Moore Style - From Scrubs to Power Suits—The Image Secret Every Leader Must Know!

Starting point is 00:00:00 The health care crisis of patient safety is the third leading cause of death. There's a topic in the literature called failure to rescue, and this is where the nurses don't recognize a patient beginning to deteriorate. And that deterioration begins 6 to 24 hours before an unplanned cardiac arrest. So there's time to intervene. My mission is to help save patients' lives, and I do that with education. So the faster I can do that, maybe that's a life that would not have been saved if they didn't have the information that I did. You're listening to MoreStyle, a podcast to help you transform your image and transform your influence.

Starting point is 00:00:45 Hi, if you don't know me, my name is Celeste Moore. I'm a certified image consultant and I help entrepreneurs and C-suites discover and master their own unique style so that they can command any room that they walk in. Today, I have a guest with me. Her name is Dr. Julie Seamers, and she's not only a doctor, she's my mom. So this is a special, special podcast. I want to bring her on for a couple reasons, because not only is she a recent TEDx speaker, she is an author. She is a nurse for over 40 years.

Starting point is 00:01:19 She is a patient safety expert. She is trying to help save patients' lives. I am so excited and honored to have her on the stage, but we're not just talking about those particular things. She has transitioned from being a nurse for 40 years into the world of entrepreneurship. And so I know a lot of people transition in their careers, and I'm here to help you do that. But we're going to get firsthand experience and knowledge from Dr. Julie Samer. So please welcome. Thank you, Mom, for being on the show today.

Starting point is 00:01:51 Thank you for having me. So tell me a little bit about what was the decision maker for you to actually transition from being an educator, you know, first you were a nurse, then you went into education, and then to really say, like, F it, I'm going into the world of entrepreneurship, because that's scary. Yeah, it is. But when I was researching for my doctoral degree and found the health care crisis of patient safety, it's the third leading cause of death. I wrote a book to help patients and their families understand what it's like to be in the hospital and what questions to ask. And the seed just kept growing. I thought, I've got to do more. I've got to do more. And I know that nurses today aren't getting the education that they did years ago. So I started creating courses for nurses in the hospital. And then, you know, the advocate, the patient advocacy, the patient and their family, how to help them navigate the world of health care and communicate. So it was just something that I have to do. I didn't have an option, meaning my heart was just so full and so strong about this is the next phase of my life. I love that you're doing this, and so many people do, and they're so grateful for you actually taking action and being the voice of patients and their families. What did you find most difficult into transitioning from, let's say, you get paid every week to maybe not knowing when you get paid? That's a good question. To me, it's not about the money. And I have spent a lot of money building the business, building the courses, getting help from a virtual assistant to help with social media

Starting point is 00:03:45 posts, etc. But for me, it was more about how can I be most effective? Because I'm not a spring chicken anymore. And I hope to live another 60 years. But I knew time was of the essence. And it really is, how can I be most efficient and most effective to get this message out to the world? So I just kind of jumped in with both feet. I joined a mastermind. As you know, we did that together. I hired a business coach just to enhance my journey to how to get to where I want to be in spreading this message. In the fastest time as possible. Yes. I sense the urgency that I hadn't had or seen from you before in your past career. Yeah, that's true.

Starting point is 00:04:32 And what do you think that urgency is? My mission is to help save patients' lives, and I do that with education. So the faster I can do that, maybe that's a life that would not have been saved if they didn't have the information that I did. And so that is the vision and the mission in my heart that keeps me motivated to work right now, 16 hours a day, do whatever it takes, right? Yes, I understand. And there is an urgency for so many reasons. And I see that and I'm excited for you. I see the passion and the love and the caring that you have in your heart and it resonates. And if you guys don't know about her book, I'm going to put it in the show notes, but it's Surviving Your Hospital Stay, A Nurse Educator's Guide to Staying Safe and Living to Tell About It. Yeah, she said it better than I could have. So I gave her the floor for that. And I one of the other reasons I want to bring her on the show, and I think maybe you're like, why is this woman on the show today?

