The Business Gay Podcast with Host Calan Breckon
The Business Gay
The Business of Fashion with Joshua Pasquale
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The Business of Fashion with Joshua Pasquale

In this episode of The Business Gay Podcast, host Calan Breckon speaks with fashion stylist Joshua Pasquale.

Born in Canada, but seasoned in London and Paris, Joshua is a 26-year-old multifaceted fashion stylist and model. Hot off the heels of walking the runway during Paris Fashion Week, Josh received praise from many notable news outlets, including the Washington Square News, for his styling flair of the Vivien Sophie runway show.

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Links mentioned in this episode:

Key Takeaways for quick navigation:

  • [01:43] 🌍 Leveraging marketing for long-term strategy is crucial in the fashion industry; random bursts of opportunity can arise, but consistent tactics and strategies lead to success.
  • [03:35] 📊 Targeted social media advertising, even on a small budget, can significantly impact reaching the right audience and creating opportunities in the fashion world.
  • [08:27] 🌐 Taking risks and saying “yes” to opportunities, even when feeling unprepared, can lead to significant personal and professional growth.
  • [10:44] 🧠 Recognizing the importance of the long game and building a body of work over time is crucial for creative entrepreneurs; it’s not just about instant gratification.
  • [16:46] 🤹‍♂️ Embracing imperfections and understanding that the journey involves continuous learning and improvement is key in the creative process.
  • [23:41] 🤝 Collaboration over competition is crucial for success, as you can’t do everything on your own. Learning to collaborate can be mutually beneficial, especially in creative industries.
  • [25:06] 💡 Early entrepreneurs should dabble and learn about various aspects of business, even if they aspire to focus solely on creativity. Understanding basics like taxes and bookkeeping is essential for long-term success.
  • [26:29] 🔄 Mentorship is valuable; it doesn’t have to align exactly with your expertise. A mentor can provide unexpected insights, saving you from costly mistakes and contributing to your career growth.
  • [27:51] 🚀 Networking is crucial for success in creative industries. Genuine friendships and collaborations, rather than mere ladder-climbing, lead to meaningful opportunities and business growth.
  • [32:38] 😇 Kindness and genuine care for others go a long way in the fashion industry. Being passionate and polite will earn you respect and open doors, often more effectively than competitiveness.

Transcript

[00:00:00] Calan Breckon: Today’s episode is sponsored by ConvertKit, the email marketing platform for creators. Now I use ConvertKit, and I’ve been using ConvertKit for years because I found it was the most efficient and easy to use out of all the email service providers. And I’m a super efficient person, like efficiency is one of my core values, so it was a natural fit. ConvertKit simplifies your email marketing by combining powerful automations with an easy to use interface. I love using a visual automation builder because I’m a very visual person and it helps me to organize all my automations in a super simple and easy way. Automations are so important as a solo entrepreneur because it saves you so much time to just be able to set it and forget it and with ConvertKit’s automations, you’ll never have to worry again about your email delivery. When you create a sequence in ConvertKit it’s easy to switch between emails and editing in a single window, no pausing the sequence or clicking in and out of multiple pages in order to make changes. This is really important because I know some super annoying providers that once you set a sequence, you have to pause it in order to edit it. But then what happens if somebody signs up while you’re editing it? It just makes no sense. ConvertKit doesn’t do this to you, and it’s magical. ConvertKit also integrates with all of your favorite e commerce platforms, lead generation services and membership sites. I use mine with ThriveCart and my website and loads of other programs. Now the best part about ConvertKit is that they run on a sliding scale payment system so you can get started for as little as $9 a month when you learn all about its systems and how to grow your email list. And then as your email list grows, you will slowly go up in cost. But to start off with, it’s super affordable. You can get started with ConvertKit today by heading over to calanbreckon.com/ConvertKit or clicking in the link in the show notes. Now, before I jump into today’s episode, I just want to ask that you hit that subscribe button to show your love and support on whatever platform you’re listening from. Now, let’s jump into today’s episode.

Welcome to the Business Gay podcast where we talk about all things business, marketing and entrepreneurship. I’m your host, Calan Breckon, and on today’s episode, I have fashion stylist Joshua Pasquale. Born in Canada but seasoned in London and Paris, Joshua is a 26 year old multifaceted fashion stylist and model hot off the heels of walking the runway during Paris Fashion Week, Josh received praise from many notable news outlets, including the Washington Square News, for his styling flair of the Vivian Sophie Runway Show. I’m excited to dive into the world of fashion entrepreneurship with Josh, so let’s jump in.

All right, Josh, welcome to the show. I’m so excited to have you. How are you doing?

[00:02:49] Joshua Pasquale: I’m doing great, thank you. How are you?

[00:02:51] Calan Breckon: I’m doing magical. Thank you. So I’m really excited to jump into the business of fashion with you because we are going to be talking about things that maybe you wouldn’t necessarily talk about with, like, a fashionista or something, the quote unquote unsexy stuff about it, but it’s really what makes business happen. So getting into it, I want to know.

