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Sharon Haver, fashion & style expert… so you asked about me?

Sharon Haver, founder & editor in chief of FocusOnStyle.com

Fashion Stylist. Syndicated Fashion Advice Columnist. Fashion & Style Expert. Editor in Chief. Web Site Founder. Shopping Guru. Spokesperson. Style Aficionado. Serial Home Design & Renovation Hobbiest. Wife. Mom. Poodle Lover. Style Mentor. And, then some.

Whoosh, that’s a lot of titles, but…

Why me?

If it’s ageless can-do chic that you’re after, I’m your girl.

I know, fashion experts online can be a dime a dozen these days.

And, I’ve been in fashion, beauty & style expert business over a dozen years times two- even have a Wikipedia page. But if you think about it, I’ve really been in fashion since the day I was old enough to remember.

My professional career spans three decades from a variety of vantage points in the New York fashion industry. It is based on my childhood desires to simply not look chubby (even as a small size 4 there was a fat kid lurking inside) and to wear the best clothes that flattered my curvy figure. Bonus Point: I got to wear Calvin Klein and Ralph Lauren at an early age- way before they had kid’s collections. Thank you, Loehmann’s!

My mom had a black belt in shopping and taught me everything I know about quality and finding bargains. She was a shopping guru long before it became a buzzword!

As the founder and editor in chief of FocusOnStyle.com, I help the everyday woman stylishly make the most of what SHE’S got by mastering simple can-do chic.

That first of many magazine covers that I styled. Of course, gazillions of diamonds (security guard to watch over) and extraordinary designer gowns are fun to worth with, but making an everyday look fantastic in her real life is far more rewarding.

Yes, can-do chic.

Not over-the-top glamour that is both unrealistic for the everyday woman but also impossible style to pull off and frustrating to try to attempt.

And, not safe and dated armor that makes any woman look years older.

I practice what I preach in that fashion is like a really good recipe. But, without having the best ingredients that you can find, the dish may not be so tasty.

Style is about the right mix and I can help you get inside to find what works for you.

I’ve done it professionally on photo shoots for 15 years. I’ve done it since 1999 online with FocusOnStyle.com. I’ve done it as a spokesperson and syndicated fashion advice columnist , and I can do it for YOU.

Yes, you can get your gorgeous on, if you let me help you.

Sharon Haver- no fancy photo; just one that you too can take too with an iPhone

What most of you can glean from my fashion resume, is that I’ve done a HELLUVA a lot in this industry. My Business degree is in Marketing & that has guided my entrepreneurial, yet stylish, spirit.

I’ve styled a series of VOGUE Mexico covers with major jewels and unbelievable couture. I’ve made polyester sweats look chic for the Vanity Fair Corp (yes, making cheap clothes look amazing is REALLY fun). I styled a gazillion catalogs and ad campaigns for big names that are probably in your closet.

I’ve even been featured as the on-camera style guru for my very own national Macy’s commercial. I worked for major brands, like Avon, where I realized that the secret of anti-aging for me is in a little jar called Anew that isn’t a high-priced miracle wonder.

Actually, I worked a lot on scads of styling jobs. What I remember most are not the fancy photo shoots but the fun I had with my friends from a variety of walks of life.

You know why?

Because fashion is not about what you’e wearing that particular moment, but by the style that you live your life by. Style is bigger than a particular piece of clothing. It the sum of the parts of the image that you project and the love of life that you have. It is also the ability to master an ageless age-appropriate look by wearing clothing that flatters your figure.

This may sound like fashion sacrilege, but I’m not thrilled by only watching a fashion show (well, most), but I am absolutely blown away about seeing how the right clothes can make a woman look outstanding– looking great gives that us that extra boost of self-confidence that we can all use to make our hectic day go a little bit easier.

I spent a lot of time as a stylist on photo shoots- 15 years- and prepping, propping, and faking skinny, young (and not so young) tall girls who were born extremely photogenic to look amazing in a photograph, along with an expert team of a hairstylist (always love Gad Cohen), makeup artist (Brad Boles and I go way back) , photographer, art director, my fabulous assistants (Miss J. Alexander, Phillip Bloch, Michael Alan Stein, Veronika Ming, JoAnne MacFarlane) for schelpping & prepping & being creative & making me laugh, and those clothes that I brought, all to make this string bean girl–who knows how to twist her body to look more amazing– really look to die for! Oh yeah, and then there is a retoucher to make it all appear even more perfect.

That’s not life- that’s fantasy. But by implementing the professional tricks used to create that fantasy, anyone, everyone can look more beautiful, in THEIR life. That’s what I try to do at FocusOnStyle.com by sharing my insider tips and tricks to help make the most of what you’ve got.

As a photography fashion stylist for a cornucopia of clients for over 15 years, Sharon enhanced the look of magazine covers/pages, catalogs, advertisements, commercials, industrials, and visual imaging. Her score of styling accounts included Ladies Home Journal, Vogue Mexico, Us Magazine, Live! With Regis And Kathie Lee, A Current Affair, Avon, Macy’s, Sigred Olsen, Candies, Le Tigre, Perry Ellis, Pepsi Cola, VF Corporation (Basset Walker, Hathaway, Lollipops, Lee Jeans, Skeets, and Cottonworks), Gantos Department Stores, Bamberger’s, GTE, BMG Music, IBM, Manufacturer’s Hanover Trust, RJ Reynolds, Lady Manhattan, Oleg Cassini Suits and Night, Evan-Picone, Merona, In Fashion Magazine, Gunnar, Zoom, American Photographer, Soap Opera Weekly, and others .

