what you're saying, what you're doing, your eye contact, um, all of your mannerisms, they notice. So want to make sure that you feel comfortable. Um, you know, life happens. I know in the pandemic, um, many of us, including me, gained a few pounds in um, you know, the pandemic. The pandemic got many of us in trouble, got many of us in trouble um with regards to our weight and our wardrobe. Um, and I know for me personally, many of um the clothes that I wore to the client site and to my consulting firm pre-pandemic, I was not able to wear after the pandemic. And that's because um I gained a lot of weight, right? Glained a lot of weight. Um, and um I remember for me, my tagline was I baked my way through the pandemic. I baked my way through the pandemic. Honey, I was in here making uh blueberry cobblers and strawberry cobblers and all kinds of casseroles, and I was baking a new dish each and every week. Well, it caught up with me. And so caught up with me real bad. And so for me, I had to put a lot of time now, right? Obviously, into exercising. But the the the point here is a lot of the things that I wore to the client site and to my consulting firm, I could not wear after the pandemic. And so it would have been horrendous of me to go out and and sit in front of, you know, my clients, to have debrief sessions, um, and feel uncomfortable and not being able to um fully communicate, be, you know, uh be aware, alert because I'm focusing on how I feel, I'm uncomfortable. Um make sure that you put the time in to check to see what you're wearing. Because if you are, again, if you're seated and you can barely breathe and you're gasping for air and um you look distressed, they're gonna see that you're distressed. Um, and so the two factor, for me, the two factor, T-O-O factor, is um, you know, you've got too much, you know, like hanging out of your jacket, your pants, and then we're trying to um, you know, button up a blazer or a cardigan, and then we have, you know, too much hanging out. So just be mindful of um, you know, the things that you're wearing when you are in front of professional groups. Um, and just again, if you if you've gained weight, make sure that you are doing your due diligence and um getting some new stuff um that's affordable and you're taking the sizes up. Mastering professional presence and building a polished image in the workplace or any setting. Um, what's key to this is good grooming. Good grooming. A polished image without good grooming is a disaster, a disaster waiting to happen, right? Um, again, when we talk a bit about doing the prep work and recording yourself, um, seeing how you look, how you present, are you comfortable in your ensemble? Make sure that you spend a lot of time focusing on um, you know, hair, skin, and nails. Again, um, folks want to work with people who look polished, they look clean, and then they are presentable, right? It's about your full package, your presence. And again, knowing that um what you're not saying, what you're not communicating is, you know, it's sort of transmitting through your clothes. They're reading everything about you, what you're saying, what you're wearing. Um, good grooming matters, right? Um, I am natural. I've been natural for um well over a decade now. And so I, from season to season, will rotate my hair between doing um a blowout like this, or I'll do flat twist. And so, but when I do flat twist, um I want to make sure that when I'm going out to um any networking, any professional event, or I'm sitting on an interview panel, that um I have, you know, I've brushed my hair, it looks clean, it looks presentable, it looks polished. Same thing for fingernails, right? Um, everyone doesn't have to have um, you know, clear polish or any polish, but just make sure that again, your hands look really well. Um many of us are expressive. We talk to their hands, and so again, all these are things that, you know, the panel um and other folks are focusing on. So just want to make sure that from head to toe, you're presenting a polished package, right? The key to generating sparks is dress for the job you want. Dress for the job you want, right? That's the key to generating sparks. Making sure that you are walking into the room, owning the room just with your presence. You want folks to say, wow, Don has that, it's that it factor, that wow factor, that spark factor that they can't put their hands on. Want to make sure that long before you open your mouth and you introduce yourself, you're generating sparks just with your wardrobe, just with your presence, just with your energy. Saying, I respect your space, I respect you, I respect myself, I'm confident, I'm serious, and I want this position. Here's your first spark factor action item. Select an ensemble, conduct a rehearsal, and record yourself doing an interview. Good luck. I'm rooting for you. That does it for this edition of Spark Talks. And remember, when you look good, you feel good. When you look good, you feel good. Stay polished, stay looking good. We'll see you next time.