Moore Style - Unlock Your It Factor: How to Build Confidence and Celebrity Energy With Whitney Uland

Starting point is 00:00:00 Have you ever wanted to be famous? I think sometimes when I say that I'm a coach, I help people become famous. People, it's very polarizing and people are immediately like, I don't need to be famous. And I'm like, so how does someone tap into the it factor? So I think there's a big misconception that people think that you're either born with the it factor or you're not. Three things you could tackle how you would change Hollywood today.

Starting point is 00:00:21 Oh my God. Maybe that's too big of a question. Oh no, I'm like, that's exactly what I want to talk about. I will say this is a bold statement, but I don't think most people in entertainment understand social media and old Hollywood as well as I do. You're listening to More Style, a podcast to help you transform your image and transform your influence. Have you ever wanted to be famous? Well, today, I have Whitney Ulin with me today, and I'm so excited to get into what it is and what it takes to be that confident self that you've always wanted but didn't know

Starting point is 00:00:59 how. Thank you, Whitney, for being here today. Thank you so much for having me, and I love how you just even framed that about – I think sometimes when I say that I'm a coach, I help people become famous. It's very polarizing, and people are immediately like, I don't need to be famous, and I'm like, well, it's more about being embodied in yourself, and when you are in that magnetic energy that creates that can create fame but no matter what whether you're trying to be traditional famous or you just want to feel really confident in where you're working or things like that it's

Starting point is 00:01:29 it's all it's all part of it I love that and I can't wait to get into this more but I just want to let everybody know if you don't know who I am my name is Celeste Moore I'm a certified image consultant I help entrepreneurs master and discover their own unique style so that they can command presence on any stage. And sometimes that's a stage where it's really important. So let's get into that more with Whitney, the professional here. What would you say, what is celebrity energy? Yeah. So celebrity energy, it's the it factor. It's that intangible, it's the je ne sais quoi. It's like, so I was raised, I wasn't allowed to listen to a lot of like the radio or watch television, very conservative home. And so I don't really know who any celebrities are,

Starting point is 00:02:15 but I live in LA now. And whenever I walk into the grocery store or whatever, and there's a celebrity, I can just feel it. I'm just drawn magnetically to look at them because they have the it factor. And that's really the difference between the people who create fame is whether or not they have this, what I call celebrity energy that makes you magnetic to people. So how does someone tap into the it factor? And does everybody and can everybody. Yes. So I think there's a big misconception that people think that you're either born with the it factor or you're not. But I actually heard this fantastic story. This is kind of what set me off on this journey was that I heard about Marilyn Monroe when she was in New

Starting point is 00:02:52 York City. Her photographer has told this fantastic story about how Marilyn loved walking through the streets because people didn't recognize her in New York. And she felt like she could kind of just blend in. And one day she turned to the photographer's wife and said, do you want to watch me become her and they said I don't what what does that mean and then as if she flipped a switch all of a sudden cars were stopping people were recognizing her and all of a sudden she became embodied Marilyn Monroe and so that's really what kind of signaled in my head I was like okay so there's something if it can be turned on and off then maybe it could be learned as well and so yes it is actually something that we all have access to and what it actually is is a hyper present

Starting point is 00:03:29 state so what I mean by that is I my background is in acting and every actor knows you never want to do a scene with a dog or with a baby because they will what's called pull focus so everyone's you can be doing the best scene right you can be crying you can be like laughing hysterically whatever and everyone's just going to watch the dog and just watch the baby and it's because they're in and it's not just because they're cute it's because they're in this present state and truthfully it's when they're unafraid of being perceived so all of us have these fears that come up and you know past negative experiences and traumas and just our subconscious mind that has you know, perceived or imagined threats that make us feel unsafe and make us put up energetic walls

Starting point is 00:04:10 that keep us from being seen. Wow. That's powerful. Yeah. So if somebody comes to you and finds you, what are you, what are some of the steps you're coaching them through to, to pull this it factor out so that they can clearly be a famous actor? Yes. Yeah. So the, the main blocks kind of fall into three different categories. So the first one is going to be that your mind is afraid of the unknown. So if you think about the way that our brains have evolved, right? We've evolved from cavemen, cavewomen, ancestors, and their job, just stay alive. Like don't get eaten by a bear. Don't go, right? Make sure that you maintain the status quo. And so if your brain perceives you becoming famous, right? Like if we think about how we adapted in tribe communities, right? And we think

