Mary Higham: Style Blogger, Influencer & Sample Sale Queen | EP 48

Get ready to Sparkle and Shine and live life in full color, Queens!!!  This week, we welcome style blogger and personal stylist Mary Higham, creator of “Glam in Gotham.” Mary’s personal aim is to fill each day with whimsy and color, and she unapologetically believes that fashion should make people happy. Well, duh!

As Mary says: “Every piece of my clothing makes a statement towards a little piece of my personality - I wear my heart on my sleeve (sometimes literally)!”

Mary’s blog and Instagram page are saturated in her trademark fluff and sequins – as well as her beloved headbands – where she shares her perspective on her new life in NYC, tips and tricks for vintage finds, and loves to promote her favorite fashion accessories and styles.

Nolan brings us the goods this week and introduces us to Mary as only Nolan can: recounting a story about the first time he hung out with Mary at a Halloween party, where he got super trashed and had a great time… well, you can imagine.

But back to Mary: we discuss her first career as an event consultant specializing in meetings, conferences and trade shows. She then started blogging, moved to NYC – LITERALLY moving into a new apartment the day before the pandemic shut down the City - and decided to focus on her love of fashion when the world’s planning and live events actually died in 2020.

We L.O.L about personal shopping gigs, sample sales, thrifting, blogging, curating your own personal style, our love for NYC, and even why there is a lot of online discussion about the state of her husband’s pant-wearing status on most days. Some things just have to be seen or heard, so take a listen. 

Seriously though, Mary shares how she supports up-and-coming brands by promoting and elevating the designers and products she loves. She then combines her professional experience as an event planner to connect brands and consumers.

We are so inspired by Mary’s business insights and career path: “You can’t fit a career in a box. Nobody’s life fits into a perfect box. It is not always in a straight line. There is no clear path. Carve out what you love.”

Join us for a wonderful adventure full of rainbows and unicorns, career journeys and the love of fashion! And of course, we include all the usual swear words and things that totally annoy us along the way. 

In This Episode:

[2:11] NOLAN: It's been such a long year. So I mean, you wear so many hats. So, you're an event consultant. You're a stylist. You're a personal shopper. A color and style enthusiast, because it brings you joy. You’re like also like me, you're a sample sale queen. 

[3:01] HOLLY: Mary, I just want to say I'm looking at you right now. I've only seen your picture. You're completely Gorg! Love your headband. She's got on this beaded headband and, I mean, super colorful rainbow dress. You look amazing!

[5:07] MARY:  So, I'm actually adopted and I grew up on the Jersey Shore as an Asian kid with white parents - grew up on the Irish Catholic Riviera of America on the Jersey Shore.

[8:04] MARY: It’s not easy to follow your passion. I attended panels where brand designers and CEOs are sitting there, talking about how, you know, “One day I just decided I wanted to create my own line. So I cold called a lot of people and now look at how successful I am.” And I'm like, “That's not true. You started your career as an intern, you started as a stylist assistant.”

[11:28] MARY: I used to travel all over the world. So, I could be in any city or any country, like who even knows. But the most popular thing I ever asked about on my Instagram Stories was: do you want to know if my husband is wearing pants or not?

[17:43] HOLLY: And what is your shtick? Are you “fashion at your age”? Are you “fashion for a certain size?” Tell me what your shtick is… you believe in color, or what is your unique perspective about why your outfits are important.

[23:27] MARY: You know, look, if we really want to break it down in a nutshell, what I believe I can do to help other women is: I think it's really important to embrace yourself. I'm not going to tell every woman that she needs to be wearing color. You know what, if you like black, and it is an entirely black ensemble, if you feel that's you, and that's what makes you happy? Then you do that.

[28:15] MARY:  There was almost an entire month where Nate was like “Come on, just walk the dogs with me” I was like, okay, so I go out, and of course, I put on sequins and a big-ass bow on my head, and I was like, we're gonna walk the dogs! So we go downstairs and my doorman was like “Holy Shit, Mary! Oh my god, you're alive. We had a pool going, we really thought your husband had murdered you know, you for weeks.”

[52:02] MARY:  I think I would say it's a fashion crime to just follow trends and to wear it because like, oh, pink is the new, you know, what is it? Orange is the new pink? It's the new red? 

[61:00] NOLAN: I proceeded to get blackout. Oh, and then we had Korean barbecue afterwards. It was so good. 

Key Takeaways:

• Nolan has fabulous fashion friends who make amazing podcast guests
• Mary Higham followed her head and her heart to combine careers without following the rules, or the norms, or what everyone says is the correct path to success.
• Pandemic got you down? Pivot to expand your career opportunities and you just might find a way to do more than your day job. But you still gotta pay the bills.
• There are highs and lows and depression, and then there are people who are fake about what it means to be successful. 
• You be you. Your personal style, your path to happiness, your success and failures – no one can tell you how to be you, or how to be happy.
• People want people. We want live fashion shows again. We want to touch and feel and taste fabric. We want to see the good, the bad and the beautiful at live fashion shows. Some things just cannot be digital. 
• Find people, brands, products and ideas that you love. Follow them, lift them up, promote them, be a part of their community. Collaboration is the new black. 

Websites and Links:

 

Glam in Gotham website:  https://www.glamingotham.com/

Glam in Gotham Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/glam.in.gotham/  

Lele Sadoughi Headbands: https://www.lelesadoughi.com/

Loren Hope Jewelry: https://www.lorenhope.com

Stony Clover Lane: https://www.stoneycloverlane.com

Quotes:

“I like to think that fashion should make people happy. And the fashion is uniquely personal to you. I am never gonna tell someone what they have to wear.” – Mary Higham

“It’s shot girl summer: vaxxed, waxed and ready to relax." – Mary Higham

“So, I'm actually adopted and I grew up on the Jersey Shore, an Asian kid with white parents who grew up on the Irish Catholic Riviera of America on the Jersey Shore.” – Mary Higham

“Listen, no one is upset that you're Asian, Jewish AND Italian. Okay? Because you grew up on the Jersey Shore. It's all good that you're Jewish, that you're more Jewish than most people.” – Holly Katz

“And I'm never gonna not love headbands. I've loved headband since I was like six years old. So I don't care. I could be 18, I could be 45, still gonna be wearing a sparkly headband.” – Mary Higham

“You don't need a million followers to have any degree of influence.” – Mary Higham