And then there were the celebrities who were born without the benefit of having gargantuan proportions to fit a sample size but instead had egos to match the length of an average model’s legs and then some. Actually, some were very sweet but way shorter than a sample size and a plethora of styling and fit issues.

As a stylist, besides styling fashion models, I dressed people of different different sizes and shapes including here, on the set with basketball legend Wilt Chamberlin.

As a stylist, besides styling fashion models, I dressed people of different sizes and shapes including, here, on the set with basketball legend Wilt Chamberlain.

Sharon had the pleasure of starting her career as a fashion expert by dressing some pretty famous bodies as a fashion stylist on photo shoots, including Rebecca Romijn, Kelly Ripa, Famke Jansen, Elle MacPherson, Wilt Chamberlin, Tracee Ellis Ross, Debbie Gibson, Willow Bay, Kyra Sedgwick, Sally Kirkland, Judy Tenuta, Kathleen Kinmont, Tim Robbins, Jonathan Silverman, Miss USA contestants, soap stars, models, and more.

Back in my day of being a stylist, it was NOT a profession where you would YOUR face in front of the camera. It was a behind-the-scenes occupation to make the clothes to look to die for and covetable so that the consumer would want to buy them. Yes, there were very “editorial” shoots too (BTW: They pay the lowest) but stylists were not camera hogs, but the behind the scenes genius that made the look right.

So cryptic was this transformation “magic” that I found myself explaining what I did, and how anyone could get those results if they knew the secrets, to women at almost every party that I went to- yes, I went to A LOT of parties, and clubs, and night life hoopla.

A rare photo of me on a photo shoot and it’s becuase it was in a magazine! New Woman magazine did a feature story about me and here I am in a snippet photo as a stylist on the set with Brad Boles (FoS contributing editor at large) on makeup & North Rebis on hair. Yes, I still wear my Yoji Yamamoto shirt that I have on ! I kept my stylist scissors in a holster belt.

I found myself explaining what I did to women who appeared to to otherwise cool and savvy that looking gorgeous wasn’t reserved to genetically gifted models but to anyone who knew how to make the most of what they’ve got with some GOOD styling tricks. Ya know, even Danny Devito in a dress could look amazing with the right glam crew!

Based on this, I pitched a how-to fashion advice column to the Scripps Howard News Service and it got picked up! A newswire of 400 daily newspapers receive my column every Tuesday! I wasn’t styling models, but helping the everyday woman make the most of what she’s got…. and that was far more rewarding than the big paycheck from being a fashion stylist.

In the past, as the headliner for its weekly fashion package, Scripps Howard News Service newswire distributed FOCUS ON STYLE to nearly 400 daily newspapers and websites. A selection of newspapers that featured the newswire column: ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS (Denver, CO), COLUMBUS DISPATCH (Columbus, OH), THE BIRMINGHAM POST, (Birmingham, AL), THE PRESS-ENTERPRISE, (Riverside, CA), STANDARD TIMES (New Bedford, MA), NAPLES DAILY NEWS (Naples, FL), STUART NEWS/PORT ST. LUCIE (Stuart, FL), SOUTH KING COUNTY JOURNAL (Kent, WA), READING EAGLE TIMES (Reading, PA), DECAUTER DAILY, (Decauter, GA), REPUBLICAN AMERICAN (Waterbury, CT), MOBILE PRESS REGISTER (Mobile, AL), THE TENNESSEAN (Nashville, TN), THE DAILY REPUBLIC (Fairfield, CA), MORNING NEWS (Florence, SC), ROCKHILL HERALD (Charlotte, SC), DAILY JEFFERSONIAN (Cambridge, OH), DAYTON DAILY NEWS (Dayton, OH), INDEPENDENT (Massillion, OH), ALLIANCE REVIEW (Canton, OH), CRESCENT-NEWS (Defiance, OH), THE DETROIT NEWS (Detroit, MI), THE SUNDAY PATRIOT NEWS (Harrisburg, PA), QUAD CITY TIMES (Davenport, IA), GLOBE-GAZETTE (Mason City, IA), SIOUX CITY JOURNAL (Sioux City, IA), ABILINE REPORTER-NEWS (Abiline, TX), UNION LEADER (Manchester, NH), PITTSBURGH POST GAZETTE (Pittsburgh, PA), HERALD-STANDARD (Uniontown, PA), BUCKS COUNTY COURIER TIMES (Levittown, PA), DAILY LOCAL NEWS (West Chester, PA), COURIER EXPRESS (DuBois, PA), STAR HERALD (Scottsbluff, NE), STAR PRESS (Muncie, IN), TRIBUNE (South Bend, IN), NEWS TOPIC (Lenoir, NC), MORNING NEWS (Florence, SC), SUNDAY ENTERPRISE (Brockton, MA), SUN (Lowell, MA), WATERVILLE SENTINEL (Central Maine), SUN HERALD (Biloxi-Gulfport, MS), NEWS PRESS (Stillwater, OK), DAILY CAMERA (Boulder, CO), DAILY NEWS (Jacksonville, NC), DAILY BREEZE (Torrence, CA), SACRAMENTO BEE (Sacramanto, CA), SUNDAY MERCURY (Guelph, ON, Canada), WAN Online (World African Network), PEEKABOO online.