Starting point is 00:04:58 about that was you know maybe maybe a thousand people I don't know hundreds of people now if you go viral overnight you could have millions of eyes on you and like if we if you close your eyes and you picture a million people you literally can't right the most we can picture is like however we're at the arrows tour right so um the first thing is going to be the fear of the unknown the second thing is going to be a separation from community so if you perceive and you know every entrepreneur, every, you know, author, every writer, every actor, every, if you're making a difference in the world, right? You're going to have to stand out and you're going to have to say something brave and you're going to have to say something vulnerable. And it might upset people

Starting point is 00:05:37 in your real life. I know it upset my family when I started, you know, speaking out about what was important to me and what matters. And so our minds perceive that, right? And we have historically relied on our family, on our community for survival. And so our brains perceive becoming famous as being unsafe because it's going to cause that separation. And then the third thing is going to be past negative experiences. So if you've ever had, you know, you've failed in the spotlight, you've been embarrassed in front of, you know, your boss, or you were, people were jealous of you and they spread rumors about you. Anything that told you that being in the spotlight is dangerous, your subconscious mind is going to be like, oh, we're going to avoid that now. Let's

Starting point is 00:06:16 not do that again. So the process of coaching and of finding people's it factor is getting really clear, especially like in those three buckets, what's your mind trying to protect you from by putting up those walls, right? Like I used to live in Manhattan and when I was taking the subway late at night, if someone got on and they were, you know, let's say drunk and I was a little, their behavior was a little questionable and I couldn't get off the subway, I would just energetically close down. I would just want to become invisible because that was the best way that I could protect myself. So anytime that we see something as being threatening, we're going to just put up those walls and so the work is really it's almost like my clients say it's a it's a combination of like

Starting point is 00:06:57 church and therapy where it's like we're really just like getting into the weeds and being like okay like what is your brain trying to protect you from by putting these walls up and then walking walking through that yeah wow yeah i can imagine that people's walls are just because i understand that subway concept yeah 100 when i lived there i was like going home late at night and i'm just like, I'm going to make myself really, really small. Exactly. And so I imagine that they're like, okay, so once I tap into that it factor, I have this renowned, I don't know, would you call it confidence or is something more than confidence? Yeah. So I do differentiate. I think so many people also think that it is confidence, right? This magnetism. But again, it really is

Starting point is 00:07:41 just about being safe being seen for where you're authentically at so what I mean by that is you know if we watch actors who are really good at their craft they're not confident in the scene that we're drawn to watching they could be crying they could be you know going through whatever but because they're having a really valid experience they're in the present moment our brains as we're watching them we have mirror neurons and we we create a like synchronicity between their experience and ours. And we can't help but watch it. So you don't have to be happy. You don't have to be like, feel like you're better than anyone else. You don't have to put yourself on a pedestal. And I think that's what's so amazing about this is you just have to be willing to be seen vulnerably.

Starting point is 00:08:24 But that's scary. Yes. It's also really powerful. Really powerful. Yeah. Do you have a story about a client that has used the celebrity energy to close a big deal or a dream job? Yeah. Oh, God. I mean, I have the most fun job in the world because I work with celebrities and then I work with people who are creating their dream life and creating dream results. I mean, just this week I had a really fun win for one of my clients that made this shift. And it's so fun because I can see the – when she's creating content on social media, I can see the shift in her energy before and her energy after, right? And it's a very – it's very tangible to me. And I think anyone, but it's one of those things where we're like, I can't quite put a finger on why this is better, but this one is better kind of thing. And yeah, she just like, she tapped into it.

Starting point is 00:09:15 She tapped into her power, tapped into her authority and signed this huge, huge brand deal, which was really exciting for her. It was a dream client that she had been wanting to go after. But yeah, I mean, I help artists, creatives, influencers, entrepreneurs. So whether it's a dream client, a dream booking, a dream role, a dream job opportunity, speaking gig, the amazing thing that I don't think a lot of entrepreneurs realize is that fame is just the resource of having people's attention. And when you have that resource, you can leverage it into things that are meaningful to you. So once people care about you and you have their attention, you can then get a book deal.