Getting to style and walk for the Vivian Sophie Paris Fashion Week show didn’t just happen by accident. So I want you to walk us through. How did all of that actually come together?

[00:03:24] Joshua Pasquale: It didn’t happen by accident, but it did as well. With marketing, you’re really looking at a long term strategy. A lot of people think that marketing will just lead to instant lead generation. But for the five plus years while I’ve been working as a marketer, specifically in social media with various clients, I would see just random bursts of opportunity, meet them, and I thought to myself, if I take these tactics and strategies and apply it to my own fashion on Instagram, especially with all the algorithm changes that we’re seeing with Instagram, the lack of reach.

I put in a paid strategy behind my posts, targeting European fashion capitals like London, Paris, Berlin, Milan, because a key part of marketing is knowing your audience. And throughout my entire life, European fashion professionals have always been really receptive to my brand of fashion.

So I thought to myself, you know, like, let’s take these tactics that have been working with these clients, apply them to my fashion and target European fashion capitals. And I was doing that over four months, and I would get some interactions with fashion professionals in Europe, but it wasn’t until my fourth month that I got the infamous DM from Vivian Sophie. That would change everything.

[00:04:54] Calan Breckon: Okay, so this is absolutely not at all what I was thinking, but I really love where you’re taking this. So marketing clearly plays, like, a huge role in fashion. Like, we all know that’s how everybody looks at fashion, billboards and all this kind of stuff.

[00:05:07] Joshua Pasquale: Yes.

[00:05:07] Calan Breckon: And that clearly translates over to you as an entrepreneur. So I want to dive a little bit deeper on this idea of being very specific and targeted with, okay, I’m going to post my stuff, my fashion stuff on Instagram, but then I’m going to use ads to target people I want to get in front of. So let’s talk more about that. Explain that deeper.

[00:05:32] Joshua Pasquale: It was my cat. He’s a fashionista. It happens.

Yeah. For me, it really was a game of trial and error and a B testing. I don’t view marketing and fashion as separate. And I always tell this to young artists, you can be the best artist in the world, but if you don’t know marketing and you want to make your art a business, it doesn’t mean a whole lot. And so it took the same strategies and tactics that I’ve been doing with clients over the years as a marketer, applying it to my own brand of fashion, getting the right target audience on Instagram for these paid ads. And the ads weren’t a lot of money. They were probably like $20 to $30 per month and just with high engaging posts. But taking the five plus years of experience in marketing has know this novice stylist and model go from pretty much unknown in Toronto, just like doing costumes, because I loved it at every nightclub that I could think of, to styling and modeling on the biggest fashion stage in the world at Paris Fashion Week. This. So.

[00:06:58] Calan Breckon: So I want to know more about that. So how did that infamous text come in? And what was the thoughts behind were like, oh, my God, it’s finally paying off. Like, things are happening. Tell me that story.

[00:07:10] Joshua Pasquale: I first thought it was a know because we get a lot of DMS in our Instagram being like, we want you to be our brand ambassador, and you’re always just like, OK, sure, whatever. But this one was a bit different because she was sending me voice memos. Vivian, the first thing she said was, val, you look so cool. And I’m like, oh, thank you. I love your brand. I love your brand of, I call them shoes or boots, but they’re actually leg know, they’re the shaft of the boot that are separate from the actual shoe itself. And I thought that was really unique and one of a kind. And she thought the same thing about me because of my really avant garde fashion. And she was the right target audience. And so we were talking for a bit, and then she sent me another voice memo being like, oh, wow, are you going to be in Paris October 1? And I’m like, I would love to be. I wish. Probably not. And she’s like, well, I just have this Paris Fashion Week show that I’m doing October 1. Would you like to model for it. And I’m like, what? A model for Paris Fashion Week. I just went to London Fashion Week earlier this year as a guest.

I’ve only been doing fashion seriously for the past year. Going from pretty much not even calling myself an entrepreneur to Paris Fashion Week in the span of four months was very surreal for me. And actually, I said no at first. I said, well, I don’t think I can do it right now. But then I stopped myself, and I said, this is why I’ve been making these ads in the first place. I’ve been waiting for my moment of conversion. And, baby, that’s the moment of all conversions, is Paris Fashion Week. So we had a call similar to this, and we just got to know each other. And she also said, I want you to model, but I also see your artistry. Do you also want to style for the show? And for me? I love modeling and I love design, but I call myself a stylist first. I’ve always known how to put together outfits and kind of be the bridge between different creatives, and that’s what a stylist does. Seo. I’m like, modeling itself is great, but styling, that’s really what I want in my portfolio because it gives me influence on everything that goes down on that runway. So it was an offer I couldn’t refuse, but that’s what I was looking for. I was looking for an offer I couldn’t refuse.

[00:09:42] Calan Breckon: I love that you recognize that you had been working towards this moment, and this is what people want, and in such a quick, short amount of time, and then you recognize, like, oh, no, this is what I want. Instead of saying no, because a lot of people hit that wall, hit that ceiling, and they go, oh, no, this is overwhelming. And they go, no.

