"I would say my style today -- as a result of working very closely with Boutique Box and yourself over the past couple of years -- has become more confident and inspired."
- Rani Pooran -
Boutique Box exists to support busy professional women in how they show up at work. We believe you deserve for it to be easy to get out the door quickly, always feeling your best.
The evolution of our business has been entirely inspired by the women we’ve served and supported in style. These women are dynamic leaders driving change. They are as ambitious as they are kind. And, they’ve been navigating the nuance of getting dressed for work as their careers have evolved, as corporate cultures have evolved, and as women’s leadership in companies and communities has evolved.
In our Intelligent Style Profile series, we highlight these incredible women.
Our first profile features Rani Pooran, a Senior Leader in Sustainability and DEI at World Bank.
How you think your style has evolved as your career has progressed.
I would say my style today and as a result of working very closely with Boutique Box and yourself over the past couple of years has become more confident and inspired. And that is how I see my career journey as well. And not surprisingly, the two have grown together. So if I think about my career over the past, I think I've been working out for close to 20 years or so.
I've had many turning points.
One was when I went from being an individual contributor to a people manager for the first time 10 years ago or so.
Another one was moving from a risk management role into the area that I'm in today, which is diversity, equity and inclusion.
And then a third big change that I made was back in 2021, I left the private sector, banking in particular, where I'd grown up, to move to the international public sector to build a diversity equity and inclusion program. And that took me from Toronto to Washington, DC, where I now spend most of my time in this role.
And each time I made a change, it came with expanded responsibilities, different responsibilities.
And it also meant that I had to level up my style, if you like, and think about how I would project authority in a way that reflected the context that I was in, how I showed up would determine in large part how I'm able to connect with the people I work with, whether those were my direct reports, my boss, stakeholders. And as I changed my style -- most recently with Boutique Box when I moved to DC -- it's definitely left me feeling more confident and inspired. And now I have clothes that I absolutely love.
I do a lot of speaking engagements, either online or in person in my current role and I can put on like that short little black jacket that was one of the first pieces I got from Boutique Box which I love, it makes me feel really confident or a necklace that I recently bought on a trip to Chile or that green dress.
So clothes really set the tone for me for how I show up and allow me to connect with my audience and deliver my message with impact.
- Quality over Quantity: You don't need a giant wardrobe to have a great wardrobe
- Return on Wear: How much value you get from each piece you buy with a focus on buying fewer, better things that last longer as well as mix into your wardrobe to wear many ways.
How did you come to set a budget for yourself and have that mindset?
I grew up in a family where fiscal responsibility is a very strong value. My dad is the one who instilled that value in my sister and myself, but he has no interest in fashion. Only recently have we been able to get him to evolve, you know, his look now that he's retired. However, my mom has an interest in style and she was often giving me tips saying like 'this would look good on you. That doesn't look good on you.'
So for me the two come together really naturally. If style is important just like food and travel, then I'm gonna put money behind it.
And, I can relate to overspending. Prior to working with Boutique Box, I would say I was overspending even though I historically have kept a very tightly edited wardrobe compared to others that I know, but wasn't very happy with all of my clothes. Whereas now I'd say I'm happy with like 99 % of what's in my wardrobe.
So for me putting a budget, it's intentional. It makes me very happy. I know I've got this money set aside and I calculate that budget on a monthly basis too. I'm just getting ready to share with you next week what my budget will be for this year. And I know what that means for my monthly spend. So I really break it down. And then when I see that monthly spend actually, it's not as much as I think. Like it looks like a big amount if I think, I'm spending X amount of money for the year. But, when you break it down monthly and then you can even break it down bi-weekly to see what comes out of your paycheck, it's actually a really great approach.
So I moved to DC in May of 2022. It seems like a long time away now, but that was sort of the tail end of the pandemic, right? So like many of us, most of us, my wardrobe needed to change. I wasn't happy with a lot of my clothes, even though I was still getting dressed up for work every day when I was on video. But then I moved to DC and more people were coming to the office.
And so, you know, I was exploring the district and was really frustrated with my shopping options and started complaining at work. I had moved in May and it got really, really hot very, very quickly. Then it would also thundershower for hour and a half several times a day. So I really was not equipped with my wardrobe coming from Canada where you have colder winters and hot summers, but not as humid as DC. So, one of my team members mentioned Boutique Box to me and told me I should reach out to you. She shared how she'd worked with you and I said, 'this sounds excellent, sounds like exactly what I need.'
So part of it was necessity but also a market opportunity. Like I really could not find what I wanted in DC and I don't want to shop in big box stores at Tyson's. I don't like what they have to offer the big box stores and I also don't like the shopping experience of going in to a mall actually. I find it very draining and overstimulating. And to me the value proposition was really clear. I love the designers the Boutique Box has. I love the clothes.
Then, I like the way you explained to me the principles of how to dress and not just making suggestions for me for what I needed in my wardrobe, but also showing me how I could recombine what I have to make outfits I hadn't thought about. So was a no-brainer.
What's been the biggest benefit since joining Boutique Box as a member to you?
Well, there are a couple. First, there is definitely cost savings and stress relief. So I talked about this earlier, setting my budget and that I spend less now than I did before to acquire new items for my wardrobe. So who wouldn't want that? That's great. The stress of having to find high quality items.
Like that's a weight that's been lifted off my shoulders, because I know there's a go-to place and I can tell you I need X, Y, and Z. I'm very organized, so I'll often tell you in advance. So I don't want to have the pressure of time. Like when we were looking for that wedding dress last year for my friend's wedding, I think we had at least a few months. So those are two of the biggest benefits to me. Save me time, save me money.
And it's taken stress out of my life because I don't have an experience in DC where I can enjoy in-person shopping or just wander down the street and see a great clothes store that piques my interest. And I would also add, it's learning about fashion. Like I've learned so much about the industry, about the industry in the US, about the designers that you work with, like meeting Bettina.
The whole experience is not just about purchasing clothes. It is, I think, a full immersive experience in fashion. You know, my other complaint is being a petite woman. I've complained to you, you know, ad nauseam about that, I'm sure. But that's another benefit. I can get clothes that fit me. So sometimes I have to make alterations, but I can get clothes that fit me with some simple alterations. And I know that there's someone that understands the needs of petite women. And I don't always have to go to like Ann Taylor and Banana Republic whose clothes I don't like very much anymore. So many benefits to joining Boutique Box!
What are some of the mindset shifts you've had around Style since joining Boutique Box?
So again the big mindset shift around style is definitely being more inspired and more confident in what I wear and how I show up.
I still buy clothes for myself, which, you know, I share with you from time to time, like this jumpsuit that I bought recently, right? And say like, I need a top for inside of it, or, you know, you can make a suggestion and mostly do that when I travel.
When you explain the principles of how to build a wardrobe, so this idea of like edited capsules and putting things together in different ways, I'm now being very intentional about how I build my wardrobe one piece at a time.
While I was keeping a tightly edited wardrobe before, working with you helped me really take that to the next level and really think about how I could expand feeling inspired and confident. And as the same answer for how my mindset has shifted, I'm perhaps also more thoughtful about where I put my money. And what I mean by that is, while I've always supported for the most part sustainable fashion where I can, it's impossible to do 100 percent. But now I'm even more careful about that. And you have many women owned companies in your portfolio, which I really like. And so I think I have from working with you and Boutique Box, thinking about intelligence style, I have that more top of mind now when I'm going to spend.