A Woman Defined

This past Thursday evening, I went to a personal appearance and talk – “Passion into Profession: Leading with Style” – given by Trina Turk, the fashion designer and CEO of Trina Turk, in her Newport Beach Store. She shared lessons learned in leadership with a very large turn out of attendees. The event was presented by Professional Women United, and the place was packed by her loyal customers as well as professional women.

Walking into her store, I was taken aback by the beautiful display of Trina’s latest clothing designs, accessories, jewelries. I love her designs. I love her many colors, for they are always uplifting, fun, colorful, bold, upbeat, and seem to be inspired by the sixties and seventies era of easy California living. Her designs are always vivid and optimistic, with a lot of orange and turquoise, taking inspiration from the California sun and sea. I really enjoyed listing to her talk, during which she shared the story of her success and all the obstacles along the way that she had to overcome. It was fascinating to hear how brave she was in going forward to pursue her dream to be a fashion designer.

Her Story

Trina Turk considers herself lucky on two counts. First because she knew at a fairly young age what she wanted to do when she grew up – to design clothing professionally and second, because she is succeeding at doing it beyond her wildest dreams. 

Born in California and raised there and in the state of Washington, her mother taught her to sew when Turk was 11 years old. She studied apparel design at the University of Washington and took her first job with the Seattle-based sportswear manufacturer, Britannia Jeans. Turk’s next stop was Los Angeles, where she waded into a sea of 30 prints per season designing surf wear for Ocean Pacific. Other jobs designing mostly juniors followed. Read more.

While she was talking, the place was dead quiet. Everyone in the room was genuinely absorbed, with interest and enthusiasm, in listening to Trina’s talk. Afterwards, there were a lot of questions asked by women who were interested and curious to know and learn more about her experiences. As I was listening to her, I thought to myself, Wow. Trina turk not only is a great, talented fashion designer, but she also has a lot of good business wisdom, and she is generous enough to pass it on. Of course, that is always a wonderful thing.