Starting point is 00:05:42 Um, not only because she is transitioning into like a new career, but like, how do you show up in a career that you wore scrubs for 40 plus years? So talk to me about what that's been like. Talk to me about like what that was to not know. And then we'll talk about what it is to for you to have really mastered that. I went from wearing scrubs and then I had a flight suit on for 10 years. I was a flight nurse on the helicopter. And then I went into nursing education. So that transition was I needed to look business professional, but I had no idea what to wear. I had my jeans that I wore at home and then my uniforms before that. And so honestly, with your help, I was able to start to put pieces together. But this year, especially has amped up and ramped up that I now feel like I show up as my best self. What was that process for you? Can you like talk to people here? Like, what is what did that even mean? Like, how did I help you? Can you give that a little bit more in detail what that looks like? So color analysis was the first part that we did together. And I thought I was wearing the right colors, but I had the wrong undertone going on. So I was wearing warm colors and I had highlighted my hair. So it was like almost blonde. And obviously I'm not today. And I just felt, I don't know, old. That's the way I just felt like I felt young in my heart and my body. But I didn't feel like I looked how I felt on the inside. And so getting the color correct was the first thing. And then when, pardon me, when we did the body analysis, I was like, wait, I have long legs? But compared to my torso, yes, I do. I'm only five foot two. And I was like, well, what do I even wear? Yeah.

Starting point is 00:07:40 So that was amazing. what was a discovery for you like when you was it an aha was it helpful was it like okay now I know how to dress myself now I know how and what to do so that I can deliver my message I mean talk to me a little bit about that yeah in the beginning I wore off the rack um and you know tried to buy quality but it was really I was going through my wardrobe for the last couple years and pitching things that I had bought because they just didn't go together that well. And now that I've been working with you, I have a capsule wardrobe. I've got colors that go together. I've got mix and match things, which was amazing. And so obviously in the long run,

Starting point is 00:08:23 that's going to save a lot of money. But I have the confidence now that I can show up in a boardroom or meet with executives and feel like I've got credibility, that I've got the trust by how I appear and how I show up. I do have the knowledge. I've been, obviously, as you said, studying this for a very long time. And so I've got that part, but I didn't have the other part that gave me the credibility and the confidence to walk into those boardrooms and meet with C-suites. And now I do. So happy. So we're here in Miami for a speaker school this weekend. And my mom has spoken on a TEDx stage, which is huge. And she even got like, you know, had the suit on, had her colors, like she walked on that stage. She didn't only look confident,

Starting point is 00:09:18 but she felt confident. And even from this last speaker school, I can just truly see you shining and being and living authentically you and you are just still like excelling and excelling but I feel like you're just so in a place that's you and comfortable have you always felt like that no in fact never really until recently this past year it was always like I was struggling to find even unconsciously or subconsciously to find what you called my authentic self and it was interesting when we did the body analysis and the color analysis and the personality. You're obviously extroverted. You've got high energy. You bring such a vibration, high energy, good vibe wherever you go. And I'm more, you know, stand to the side and just observe,

Starting point is 00:10:17 which is just my personality. But I have been, as you said, able to confidently speak with people now that I feel my best. And it's just been when I feel like my inside matches my outside, it just has given me the confidence and the presence, the centeredness of just owning who I am and what I do and what I want to change in the world. And I like that you brought up our personalities because personality DNA is actually very, very important in what I do. And it's okay to be that. And yeah, maybe I'm a little loud and brash and stuff sometimes. And you're like, Oh, it's less like quiet, you know, and you are more introverted and quiet and softer. And that's the beautiful thing

Starting point is 00:11:12 when, you know, you go through the processes of finding out who you are and your style and your colors. And knowing that and it just you're able to confidently show up now and be like, it's okay for me to be who I am. I don't have to match Celeste's energy or other person's energy. And you're still like, I think it's really created this. The knowing has created the confidence for you. Yes, that is true. Yeah. So what is next for you? Other? I mean, talk to me about like, what are you doing right now? As an entrepreneur, we talk about you're saving patients' lives, but like, what does that look like? You know, this has been a year, this last 12 months of connecting. And before that, my world was really raising my family, my kids, you know, my job.

