Building my "Dream Life: From Project Runway, A Hulu Reality T.V. Series, and Career Change, Amber Renae's Guide on Making Your Dreams a Reality
Are you a Project Runway Fan? From Building Roads to Building Dresses, today’s woman dreamer, Amber Renae is a woman of many talents. She was a designer on Project Runway Australia, the star of new popular Hollywood Reality series on Hulu, Dream Life, a renowned fashion stylist, and was the only Australian reporter at Fashion TV. A true believer that “The Sky is the Limit” and having faced multiple adversities and challenges, Amber shares her message for all women on how to “amplify their impact”, pursue a career change, and her life in the exciting worlds of fashion and T.V. Enjoy her powerful and inspiring story below!
1) Tell us your story. You were an engineer by profession and then pursued your dream in fashion and tv, becoming a designer for Project Runway Australia. How did you make that transition to pursue your dream, and what were some challenges you faced along the way?
My career started on a construction site that saw me building roads and bridges but it wasn’t long before I quit to follow my passion to build dresses and started my very first business: a fashion label.
From humble beginnings, working solo on a sewing machine, the label grew through doggedly cold-calling retailers in a world that hadn’t adopted email yet. After seeing early success across the country, I was now focused on the global stage and began exporting clothing to several countries and was soon dressing some of the biggest celebrities in Hollywood, including fashionista Paris Hilton.
The sky seemed to be the limit, with my fashion label doing incredibly well – until it wasn’t – and I promptly lost everything.
My fashion label’s business model was fatally flawed. The model is that you pay for everything upfront, 6 months in advance and hope that when you deliver the goods, the retailer will pay you. The final collection was set to be our biggest year on year of growth and I’d outlaid about $70,000 for fabrics, patterns, manufacturing, and so on. The offshore manufacturer went out of business – and kept all of my fabric and stock. I was buried under debt, and I couldn’t claw my way back up. The ship sank – along with my lifelong dream. At that point, I realized what it meant to hit ‘rock bottom’.
I was working a minimum of 12 hours a day, seven days a week, week in week out for five years. I was physically, emotionally, and mentally exhausted. My body took a massive strain. I was diagnosed with cancer, had stomach ulcers, suffered a nervous breakdown, and was on a lot of of anti-anxiety, and anti-depressant medications. Despite being hospitalized and in a body that was dying, I still couldn’t face the biggest loss yet, that my brand was gone. It took me about a year before I finally accepted the fact that my dream of owning a fashion label was over. Looking back, I feel the universe lovingly pushed me out of that business, because I would never have chosen of free will, to leave my fashion label behind. However, in hindsight, if I was still in that business, I would be miserable and likely very sick right now. It turned out to be a blessing in disguise.
My next big break came in the form of Emmy-winning premier competition series Project Runway Australia, when I was asked to be a designer on the show.
Following Project Runway I knew I needed a break from Design. So I trusted my intuition (once again) and dipped my toes into the (not-so) glamorous world of fashion styling. In just four short years, I held some of the most prestigious styling contracts in Australia. I landed the job as fashion editor for Women’s Health and Fitness magazine, and the resident stylist's role at a large radio and television network, as well as dressing some of our most loved celebrities for global red carpet events.
I also landed the highly coveted role as the only Australian reporter for Fashion TV, interviewing everyone who’s anyone in the world of fashion and celebs, including stars such as Ruby Rose, Andie MacDowell and Rose Byrne. I truly thought I was living my best #FashionLife – it was everything I’d ever dreamed of as a little fashionista, but the Universe had other plans for me again.
The effects of the GFC finally hit Australia and all monies for things like Fashion Styling and TV Presenting dried up and I was suddenly unemployed and unemployable. I literally could not get work, I even tried to go back to the Construction site, but they wouldn’t have me. All that I had left was this knowledge of how to build a successful fashion styling business.
As scary as it was, I started the next chapter in my entrepreneurial journey and launched my e-learning portal. My very first course taught people how to run a profitable styling business, and to this day, I am the only stylist in the world who has achieved this level of real-world success that is now giving back and helping the next generation of stylists. And that as they say is history.
2) What is your advice to women looking to find the courage to change their career path?
