Welcome to What We Love Wednesday!
Today I am featuring my dear friend, Kat McNeal. Kat and her husband Matt are currently stationed in Hawaii and have three kids: Kristin, Lilly and Jack.
In 2007, just days after we moved to Ft. Campbell, Kat knocked on my door and asked me to go for a walk. Our babies were five months old – born just two weeks apart. I basically had to run to keep up with her walking pace that morning. In the ten years since, we have shared three duty stations together and between us we had five more children and endured five deployments.
Kat’s passions include: God, her family, women’s ministry and of course, her Georgia Bulldogs. She launched her ministry, Styling Fireflies, in 2015. As a stylist, she works with women to help them find their best colors, clothes and accessories to make them shine! However, Styling Fireflies is about much more than clothes and jewelry. It is about encouraging and strengthening women to Let their Light Shine!
I recently spoke with Kat about Styling Fireflies:
Stephanie: What is your ministry all about?
Kat: The heartbeat of my ministry is based upon Matthew 5:16, “Let your light shine before others that they may see the good things you do and praise your Father in Heaven.” We are created in the image of God. When we dress and present ourselves with modesty and dignity, honoring His design, we shine His light, not our own. C.S. Lewis said it best, “Don’t shine so others see you, shine so that through you others see Him.”
Stephanie: What kind of services do you offer?
Kat: I provide color and style consultations and closet audits. I also speak about color, style, and modesty at events, host style parties and boutique events.
Stephanie: Do women have to be in Hawaii to take advantage of your services?
Kat: Absolutely not! I can do consultations via FaceTime, phone and email.
Stephanie: What is exactly is a color analysis and who would benefit from it?
Kat: The benefit of a color analysis is simply knowing your best colors to compliment your natural, God-given beauty. Color is foundation of creating style, it is the most important element of illuminating an image that best displays who we were created to be. When we wear the right colors, we become captivating, not the material. Color lays the ground work for building a simple, capsule wardrobe, so that less becomes more in your closet.
Stephanie: What do you love most about your job…beside the fact that your home office happens to be in Hawaii??
Kat: What I love most about my job is building confidence and encouraging others through such a practical, everyday occurrence. What we choose to wear is a daily decision, one that can often leave us feeling fatigued because the world places so much pressure on appearance. When we root our daily decision upon our natural, God-given beauty, we base our decision upon a firm foundation, and not on the sinking sand of worldly trends. Hawaii is pretty great too!
Stephanie: What exciting things are on the horizon for Styling Fireflies?
Kat: I am super excited to have been selected as a Workshop Presenter at the Joint Spouses Conference of Hawaii on September 29. The purpose of this event is to provide a forum for military wives that will enrich, empower, uplift, enlighten, motivate, and strengthen them in their roles as women, wives, mothers, and community leaders. This is exactly what Styling Fireflies is all about, and I am blessed to have the opportunity to share this message on platform among my fellow military wives. Aside from speaking engagements, I am launching a very limited boutique exclusive to Styling Fireflies’ clients. This opens the door for me to not only empower my clients with knowledge, but to also guide them on selecting actual wardrobe pieces that will best compliment their coloring, body shape and frame size.
Stephanie: Thank you for sharing more about your ministry with us! It is inspiring to see women like you – an army wife and busy mom of three – following your dreams and God’s plans for your life. What would you say to that mom or young woman out there that is standing at the edge of her dream, not sure if she should take the leap?
Kat: To someone standing on the edge of their dream, I would have to ask, “How does God’s will fit your dream?” Honestly speaking, clothes and fashion are not my passion, they are simply the open door to encourage and minister to the heart of women and youth girls. God placed in my heart many years ago a desire to serve in woman’s ministry, a desire I would have never imagined for myself. Through surrender and obedience to His calling, I found a new dream, a more fulfilling and rewarding dream than I ever could have willed for myself.
Check out more about Kat and Styling Fireflies here! You can also follow Kat on Instagram.
Do you know someone I should feature on What We Love Wednesdays? Comment below or contact me!