Starting point is 00:09:55 You can get a speaking gig. You can sign clients. you can sign with an agent. Whatever it is that you want to exchange that attention for, it's really just a powerful tool. I would say it's arguably like almost as powerful as money, if not equally. Yeah. I love that. So do you think that for you just getting like the wins that you see because is that, do you see yourself back in the day, like when you were trying to go through this yourself? It's so funny because, yeah, I mean, I found all this work because I was just the most struggling actor. I could not get work. And I ended up finding the coaching tools and the

Starting point is 00:10:35 coaching because my dad passed away and I needed to turn to it for a place of healing. It was, I found life coaching and mindset work to be at that moment of my evolution more helpful than therapy. And I found though, when I worked on my mindset, my acting career started to like get some legs right and started to like get some traction and so and really just pulling all these pieces together and that was when I realized like oh the more safe I feel being perceived the more that I can feel embodied and just feel safe being seen vulnerably then that's when I signed with a top agency that's when you know I got a development deal that's when I booked a recurring role on HBO and all of the things just started to kind of click into place but it's interesting because

Starting point is 00:11:21 now as a coach, you know, I'm leveraging that skill that I have of turning heads into, you know, a social media following for my business. And so just watching how it's interesting, because I always say with creating this, it's new levels, new devils, there's different places, right? Where so it's like, I feel like I figured out how to turn it on when I'm, you know, writing a script, but doing it on social media was kind of that next step for me. And being able to be seen, you know, potentially by millions of people and which now I am. And, and it, but it's taken a lot of work to lay that foundation. I think we always think that we want attention or that we want fame, but the truth is our minds are afraid of holding it and we perceive it as being threatening. I mean,

Starting point is 00:12:03 it's why so many people feel uncomfortable when people sing happy birthday to them, right. Or like receiving a compliment, like no one can receive a compliment. Right. Um, I never understood that yeah and it's like do the same thing though yeah but it's it is it's inherently we feel like we could be taken advantage of if we get too comfortable right and we just receive love and that's what fame is and is just well it's potential for receiving love or receiving backlash yeah um and it's a it's a vulnerable spot to be in so it's been fun just kind of like in my own life being able to now turn that into my social media and now build build my business um helping other people do the same thing by being like the, I'm like so many of my clients make me sign NDAs. So

Starting point is 00:12:48 I'm like, I have to be the one to like show them like, I have to be the proof of my pudding, I guess. But that's okay. I'm the proof of my pudding as well. Totally. So it's like, you have to embody that just as much as your clients do. A hundred percent. Yeah. I mean, you understand it and that's what makes you so great at it because you can literally tap into that at any time and you understand you've gone through that and I think there's something so powerful with that I do too and I think there's something to be said for you know I've I've met so many celebrities now who have been fans of my work and they're like you articulated something I didn't realize I was doing and now I and they're like I didn't realize but that's like I've I've kind of been able to like

Starting point is 00:13:30 reverse engineer something that maybe came naturally to them and so then when they're feeling blocked at their next level or whatever it still is just about like turning up the dial and yeah I think sometimes you have to have started like for me I started really bad like like this was not natural for me and so I had to like learn all of the steps and and develop them but I think that's what makes me a good teacher of it yeah I mean we never just get off and I mean I guess there are some people that are very natural from a young age so I can't say that most people but most people in general need to do the things and practice and every day take the steps towards their big audacious goals. Totally. Yeah. Okay. So perfect question then. I have a

Starting point is 00:14:11 question. So Jim Carrey has spoken candidly about the challenges of fame, but he once said, I think everybody should get rich and famous and do everything they ever dreamed of so they can see that that's not the answer. I mean, is this quote Carrey's expressing the fame and wealth don't necessarily lead to happiness or fulfillment. So chasing fame might not be as fulfilling as people think. What are your thoughts on this? Yeah, a million percent it's true. I mean, even just on my own podcast this week,

Starting point is 00:14:42 for those of y'all listening, Celeste and I were talking before the show, I had this really great week in my business. I was in New York at an event and I was featured in Vogue and Daily Mag and OK Mag. And there was this story about how Sharon Stone was attacking me. Like it was just a big, a big week for me and my business.