I see so many women wanting to put themselves out there, wanting to create video content, wanting to build their E-Course, but hesitating, procrastinating or getting into imposter syndrome, because they’re paralysed by the fear of what others will think of them.
Success is when you can truly say that you’re at peace with yourself, and nothing anyone says or does bothers you. No negativity can touch you.
Remember, that no one that has achieved more than you will ever judge you.
3) Your new reality television series, Dream Life, is currently on Hulu, and it follows the story of you and your business partner Serena DC as you launch The Love Academy and the hustle to close deals and more. It is a wonderful show for women of all ages. Tell us your vision for the show, and what inspired you to be a part of it? How did your own life influence the show?
Dream Life Los Angeles kicked things up a notch for me. I got to meet some incredible and influential A-listers like Caitlyn Jenner, which was such a crazy experience! We got to spend some time with her in her beautiful Malibu home and she was very approachable and generous with her time.
Plus it was just such a great experience to be on the set of a big American Television production!
4) You were a designer for Project Runway Australia, amongst many other roles in the fashion industry. How did you find inspiration for the dresses you designed, and what were some interesting experiences you had there as a woman designer?
The environment was like being inside a giant pressure cooker. We were averaging 4 hours sleep per night, under immense stress throughout the day, trying to be creative in a high-stress environment and all the while having the producers create more and more drama. But that’s the nature of reality TV. It’s all about ratings and creating drama – and there was a lot of drama.
On the whole though it was a fantastic opportunity which opened a lot of doors for me including landing the highly coveted role as the only Australian reporter for Fashion TV, which saw me travelling the Country and interviewing everyone who’s anyone in the world of fashion and celebs, including stars such as Ruby Rose, Andie MacDowell and Rose Byrne.
5) You are also a pioneer for online courses for empowering women entrepreneurs, such as “Freedom Funnels” and “Amplify Your Impact" , courses designed to help women pursue their dreams. What inspired you to go into e-learning as well.
My brother was the one who suggested she transition to digital. At the time, I had no idea the portal would grow into a mega global brand.
I sold my first course – The Certificate of Professional Fashion Styling - for just $9. Over the years, that course has now evolved to be the best online training program for Fashion Stylists globally, and has empowered thousands of women all over the world to start a Fashion Styling Business.
Following the success of this program and seeing a real need in the marketplace to educate female entrepreneurs on Personal Branding and Publicity, I created my second course Amplify Your Impact, utilising the knowledge gained through my years in Media and Broadcasting.
My next online course, The Movement, shares my passion and love for personal development and shares 30 daily success rituals to change the way you think in order to live your best life.
Through this phenomenal course success, I was able to develop my own signature formula to create, launch and scale your E-course, which I now teach in my signature program, Freedom Funnels: the only online program to teach both E-Course creation and automation whilst providing ongoing laser targeted support.
The anticipation for Freedom Funnels was huge, I actually made over 6-figures in pre-sales, before the course officially launched – a formula I now teaches inside the program.
6) As a #Dreamcatchers platform, we have to ask, what is your next big dream with this?
Well I recently published my first book Dream Life: The Boss Babe’s Guide To Turning Your Online Business Dream Into A Reality. The book follows my five-step acronym for D-R-E-A-M (Define, Rarify, Estate, Automate, Magnetize).
Dream Life provides the clarity and focus you’ve been looking for, plus a (loving) kick in the pants from someone who’s been where you’re standing. This e-book will help you find your Genius Zone, show you how to monetize it with digital products, automate it with funnels, and finally magnetize it with traffic.
Over five sections, I give readers practical steps with actionable insights to break through all the blockers (mental and physical) that so many new online business owners struggle with. You no longer need to wonder where to start and how to accelerate your freedom-based online business.
My e-book cuts through the bull to show you precisely what you need to do, how to do it, and why it’s crucial for your business. It’s also full of real-world examples from my students who have taken their businesses online and succeeded. You’ll get the actual system that I personally use (and have used for years) to avoid that 9-to-5 grind. All this in just 121 jam-packed pages. Read it while sipping your morning coffee and be fully equipped to begin your entrepreneurial journey the same day.