Carmen Adriana's passion for fashion began when she was a young girl growing up in Florida. Along with the help of her mother, she designed and sewed all of her own prom dresses and the gowns she wore in the Miss Seminole pageant.
After graduating from Florida State University with a degree in music therapy she moved to New York City for an internship at the Terence Cardinal Cooke Healthcare Center. She quickly fell in love with the vibrant pulse of the city and with the great fashion sense of the people around her. And it was soon after that she rediscovered her love for fashion and sought employment in the industry. Her first foray into the clothing industry was a sales job at the Nicole Miller boutique. During her lunch hour she would walk around Fifth and Madison Avenues looking at the other high-end designer stores, thus reinforcing her desire to further her career in fashion.
Continuing to gain experience in retail sales, she later worked for Bloomingdales and then for Herni Bendel. Her next move in the industry was to the corporate side of fashion as an Account Executive at Carmen Marc Valvo.
Proving what a resilient person she is, she turned a downsizing post 9/11 into an opportunity take things to the next level and pursue a career in wardrobe styling.Her first job in the field was assisting celebrity stylist Philip Bloch – her first day on the job was assisting him at a fitting for Halle Berry (who was making appearances tied to her Oscar nomination for “Monster’s Ball”).Other celebrity clients that she worked with during her stint with Bloch included Christie Brinkley, Jim Carrey, the Dixie Chicks, Tracey Ullman and Laurence Fishburne.
In addition, she worked on photo shoots for magazines including Ebony (for the issue featuring Michael Jackson and the 25th anniversary of Thriller) and Essence (for the issue featuring Mariah Carey) and advertising clients including Revlon and Candies.
Taking what she learned from her firsthand experience working with Bloch, she quickly landed a job as the wardrobe coordinator for ESPN's morning show “Cold Pizza”. It was in this position where she first discovered she could carve a niche styling for television. During this time she also worked on HBO’s “Inside the NFL”, and gained a firm grasp on developing men’s wardrobe. She also worked behind-the-scenes as the stylist for the makeover segments on the syndicated talk show “Life and Style”, hosted by Kimora Lee Simmons. It was through this experience that she discovered she could “Change the world, One look at a time!”
Other television credits include serving as Rachael Hunter’s stylist for WE tv’s hit reality series “Style Me with Rachel Hunter” and four seasons at the internationally-syndicated series “Full Frontal Fashion” – where she styled style experts Lloyd Boston, James Aguiar, Judy Licht, Christina Ha, Shanon Cook and special guest hosts Carmen Electra and Beth Ostrosky. She also styled Nilou Motamed, Travel + Leisure magazine’s features editor, when she hosted ULTRA HD’s “Reservations Required”. Her costume designs were seen in ESPN’s 1940’s period short film called “Smashmouth Football” and she appeared on-screen as a style expert on The Style Network’s “Relationship Rehab”.
Currently she is consulting with Bloomberg News – where she just revamped the look for the on-air talent. In addition, she is Lloyd Boston’s head stylist, and prepares all the looks for his segments on “The Today Show”, “The Early Show” and “The Wendy Williams Show”. She is also styling AMC's short-form comedy series "Life Coach" featuring actress Cheri Oteri and a great cast of guest stars including CNN's Nancy Grace, Lewis Black, Kathleen Madigan and Mark Linn Baker. She also continues to style editorial photo shoots, and serves as a personal wardrobe consultant for everyday people from stay at home moms to CEO’s, and everyone in between.