Then, I had my son, got married and wanted to be at home with my new family. The internet beckoned, it was January 1999, and starting FocusOnStyle.com allowed me to be a mom and work crazy hours when my son was napping to serve the everyday woman master can-do chic!

Fooling around on a Ladies Home Journal cover shoot with Gad Cohen. Stylist tape as a necklace.

Fooling around on a Ladies Home Journal cover shoot with Gad Cohen (FoS contributing beauty editor). Stylist tape as a necklace.

I started the site as my part-time job and it took on a life of its own. People keep coming to the site, traffic grew and grew from my newspaper reputation, reporters called to interview me, and the next thing I knew, FocusOnStyle.com was a REAL web site and my full-time business. I became a frequently interviewed fashion expert in the media.

>>RELATED: The business of FoS interview

TV, Video and Radio Sharon has been seen in starring as herself in her own Macy’s national television commercials as the fashion guru and fashion spokesperson in the store’s fall advertising and marketing campaign. She has been heard on the airwaves as the Beauty Spokesperson- Syneron reFirme national Radio Media Tour.

Television, radio show, and video appearances include: Martha Stewart Living Radio, Emeril’s Table, Morning Living, Daybreak USA, USA Radio Network, Living Today with Kerry Nolan / Martha Stewart Living Radio, About.com Video, BBC World Service, CBC Radio, The Buzz Factor, Growing Bolder, UPN9 News features, the upcoming ExpoTV, The Best of Beauty, Swedish Radio, a semi-regular on The Working Mom On The Run, American Journal, and The Montel Williams Show, and (how can you not mention?!), The Joe Franklin Show turned to her as an on-air fashion expert, as well as local programs. Rush Limbaugh as even quoted her! Sharon has been seen in starring as herself in her own Macy’s national television commercials as the fashion guru and fashion spokesperson in the store’s fall advertising and marketing campaign. She has most recently been heard on the airwaves as the Beauty Spokesperson- Syneron reFirme national Radio Media Tour. Sharon is seen as the Cashmere Shopping Fashion Expert in the how-to series on HowDini.com and as the FirstWivesWorld.com Fashion Expert sharing tips on “Perfecting Your Post-Divorce Dating Wardrobe” and the video, “What To Wear On The First Date — The Second Time Around” with host Debbie Nigro. The Sharon Haver for About.com 7-part fashion how-to video series was filmed in Barney’s new York and Lord & Taylor. Sharon hosts Focus on Style-Talk Radio on BlogTalkRadio.

I got to star in my own national Macy’s commercial.

As a quotable media style and fashion expert, Sharon’s been interviewed in Women’s Wear Daily (WWD), Entrepreneur Magazine, The Financial Times, USAToday.com, WeightWatchers.com, WebMd.com, MSNBC.com, LifetimeTV.com, The New York Times, New York Post (New York, NY), The Daily News (New York, NY) Chicago Sun Times (Chicago, IL), Los Angeles Times, (Los Angeles, CA) Real Simple Magazine, CNN.com, CNBC.com, Kiplinger’s, ELLE, Gourmet Magazine, FAMILY CIRCLE Magazine, Women’s World Magazine, National Jeweler, Tiger Beat, Twist “Crimes of Fashion– Style on Trial”, Tango Magazine, Bop Magazine, New Woman, NY Newsday, The New Yorker, Mode, Star, The National Enquirer, The National Examiner, Tribune Media Services, Copley News Service, Denver Rocky Mountain News (Denver, CO), The Press- Enterprise (Riverside, CA), Palm Beach Post (Palm Beach, FL), The Post-Standard, (Syracuse, NY), Naples Daily News (Naples, FL), Indianapolis Star (Indianapolis,IN), The Post-Standard and Syracuse.com (Syracuse, NY), Albuquerque Journal (Albuquerque, NM), San Antonio Express-News (San Antonio TX) , The Miami Herald . (Miami, FL),The Seattle Times (Seattle, WA), Edmonton Journal, (Edmonton, Canada, The Herald Sun (Australia), Daily Mail (London,U.K), and more. (see full list of press clips)

I started my online business way before it was cool to have a blog; light years before there was even something called a personal style blogger. My degree in business has come in handy to keep my entrepeural spirit alive, and my dedication to help you make the most of what YOU have got is what really keeps me going.

Thanks for reading and I hope you will become a regular here, if you are not already.

Don’t forget to sign-up for our free newsletter so you can stay in the loop with FocusOnStyle.com, the all expert fashion beauty & style guide for women savvy enough to know what they’re talking about!!

xoxo on style,

S.H.