Starting point is 00:15:01 And at the same time, I like a guy that I liked kind of dumped me. And like, like it just was a good and like my apartment literally flooded with sewage and I had to move all of a sudden on a dime. So I think it was just a reminder that like, yeah, you're going to like you can achieve fame is just a goal that you can create. Creating money is a goal you can create and you're going to get there. And there's different problems. if I'm honest I prefer these problems than the ones that I had before I mean maybe not the sewage

Starting point is 00:15:31 flood but yeah but like you know it's it's always going to be a trade-off I think life is 50 50 and there's you know there's new levels new devils so but I do think that the amazing thing about fame is once you create it then you I really do think that most people come to the desire for fame from a place of pain and from a place of hurting and from a place of needing attention and once you get fame and you realize that hole doesn't go away I think that that's actually where a lot of celebrities then that's where they turn to addictive behaviors and they turn to abusing substances and things like that because they've realized you know some of the most depressed clients that I have are the most successful ones because they're like oh this thing that I was

Starting point is 00:16:18 chasing because I thought it would fill the void didn't. And now I don't know what else is left to fill the void. And there, you know, and I think that's why there's such a big issue with suicide in our industry as well. And so I think that on the flip side, though, there is the opportunity to heal once you as you go through this process and as you heal those parts of you that didn't feel like you received love as a kid, didn't feel like you received attention. And then once you do as you heal those places then creating more fame purely just becomes about impact right like at this point I've already created more fame than and I'm not as famous as I could be right like I'm not on Jimmy Fallon yet um not yet we're getting there um but I like there still is so far that I

Starting point is 00:17:08 want to go and yet I've already blown my mind based off of where I came from and you know I I never thought that the things that I'm doing now would be possible. And now it's really like, yeah, it's kind of fun to be like, yeah, I'm going to be on Good Morning America one day and I'm going to be a New York Times bestseller and I'm going to win an Emmy. But I also don't like I know that the reason for it now is just because it's it's just like a fun game and because I get to impact people. And like I'm maybe there will come a time where I want less fame.

Starting point is 00:17:38 But the current amount that I have, I really enjoy and I like the community that I've built. it's really meaningful to me when I meet people, you know, and most of my audience is in Los Angeles. So they, I see them every day. Right. And, and just to be able to hear about how my work is impacting them is so meaningful to me. And I've, for me, it's, it's been a very reciprocal and loving experience. So I think those are kind of different. It just kind of depends on your motive, I guess. No, but I do love that. And I think you said something on social media the other day that really kind of like struck home. I mean, I only lived here for five years way back, you know, 2000s. And so I didn't, I got the experience, but nothing like you. And you talk

Starting point is 00:18:22 about like Hollywood basically needs, I don't know if it's a makeover, it needs to be rebuilt, needs to have like this whole new, you know, spin on, you know, positivity. And I think you're the person for that. Well, thank you. Yeah. I mean, what are some of the things that you would say like three things that you could tackle and how you would change Hollywood today? Oh my God. Maybe that's too big of a question. No, I'm like, that's exactly what I want to talk about. I think that the amazing thing about social media is that it's democratized who gets to have a voice. And I think that creators are able to show now that if you have something to say, and it's hard because you have to bet on yourself, right? With the old way that Hollywood was set up,

Starting point is 00:19:04 you had to have a bunch of gatekeepers green light your ideas. And if you're creating online, you have to say, I think what I'm making is good enough. I think what I have to say is good enough. And so it gives an opportunity for people who maybe, you know, come from marginalized backgrounds, come from trauma, come from a different perspective than what Hollywood has been made from. So I think that number one, I think that the gatekeepers right now don't realize the impact and the potential in social media and have not I I will say this is a bold statement but I don't think most people in entertainment understand social media and old Hollywood in the as well as I do and understanding that marketing piece um and how those worlds are blending I think people

Starting point is 00:19:52 still see them as very separate um so I think that that's that's one is just to kind of understand the power in it and to start utilizing the the creators second I mean you know I think that paying people fairly is is always a good place I would say so a good thing of paying people people equitably um and you know unfortunately like I think you know we've come so far got so far to go I've had my own experiences with being taken advantage of sexually on sets and I think that there's been a lot of progress with intimacy coordination um and things like that but I think in terms of creating safe spaces for artists I think that there's some room to grow yeah for sure and I and I ultimately do think though that that I mean listen this is obviously this is this