Starting point is 00:12:03 But this year in the entrepreneur world, I've been able to meet fascinating people, people from all different types of businesses, different walks of life. And I really feel like my world has expanded. And just I've been able to meet incredible people and be open to learning new things. Because that's the other thing about being an entrepreneur. It was a really steep learning curve for me. You know, some of the things did not come easy. You remember this, when I first was told by my business coach to do TikToks, I'm like, no, I'm not a 14-year-old girl dancing. That's not me. But he's like, you know, your book sits on the shelf in Amazon. Amazon, and not that many people know about it, but on TikTok, you can give the same message

Starting point is 00:12:45 like every day if you want to about, you know, how to advocate for your family members. And so Madeline, my granddaughter, Celeste's daughter, helped me as, oh, it was 10 o'clock at night. I'd be, Maddie, I can't figure this out. And so she'd hear like, Nana, let me fix it for you. Probably for a good month till I was able to do it by myself. And if my passion for what I'm trying to do wasn't so strong, I would have just said, screw it. I'm not doing this. And I'm glad I did. Because what does your TikTok look like today? I think I have about 6,600 followers in the last six months. And yeah, I'm reaching people that I would not have reached before. I get people asking me for advice, people commenting, telling me about their experiences

Starting point is 00:13:32 in healthcare. And I've actually made a few friends on there. I've got a nurse friend who said, oh, you got to watch this video. And I learned something by doing that as well. So it's been fun. Yeah, I never thought I would say that. I personally don't even have that many followers on TikTok. It's just not my social media platform. And I just haven't taken the time to really, you know, put that investment in and you have and it shows. And I'm so grateful that you have that you're building that community of awareness. Because I think, right, what is the first step of saving these patients' lives. Yeah, it is awareness.

Starting point is 00:14:08 We talked about that yesterday when I was giving my talk in front of our speaking group. Awareness is key because if you're not aware, then you don't even take the first step to become informed or become educated. When you learn what things

Starting point is 00:14:22 you don't want to happen to you or the positive side, how can you speak up for your family members? Yeah. And then there's something that you keep not speaking about. Like, what else are you doing? What else is your focus right now? I absolutely want to speak to large audiences. Is that what you're referring to?

Starting point is 00:14:45 Nope. But I'll ask it in a different way. What do you hope to bring to hospitals? I created courses for nurses because I saw during my research back in 2009, there's a topic in the literature called failure to rescue. And this is where the nurses don't recognize a patient beginning to deteriorate. And that deterioration begins 6 to 24 hours before an unplanned cardiac arrest. So there's time to intervene. And so that's what I started teaching my students. And then I realized I can't teach one by one or even a class of 30 students, you know, over and over again. but it really is about how do I educate and put these courses into every single hospital to

Starting point is 00:15:33 sometimes re-educate, but sometimes just even educate about, I'll give you an example, the respiratory rate of a patient is the most sensitive and earliest indicator of beginning deterioration. And then we also know that 80% of nurses don't even count the respiratory rate, they just make up a number. So right there, they're missing the opportunity to catch that patient early. So what is that going to look like for you once you get this in hospitals? Well, I have 19 courses finished right now. I've got another four that should be done this month. I've got about 44 planned. So it takes a while in production, but I wanted it to be quality. I wanted it to be engaging. Each course is an hour and the nurse gets a continuing education

Starting point is 00:16:20 unit. But the idea is to take this to the C-suites, you know, the chief executive officer, the chief nursing officer, the chief quality officer, and say, I know you care about your patients and I know that you want your patients to have good outcomes, not just because you get better reimbursements, but because you really are in the caring business of helping people. For them to see the value in if we educate our nurses, then they're going to be able to take better care of our patients and therefore we'll have better outcomes and we'll change the landscape of health care safety. That's really, really big. And like you're going to be the catalyst for something and the recognition, too, from, you know, you give this prime example when

Starting point is 00:17:09 you talk about, you know, airplanes and crashes and the FAA and all the things that they have to go through. And there's no actual board or anybody to hold, maybe board's not the right word, but there's no accountability for medical doctors or nurses when they actually are killing patients. And nobody plans on hurting a patient. I mean, it just is a systems error that we need to fix. Right. But you're right. You know, we have the National Transportation Safety Board for any airline event. When the door blew off, you know, the 737, there was a whole investigation, which was great. They figured out what the problem was. Last month, when the military

Starting point is 00:17:51 helicopter crashed with American Airlines and killed 67 people, there was a big investigation, as there should be. But you're right. We don't have a national patient safety board. We don't have anywhere for people to go right now and to say, figure out why this happened to my mother so it doesn't happen to anybody else. So that's part of my really big mission, too. Yeah. Well, I can see you accomplishing it day after day. And I see your hard work. And I think we've been able to take out the thing that maybe you didn't have the full confidence and not not from your message, not from the things that you know, inside and out. Um, but like showing up on the stage, showing up for those C-suite meetings, like that is going to, because you have your colors and your style and your confidence, you're going to dial in your message before you even open your mouth. And so what are some of the colors that you, we didn't do a lot of custom suits for you

