What's in a name?

What is in a name? It's a famous question asked by William Shakespeare in the play Romeo and Juliet, and it's a very important one that I asked myself a lot as the relaunch of AVE Styles approached. A couple months ago, a close friend of mine challenged me by asking me what is most memorable about my style or my personality. Nothing came to mind, which took my brain to the dangerous place of comparison land where I thought about other stylists in the business easily identifying and communicating their unique style (edgy, shabby chic, vintage, etc). Even days later, I realized that I don't have a specific style I completely align with. Rather, I appreciate ALL styles. I love working on projects that showcase variety and range. I love wearing ultra feminine clothes to tomboy clothes. At first when I came to this realization, I felt like I wasn't good enough because I didn't have one major unique thing. But after some soul searching, I thought, "To hell with that! I am who I am!" My appreciation for many styles, my ability to art direct and style projects that that run the gamut of fashion is what makes me who I am and unique. Not everyone can say the same thing.

So, let me introduce you to me - to Alex. I am an honest soul. I value authenticity, justice and hard work. I am a go getter, a natural networker and I thrive on bringing people's vision to life through my curatorial eye and ability to style people well. I love to laugh. I love to sing, I love to help people feel alive and experience this world's beauty. I dream often.

I have been married six and a half years to Ryan. I have a golden doodle named Wendy (pictured below). I am a mom to  sweet and spunky Elle. I enjoy living in Phoenix, Arizona. I don't like beets and liver, but I'll eat and try anything else. I am Greek, Italian and Irish. I'd say the stereotypes of my cultures remain true. I am loud. I am emotional. I am stubborn. But, I love life. I love good people and good food. I love to celebrate. I love to create. And, most of all, I love God.

Visit again tomorrow to meet another side of me that you didn't know before.

Photo by Gina Meola. Makeup by Stephanie Neiheisel. Hair by Kim Cornwell. Styling by Alex Evjen, AVE Styles.

A New Chapter of AVE Styles

Today, I'm not only releasing a new website design, I'm releasing a new chapter of A.V.E. Styles. Over the past four years my business has evolved greatly as I have learned what areas of fashion styling I like, love and can't live without. I've also become a mother, let go of two other jobs that I was doing when I first launched my business, and found unexpected success as a tastemaker and social media influencer. The combination of these elements lead me to hire a business coach, Jess Lively, and re-ask important questions such as, "What does my heart beat for? Where do I see myself in ten years? What do I want to be when I grow up? What am I truly good at? Who do I want to work with?" After some serious soul searching, I have come to these answers...

• My heart beats for creating culture that reflects God's beauty and influencing people to see that beauty.
• I am and want to continue to be a fashion stylist and art director who helps make people's vision come to life right before their eyes
• I am gifted with a curatorial eye. I have a knack for knowing what people like and want to see more of. I am great at sharing and connecting people with others.
• I see myself now and in ten years working with stylish brands of all shapes and sizes to cultivate brand awareness through the creation of original and artful content and sharing it with the masses
• I want to work with men and women who are influencing culture in a meaningful way

Once I came to these answers, I realized that even though I thought I no longer had a passion for public relations and communications (what I studied in college and what I did for four years after school), I still do. I also realized that I particularly love styling and art direction for the purpose of creating images and film. I adore meeting with men and women in their homes and empowering them to find their personal style, but it doesn't get my brain spinning, my heart racing and leave me craving more as much as working with the camera.

So, here I go...Cheers to a new year, a new website, new services and knowing myself better than I ever have before! Happy 2014 everyone!

Photo by Gina Meola; Makeup by SN Makeup Artist; Hair by Kim Cornwell, Styling by Alex Evjen

A Thankful Heart

I'm so glad we have a holiday the makes us reflect on all that we are thankful for. There is a lot of selfishness in the world, but this is a holiday that should be anything but that. Of course, this idea of giving thanks should happen every day. I really do try to live my life that way, but I'm so happy to get to spend all day celebrating with family and a feast. I know that holidays are a hard time for many because they are reminded of what they have lost, but if you are reading this that means you are alive. That means that you are here on this earth for now and for a reason. I really do believe that with all my heart. I want you to know that I am thankful for YOU. I'm thankful for you taking one minute out of your day to read my words. It is truly an encouragement to me. You matter, you matter to many.

So, if you find yourself a loss for what to say you are thankful for, I guess start with the air you are breathing and you heart that is beating.

Image from I Heart Nap Time 

My Home Life

'Tis the season of family portraits and holiday cards. Though I'm a sucker for planned family photo sessions, this is my first year where I didn't book one. Instead, my friend Amy came over to take some photos of us just being a family in our home. I did use this occasion to wear a pretty dress, but other than that these photos were genuinely how you'll see us every day. She photographed Elle and I playing outside as we waited for Ryan to come home from work.

She photographed me making dinner for our family and sitting down to eat it.

While capturing all of those every day moments she also captured the tears, boogers and laughs. I'm so in love with these photos because one day I'll get to show Elle how life was really like back when she was one.

If you're interested in doing similar family sessions like this, please contact Ventola Photography.

Photos by Amy Hanen of Ventola Photography

Original Content Creation

Last week, I shared a brand film for Lone Flag, and in my post I mentioned that I would elaborate more on my decision to move to art direction and original content creation.

There's nothing I love more than creating beautiful imagery. I love it more than shopping for someone or rummaging through a closet. In fact, my love for creating beautiful images is truly what made me want to be a stylist. Since I don't live in the fashion capital of the world (pretty far from it, actually), I've become a jack of all trades in regards to styling. It sure has given me a load of experience, but it has also shown me what my heart beats for.

When this little thing called Pinterest was created and my following grew, tons of doors started to pop open with brands and magazines I had always dreamed of working with. I soon realized that my curatorial eye and my ability to know what men and women want was my unique strength. So, now here I am, a tastemaker and a stylist...Pretty cool, but this past spring I found myself struggling to figure out how to bridge the two together. I knew I always wanted to style original content for Pinterest campaigns, but no one was really buying the idea.

Flash forward to now, an original idea is SO valuable. And now more than ever people are using Pinterest to purchase things and dream about their future. Creating fresh content to increase brand awareness and go viral is a serious business, and it's the business I'm in. SOOooo...When my powers (styling and social media marketing) and Alejandra's powers (a cinematography and photography) combine...We are able to offer a one stop shop for brands to boost their presence through film, well-styled imagery and original content for their blogs, Instagram feeds and Pinterest accounts. Captain Planet needs to watch out!

Lone Flag was the perfect brand to work with because they knew their mission and their style, but being brand new they needed to get the word out. Follow their blog to see the original content Ale and I created and captured. You'll also see some of the pretty photos here in this post and on Ale's blog. If you follow me on Pinterest you'll also get to see more of our unique content. I hope you enjoy it, and I hope you check out Lone Flag's shop. They have AMAZING gifts for the holidays and every day.

Photography by Imaginale Design Art direction by AVE Styles