Today we’d like to introduce you to Adrienne De Leon.
Hi Adrienne, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I’ve always loved fashion.
I grew up with what you could call very humble beginnings, and some of my earliest memories involve writing down dream outfits on scraps of paper. I’d list the shirts, shoes, pants, and accessories I wished I could wear if we had the money. I spent hours browsing clothing websites, creating outfits I couldn’t afford to buy. One Christmas, my sister gave me a $50 Forever 21 gift card, and I remember spending what felt like forever putting together the perfect outfit and adding an eyeshadow palette to my cart.
Fashion became my escape and source of inspiration, which I found everywhere. I cut pictures out of magazines like InStyle and Seventeen, watched movies like The Devil Wears Prada and The Cheetah Girls, and spent late nights glued to fashion-focused shows like How Do I Look?, Look for Less, America’s Next Top Model, and even the Spanish version on Univision despite not speaking a word of Spanish. I was never into high-fashion per se but more so the development of a “look” regardless if it came from Wal-Mart or Chanel.
By my junior and senior years of high school, after my mom passed away, fashion became more than an interest. It became a creative outlet and a way for me to process grief. I started experimenting with my clothes, hair, and makeup, and when I got to college, I fully embraced it.
In college, I founded a fashion club where I recruited models, organized fashion shows, and partnered with local vendors to source clothing for events. It was a lot of work, but it taught me leadership, marketing, and relationship-building. During that time, I also began getting recognized by brands like Wet Seal with the help of my sister in law who’s a photographer taking pictures of me.
After graduation, life took me in a different direction. I built a career in public relations, specifically in public affairs and healthcare communications. At the same time, I never stopped pursuing fashion. I applied for luxury fashion positions, but nothing seemed to stick. Instead, I consistently shared my outfits online and slowly began building an audience. Over time, brands started engaging with my content, which led to partnerships and opportunities.
Eventually, severe corporate burnout pushed me to reevaluate what I truly wanted. That’s when I decided to fully embrace my personal brand, DaughterofaTwin, a name inspired by my mom and her identical twin, two women who have always been among my greatest inspirations.
Today, I’m living my dream in a way I never expected. I’m a stylist at Free People, and I’m also building my own fashion consulting business. My goal is to advocate for and represent stylists, particularly stylists of color, in a profession that I believe is still undervalued, heavily freelance-based, and often underpaid.
Looking back, my journey hasn’t been a straight line, but every step has brought me closer to the world I’ve loved since I was a little girl creating outfits on pieces of paper. And this is only the beginning for me. Mark it.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
I wouldn’t say fashion itself has been the struggle. Life has.
I grew up in a household where basic necessities weren’t always guaranteed. I’ve experienced trauma, heartbreak, bullying, depression, and the loss of my mother at an age when I needed her most. None of those things were easy, but they taught me resilience. They taught me how to persevere.
As I got older, the challenges became different. It became the constant question of money versus passion. Do I pursue the safe path, or do I pursue what I truly love? There were moments when I wondered if I was chasing a dream that would never work out. I’d look at a post that only got 20 likes and think, “Why isn’t this growing faster?” or “Why haven’t I had my viral moment yet?”
Whenever those thoughts creep in, I remind myself that success doesn’t happen on the same timeline for everyone. As the rapper, Boston Richey says, “It just ain’t my time yet.” I’ve always found inspiration in people like Oprah and J.K. Rowling, who achieved some of their biggest successes later in life. Those stories remind me that persistence matters more than timing. Along with Megan thee Stallion, who has reminded me that success is still possible after losing a parent.
For a long time, I believed I had to be in New York or Los Angeles to make it in fashion. But I’ve learned that’s not true. The DMV has a growing fashion community and has given me opportunities to build my career and network. While my Southern roots shaped my sense of style, the DMV has helped elevate it and broaden my perspective.
I also have to give credit to my support system. My family, my husband, and my best friends have been some of my biggest cheerleaders. They’re the people who consistently like, share, comment on, and support my content, even when the audience was small. Having people who believe in you when you’re still building means more than any viral moment ever could.
Through it all, grit and determination have kept me moving forward. Every challenge has reinforced what my mother taught me: keep going, do your best, and don’t quit on yourself. That’s exactly what I intend to keep doing.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I often joke that I went from managing million-dollar healthcare and global accounts as a Senior Account Supervisor at Edelman to working on a sales floor at Free People, helping everyday people put together outfits. But honestly, both roles are about people. One was helping organizations tell their story, and the other is helping individuals express theirs at any point in their lives – small or big.
At my core, I’m what I like to call an “outfit developer.” My gift is seeing the potential in a piece and building an entire look around it from head to toe. I love helping people feel confident, seen, and comfortable in what they’re wearing. Fashion isn’t just clothing to me, it’s my art, I truly feel like I’m developing something similar to a painting or storytelling.
I’m probably best known for being a fly dresser and for my ability to take something that others might overlook and make it work. I enjoy mixing unexpected pieces together, finding hidden gems, and showing people that great style isn’t always about buying the most expensive thing in the room. It’s about creativity and vision.
As I continue building my fashion consulting business, my goal is to do more than simply style people. I want to be viewed as a businesswoman, a leader, and an advocate for others pursuing careers in fashion. In particular, I’m passionate about helping stylists, especially stylists of color, navigate the business side of the industry and build sustainable careers.
What I’m most proud of is having the courage to pivot. At 33 years old, I left behind a successful corporate career, a comfortable salary, and a path that looked good on paper to pursue something that truly fulfilled me. Not everyone is willing to make that leap, and not everyone has a support system willing to stand behind them when they do.
I’m incredibly grateful for my husband, my family, and my friends, who believed in me even when the transition didn’t make sense to everyone else. Their support gave me the confidence to bet on myself. And God has kept me going through it all.
What sets me apart is that I understand both the creative and business sides of the equation. I bring the strategy, communication, and relationship-building skills I learned in corporate America into the fashion space. I’m not just interested in creating great outfits. I’m interested in building opportunities, creating impact, and helping others realize that it’s never too late to pursue the life they truly want.
Can you talk to us a bit about happiness and what makes you happy?
Creating outfits makes me happy. It always has, and I think it always will.
I remember my junior year of high school when my brother and his wife took me shopping at the mall. I put together an outfit I was incredibly proud of: a floral quarter-sleeve tunic from Wet Seal, gray leggings that had just become popular, and a pair of black cowboy boots my dad bought me from a flea market.
I felt confident. I felt creative. I felt like myself.
Then I got sent to the front office because my outfit was considered inappropriate. I remember crying so hard. At the time, it felt like I was being punished for simply expressing myself. Looking back, the outfit itself isn’t what stayed with me. It was the feeling of finally putting something together that reflected who I was and how proud I felt wearing it.
Fashion has always given me that feeling. It’s more than clothes to me. It’s self-expression, creativity, confidence, and sometimes even healing. After losing my mom, fashion became an outlet for processing emotions and finding pieces of myself again.
That’s why creating outfits makes me happy. Whether I’m styling myself, helping a client, or putting together a look for someone who doesn’t know where to start, I love seeing clothing transform how a person feels. There’s something special about helping someone see themselves differently, and that’s a feeling that never gets old.
At its core, fashion has always been one of the ways I tell my story, and helping others tell theirs brings me joy.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: DaughterofaTwin
- Facebook: Adrienne De Leon
- LinkedIn: Adrienne De Leon (Grant)
