At Taking First, image consulting services help ensure that the way you present yourself visually, verbally, and professionally reflects your authority, values, and goals.
Arecia’s coaching has strengthened, challenged, and refined my leadership and management skills, preparing me for the next stage of my career. Her professional insight and ability to equip leaders for today’s evolving workforce are unmatched. I’m truly grateful that our paths crossed.
Senior Program Manager
Working with my life coach, Ace has been a truly transformative experience. Before beginning coaching, I felt stuck, with goals but no clear path to achieving them. However, through our sessions, I gained clarity, practical tools, and a renewed sense of confidence. What I value most is the supportive and non-judgmental space she creates. This environment allowed me to dive deeper, challenge old habits, and finally make the changes I had been avoiding for years. As a result, I am now more focused, motivated, and aligned with the life I want to build. In conclusion, getting a life coach was one of the best decisions I have ever made.
Fashion Designer and Owner of Lockame Design Co.
Arecia’s leadership and coaching have played a vital role in advancing my career. She brings a high level of professionalism that blends clarity and genuine care, creating a space where growth feels both challenging and supported. Her guidance has helped me become a more confident, intentional and effective leader.
Program Coordinator
Arecia has a rare gift for challenging leaders to achieve authentic growth. Working with her, I learned how to truly communicate, listen effectively, command a room, and navigate difficult spaces with confidence. She doesn't just teach leadership; she models it, and every moment of her wisdom is worth grasping.
Aquatics Director and Comedian
Arecia’s leadership has been truly transformative for me. Her mentorship taught me how to lead my team with confidence, authenticity, and encouragement. Because of her guidance, I now believe in my ability to succeed in any job and in any leadership role.
Professional Fitness Manager
My Mom who many know as Arecia, is the kind of woman whose presence alone brings stability, clarity, and reassurance. Her consistency is unmatched—her word is her bond, and there has never been a single moment where she hasn’t shown up for me. She has supported me through every season of my life, and she has done it with grace, strength, and a deep sense of purpose. Everything I know about confidence, hard work, poise, and integrity, I learned by watching her. She doesn't just teach those values—she lives them. I’ve seen firsthand how she walks into a room and commands it effortlessly, how she holds herself with quiet power, and how people naturally gravitate toward her because she moves with intention and authenticity. She says what she means, she means what she says, and she follows through every single time. She is the type of woman who makes you believe that transformation is possible because she has modeled transformation, resilience, and self-belief throughout her own life.
To any woman blessed enough to work with her, she is a guide, a mentor, and a source of real, practical wisdom. I am so fortunate to have grown up learning from her, and I know that any woman who chooses her as their coach will experience the same empowerment, clarity, and confidence that she has poured into me.
Manager, Artistic Creative, Dancer
Plenty of people refer to themselves as “bosses” meanwhile, Arecia is the real deal. She is a genuine leader in the truest sense of the word. She meets every individual right where they are, and offers a combination of development, accountability and dependability that is so refreshing and effective in workplace productivity.
I loved learning from Arecia and am without question, better from it.
Fitness Professional
Image consulting at Taking First is a structured, strategic process that aligns visual presentation, communication style, and personal branding with your professional goals. I help professionals and organizations elevate their image and communication through integrated image coaching, presentation strategy, and storytelling.
This work is a strong fit for:
You do not need a public speaking engagement to invest in image consulting. You only need a desire for your presence to reflect your potential.
Image consulting helps refine how you show up without changing who you are.
Effective image consulting requires strategy, reflection, and application. Taking First offers customized image consulting engagements designed to meet each client where they are.
Effective image consulting requires strategy, reflection, and application. Taking First offers customized image consulting engagements designed to meet each client where they are.
We begin with a conversation to understand your goals, audience, industry, and visibility context.
We audit wardrobe, grooming, photography, slide decks, messaging clarity, and delivery style.
You receive a tailored roadmap aligning visual branding, color palette, storytelling, and communication.
Sessions include wardrobe refinement, slide deck consultation, messaging adjustments, and rehearsal coaching.
We refine pacing, tone, body language, and audience engagement through structured practice.
You leave with templates, checklists, and repeatable systems you can apply independently.