Starting point is 00:18:54 Because not only is custom perfect fit is professional, the right colors are professional, the right fabric sends messages. But when you have something that's created perfectly for you, there's nothing that feels better than wearing a custom suit. But what are some of the colors that we or that you got for for different situations? I had to do a whole wardrobe purge of my old colors. And I said to Celeste, what am I going to wear? So, yes, we did get my new color wheel and went shopping and then ordered some suits. So this brown is a cool chocolate, which matches my cool undertones. What does that mean? Do you know? yes i think i've learned so it's either cool or warm and i thought i was warm no no that's not what i meant i'm sorry do you know what when i when i'm talking about like when would you wear brown versus another color do you know i did try to pick colors that were trust building that were

Starting point is 00:20:07 friendly that were um professional looking so i think i have three blue suits but they're different shades of blue. I've got a grayish blue. I've got my color of navy, which is probably the color in between your suit and that chair. Because that is, again, why healthcare and banks and whatever use blue quite a bit. Yeah. Build that trust. Yes. Yeah. No, I love that. And we're very strategic with creating the looks and the colors because they are sending that message of trust and credibility and approachability. And, you know, brown is a great color for all of that too. So, um, because getting your message, just like anybody else in any entrepreneur world, C world, you know, C world, C sweet world, um, dialing in your message before you open your

Starting point is 00:21:01 mouth, because images currency is truly going to be a game changer because your message is so important we want to make sure that you are just like landing it landing it every time and that is one reason why i took that i really wanted you on here today not only to hear about your life's purpose and your mission but like how working with me has helped you really start to build that momentum i honestly don't know where i'd be if i hadn't worked with you i would be still struggling trying to find my style, my colors, my personality, my authentic self, really. And this has been truly a game changer for me. I don't have to think about it anymore. I just go to my closet and yep, this is what I'm going to wear today. Yeah, I see that in the last little while. So it's been

Starting point is 00:21:51 really awesome and amazing. And you're a true testament to humanity. And I love you. I love you too um is there anything you want to talk to the audience about that maybe i missed you know i was just going to tag on to your comment about what you wear you know i was in a different speaker group and somebody in the group was getting ready for their tedx stage and she had these sparkly silver pants on and she's like help me pick the top and of course i didn't weigh in but i wanted to say don't even wear the pants because that's what people are going to look at they're not going to listen to her message. And so you've helped so many people with understanding that piece of it. But I think, you know, yes, it's an investment, but oh my goodness, it's like the best investment

Starting point is 00:22:40 I've ever made. As I said, I just don't have to think about it. And I feel confident. I feel like my best self. And I just feel ready to go when it's time to go. And I can step on that stage wherever it is next to deliver my message and know that I'll be taking seriously and know that people can trust me. Yeah. I'm so excited for you. And I can't wait for you to change the world because you are, you already are doing it. And so I wanted to come on here for multiple reasons. I wish I could talk medical all day, but, but, you know, it's about, you know, image and it's all plays in together, though. And it's, it's good to hear from someone that made such a huge transition in their career, that it's possible to really like dial in your personal brand and

Starting point is 00:23:33 show up as your authentic self and make shit happen. Yeah. Well, you know, even at our speaker school, people are like, when they heard your message and what you do, and more in depth of what that does, they were like, I need your help. And I think everybody does most everybody. I did not go in for those intentions. Honestly, it was just to work on, you know, working on my speech because, you know, I guess people want to hear what I have to say. Yes, they do. Well, where can people buy your book, find out more about you, TikTok, whatever you want to share with the audience today? So my website is drjulieseemers, that's S-I-E-M-E-R-S dot com. And those are all my socials as well, drjulieseemers. And then my book's on Amazon,

Starting point is 00:24:15 But it's also there's a link on my website, again, surviving your hospital stay and really just intended to help people navigate this crazy health care system a little bit better. Awesome. Well, thank you for coming on the show today. Thank you for having me.

Moore Style - From Scrubs to Power Suits—The Image Secret Every Leader Must Know!

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