Up Close with Founding Member & Facilitator Carrie Gray, CABI Clothing Consultant

Catching up with Carrie Gray at everyone's favorite satellite office, Starbucks, was a delight. One of the first things you notice when you meet Carrie is her zest and energy for life. This includes all that goes on around her. It is endearing quality to say the very least.

Having had the privilege to know Carrie over the past three years, I looked forward to this opportunity to get to know her better in doing this interview for Victory Woman Magazine.

Carrie was raised in Cleveland Ohio and found her way to Colorado to attend Graduate School at the University of Colorado in Boulder. She received her Masters degree in Guidance and Counseling.

Asking Carrie if her career path had always been well defined she answered, "Absolutely Not, No, No, No. This proved to be true when not long after getting her Masters Degree she took on the role of the Guidance Counselor that she had initially envisioned. But this career choice was to be short lived when one of her first clients turned out to be a suicidal 21-year old woman. It was then that she realized she really didn't want to have to deal with such heavy life issues on a daily basis.

When I asked Carrie when she was first hit by the Entrepreneurial Bug her eyes lit up. She recalled the catering business she had started in high school with a friend. They had come to the conclusion that their parents and their friends could really use their services and it proved to be right.

"It has always been about connect the dots." Carrie explained of her career path, " I am an avid multi-tasker who thrives on doing rather than being. "A constant karma goal is to be a human being instead of always doing." Always been a doer who has been motivated by achieving. I watched in amusement as Carrie explained with big hand gestures drawing out the dots she referred to on the window next to our table.

Carrie shared that her mentors growing up were her two older sisters. Losing her Dad at an early age left Carrie's sisters to mother her more, to teach her and bring her under their wing. They gave her total support from getting through academia (her sister also attended CU) to issues of the heart.

When asked who her mentors are today Carrie said that it ranged from the late Eleanor Roosevelt to her friends, which included her Victory Sisters within the Victory Circles. "These friends are truly my mentors My" Heroes" on a daily basis. I love to believe that our best friends are reflections of ourselves...I live from a place of gratitude that my life is so powerfully enriched by the friendships I keep."

In looking at Carrie's role today as a Fashion Consultant for CABi (Carol Anderson by Invitation) I was impressed at the goals she has set for herself. Currently she is finishing up the Fall 2008 fashion season and has set a personal goal of $100,000 in sales. She is an impressive 90% there – during a "down" economic time.

Carries attributes her success with CABI coming from a love for clothes combined with loving to create relationships with people. She shared her love for her current entrepreneurial endeavors, "The relationship angle takes the weight off of this just being a 'sales position'. I love seeing how a fashion medium such as CABi enhances the lives of others. I have watched women transformed through clothing. Clothing allows them to bring out the true essence of who they are in greater form. It almost gives them a better understanding by making them feel comfortable in the clothes they wear."

"Be yourself and you will always be in style" is a term that Carol Anderson, the founder of CABi uses that Carrie believes to be so true. "I love the power of clothing, Carrie said, "Getting involved in this I had no idea how impactful dressing women and opening the opportunity for them to feel good about themselves could be, simply by just putting something on. Bringing on a greater level of Self Esteem. Clothing can be shifting."

I could hear the passion in Carrie's voice as she said, "Witnessing women transform is my reward far beyond "selling clothes".

In asking Carrie about her recent decision to become a facilitator of a new Victory Circle in Westminster her mentor Eleanor Roosevelt came to mind. "Eleanor said, 'Do something every day that scares you.' It challenges me each day to stretch myself and the invitation to become a facilitator is a stretch that gives me the why not attitude. Maybe I am chaotically leaping but it allows me to say yes before I say no. I live with an innate trust that it is all going to work out."

"The glass is half full", Carrie said. "Yes, to feel the fear and do it anyway. I have chosen to not operate from fear, choose to not fear but love. I don't ever want to hold myself back. Sometimes it seems like an out of body experience. Life is to be lived now. What is the best that can happen as opposed to what is the worst? Carrie has felt an impact in her life through her experience with the Victory Circle she has participated in for nearly three years now. Summarizing the Victory Circles she finished up by saying, "I know that it will always be a part of my life. And how exciting for me to create a Circle of my own! That's cool!

In closing Carries shared that she loves Twizzlers, her 2 daughters Lander age 9 and Bonnie age 14 and the opportunities before her.