Starting point is 00:20:42 is by me being biased but I'm also like I don't know I kind of just think of more women were in charge I think that it would be a safer place thank you very much I 100% agree yeah enough Yeah, because and that's the thing that I've, you know, I've seen just in my, my experience, I'm really grateful the the festivals that I've been a part of as a filmmaker, and the artists that I've been able to work with have all been very focused on inclusion, diversity, representation, things like that. And every single person I meet is always, they felt like they kicked down a door. And now they're opening it up for other people. And I'm like more of those people, we need more of that. Right. um but it it really does like I I'm honestly enchanted I'm excited I'm optimistic based off of just the opera the community that I've built what I see online and the also you know I was a part of the I was the president of the junior Hollywood radio television society of America and even on that side I was the only creative in my cohort everyone else was an executive a junior executive and everyone there was an awesome person and wanted wanted Hollywood to be better

Starting point is 00:21:47 and wanted more, better voices to be at the forefront. So I'm optimistic, but that's just who I am. But we need more optimism too. Exactly. Yeah. You're right. And we need more people like us, like we talked about. Exactly. And I guess number four is they should just give me a show. Okay. Everybody, did you hear her? Give her a show. We're going to manifest that together. Let's do it. I love that so much. And if anybody, like I really do see you as a game changer. I do see the posts that you put on social media and I really feel your heart in it. And look, I'm not in this world, but I feel like that's missing. Thank you. I appreciate that. Yeah. All right. So this is a question from the audience. If I'm an entrepreneur listening to this right now and

Starting point is 00:22:33 I want to start taking action today towards becoming a celebrity, what would you recommend? Hmm. I think that the first thing is to get really clear on your vision and root into why. you want to, to make a massive impact. That's, that's really what I believe in terms of being a celebrity. I think that, you know, I was having a conversation with an entrepreneur this, this last week and I had to ask like six different, she got on a call with me to ask me questions about working with me. Okay. And I still was like asking, I had asked in like six different ways to be like, okay, what's like, what do you really want here? Like what would, like if, if no one was going to be mad at you and it wasn't cringy and you weren't embarrassed and it was all going

Starting point is 00:23:16 to work how famous would you want to be how many lives do you want to impact because I think that it's just it's because Hollywood has not been the safest place it's so taboo to even admit that you want to to be famous and so I think the first thing is really just to get clear on what that would look like for you and and just expanding into that possibility yeah no I love that you said that because even as I'm talking about my big audacious goals to other people and I have to I have to say this and I don't know why I say this but I'm like oh but like I'm really humbled or something like I have to put a little powder on it to make it sound like I'm not being someone that's cringy I guess if you will yeah and it's so ridiculous it but I mean it's human nature so

Starting point is 00:24:01 it makes sense that you do that but I think that the biggest skill truthfully to becoming famous is to have your own back so that you feel safe being misunderstood because that's the truth of it. I mean, I had a post the other day. Actually, it was the Vogue post. And someone saw it on the day of after the election. And the post didn't come out on that day. It came out before that. But someone still commented and they're like, this is really insensitive for you to post this. And I'm like, I didn't, you didn't even read like it. You didn't even read it. Right. So or like check the timestamp on this but it just you know no matter how often you're trying like my whole mission is that I want to empower people and I want to help people and I still inadvertently

Starting point is 00:24:48 fuck up and hurt people sometimes yeah um and so it's just about having my own back and knowing that my intentions were pure and that I'm always listening and I'm trying to get better and I'm always willing to own my mistakes is what I strive for yeah I love that I mean that's all we can do right yeah so I think I love this so much I think everybody here learned a little bit of something on how to tap into that it factor if you don't where can we find you I am all over the social media just at Whitney Uland and my website is howtobefamous.org my podcast as well how to be how to be famous with Whitney Uland awesome thank you so much for being here today and if you guys want to learn more about image style and how to be confident like and subscribe below thank you

Starting point is 00:25:32 Thanks for watching!

Moore Style - Unlock Your It Factor: How to Build Confidence and Celebrity Energy With Whitney Uland

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