This work is not one-size-fits-all. Every image consulting engagement is designed to feel aligned, strategic, and immediately usable.
Professional image is often shaped by unspoken norms rooted in dominant culture standards. For BIWOC leaders and founders, navigating visibility can include additional layers such as:
Taking First approaches image consulting through a culturally aware and trauma-informed lens. No one is asked to dilute their identity. The work centers alignment, not assimilation.
In-person image consulting in Los Angeles offers a grounded, focused environment for deeper refinement and rehearsal.
Los Angeles is a brand-conscious, visibility-driven market. Strategic image consulting ensures your presence matches your ambition.
Virtual image consulting provides flexibility without sacrificing depth.
Whether in Los Angeles or anywhere globally, image consulting can be delivered virtually with structure and impact.
Image consulting is a strategic process that aligns your visual presence, communication style, and professional messaging with your leadership goals. Unlike traditional styling services that focus only on clothing, image consulting examines how you present yourself across wardrobe, grooming, slide decks, digital platforms, and verbal delivery.
The goal is to ensure that your external presence reflects your expertise, credibility, and authority. At Taking First, image consulting helps professionals align their image with the level of influence they want to hold in their industry.
Styling typically focuses on selecting clothing or updating a wardrobe. Image consulting takes a much broader approach by integrating wardrobe, brand storytelling, communication strategy, and presentation delivery into a cohesive framework.
Effective image consulting ensures that what you wear, how you communicate, and how you present ideas all reinforce the same professional narrative. Because of this, many clients combine image consulting with leadership-focused services like Professional Development Coaching to strengthen both their internal confidence and external presence.
Image consulting is often part of a broader growth strategy rather than a standalone service. Many professionals begin with mindset, leadership, or communication coaching and then integrate image consulting as their visibility and responsibilities expand.
At Taking First, image consulting is frequently combined with services such as Personal Development Coaching and Professional Development Coaching. Organizations may also incorporate image consulting into leadership workshops or communication training programs alongside Team Building.
Image consulting is particularly valuable for founders, executives, consultants, and professionals stepping into higher levels of visibility or leadership. As influence grows, the way someone presents themselves—visually and verbally—begins to shape how others perceive their authority.
Organizations may also use image consulting to ensure leadership teams present a consistent and credible brand. Professionals who want to better understand the philosophy behind this approach can learn more about the work of Arecia Hester and her leadership development methodology.
The image consulting process typically begins with a comprehensive audit. This review looks at how your current presentation aligns with your professional goals and leadership positioning.
The audit may include an evaluation of wardrobe alignment, grooming standards, color palette consistency, professional photography, slide decks, messaging clarity, and delivery style. The goal is not criticism but strategic refinement. After the audit, clients receive actionable guidance and a customized plan designed to strengthen their professional presence.
In most cases, image consulting does not require replacing your entire wardrobe. The process usually focuses on refining and elevating what you already own while identifying a few intentional additions that strengthen your overall presentation.
When wardrobe updates are recommended, they are aligned with your industry, leadership level, and professional goals. The emphasis is on creating a wardrobe that supports credibility and confidence rather than following trends.
Clients who complete image consulting often report stronger audience engagement, clearer communication, and a more confident executive presence. Because visual presentation and messaging become more aligned, professionals frequently find that their ideas are received with greater clarity and authority.
Organizations that implement image consulting across leadership teams may also see improved presentation consistency and stronger brand alignment in meetings, presentations, and external communications.
Yes. Image consulting can be delivered to leadership teams through workshops, presentation intensives, and communication alignment sessions. These programs help organizations ensure that leaders present a cohesive and credible brand when communicating with employees, clients, and partners.
When paired with leadership development programs such as Team Building or Professional Development Coaching, image consulting can strengthen both communication effectiveness and team cohesion.
Image consulting sits at the intersection of both. It supports identity development, leadership growth, brand positioning, and communication strategy simultaneously.
By aligning internal confidence with external presentation, image consulting helps ensure that who you are becoming professionally is clearly reflected in your presentation. Many professionals explore this process alongside Personal Development Coaching to strengthen both mindset and presence.