[00:10:01] Joshua Pasquale: Or they say, I’m not ready for it. You’re never ready for it. And I wasn’t ready for Paris Fashion Week, but I gave it my all.

[00:10:09] Calan Breckon: And so what did you learn? That I want to know what doors did that open for you just by saying yes and moving in that direction, even though it was scary, because that’s what we are all doing all the time. We’re all scared of moving forward and doing the thing, but sometimes you just got to jump and figure it out on the way down.

[00:10:29] Joshua Pasquale: Because my background is also in screenwriting, I understand the hero’s journey. And after that meeting I had with her, where I signed the dotted line to say that I was going to model and style, it was the moment where I crossed the threshold. It was the point of no. Return. And for the entire, like I’m saying, every single day that summer, I was working on the show with her before I was doing my day job, during my lunch hours after work, doing Zoom meetings with professionals across Europe, meeting designers, working on the design, working on the creative direction of this show every Single day. And my know, God bless them, but they would be, Josh, like, take a break. And I’m like, take a break. I can’t take a break. This is my dream. But it also was like I was having so much fun, even though from an outside perspective, it looked like I was running ragged. When you love the work as much as you do, whatever passion it is, it doesn’t feel like work. So for the entire summer, while I was working on Paris Fashion Week, even the work itself, I wanted to pinch myself because I’m like, I can’t believe I am working with designers across Europe on an upcycled collection with materials that some of the materials have never been shown before on a.

So that is, the work itself is what I loved. I always say with fashion, I love the craft. I love the craft. Whenever I have to deal with the things in fashion that are not glamorous, because there can be a lot of things, it always goes back to the craft. And I feel like for anyone who has an artistic passion or anything, you have to get to the meat of why you’re doing this. And for me, that summer proved why I’m doing fashion.

[00:12:35] Calan Breckon: This leads perfectly into the next question, because I was going to say, what’s the hardest part about being a creative entrepreneur, and how do you overcome that?

And so would you say that that’s part of that answer?

[00:12:47] Joshua Pasquale: It definitely can know. I think the hardest part about being a creative entrepreneur is, again, back with marketing. It’s not always instant.

Even now, I’m working on some Toronto Fashion Week stuff, which I’m excited for, but I’m thinking to myself, okay, but what’s next after that? You’re always thinking to yourself, if I’m an entrepreneur, then that means I always have to be having an output of work. What do I do now?

And I think that for me, especially as a workaholic, I love my tenacity and my drive. But if I’m not working, then I think a lot of impostor syndrome can affect me. And I think that’s something to really wrap my head around, because after Paris, I was kind of depressed for a bit for a few weeks because you put so much work into something you’re passionate about, and then afterwards, you’re like, well, what do I do now? And there’s nothing wrong with taking a break. I have to tell myself that all the time and also to realize that your worth is not just your output.

I’m an artist no matter what. It’s just who I am. So I think that it can be very tricky for entrepreneurs who are looking for an instant lead or gratification or opportunity.

It will come to you. But just know that even when things are slow or not happening, you’re still an entrepreneur and you’re still an artist.

[00:14:29] Calan Breckon: And you’re still moving forward. That’s really important that I want people to really take note of, because I didn’t recognize this until later on in my career when I had done more things. But I was much like yourself, thinking ahead, like, what’s the next thing? I need to output, output, output, and chasing that thing.

And then it wasn’t until I actually had a body of work to look back on that I went, oh, okay. I’ve now switched my mental thinking into, I need to output, output, output to knowing that if I just keep walking, I will be developing a body of work. And that is the important part for me, is that I’m constantly evolving and developing that body of work, and that will happen organically and naturally as I continue to walk the path. So it’s like, maybe you don’t have the next fashion show in mind or that you know what you’re going to do, but you have this body of work you’ve now done. You’ve now worked in Paris, you’ve now styled the show, and that can be added to your portfolio. And the more things that add to that, it’s just the breadth of work and your body of work that you do, that’s really where you get to look back and go, I did that. I did that.

[00:15:45] Joshua Pasquale: And the show is not over. If anything, I always said, the real show happens after.

I was also working on the marketing of the show, sending out press releases and good old PR, because it’s not to be scoffed at. PR is very important, too, especially when the algorithms on social media are changing. It’s not the same as it used to be. And so I’ve sent out a lot of press releases in the past two months after Paris Fashion Week, and it led to even more opportunity.

And I always go back to, you know, RuPaul. We all know RuPaul.

He has a piece of advice that really stuck with me. He said that everything that I was saying when I was younger, I’m saying now, and it’s true, because if you look at his interviews back in the, like, our senior hall, he’s saying the exact same stuff. We’re all born naked. The rest is drag. If you can’t love yourself, how can you love somebody else? And he said, because I was doing that and I was consistent with it. It’s now paying off in my, you know, it’s about the long game. It’s not always about short term satisfaction. Paris, again, it wasn’t by accident, but it was by accident. So who knows what’s going to happen in the next four months?

[00:17:07] Calan Breckon: Yeah. And it is about the long game, I think, in our instantaneous world. I want it now. I want to experience now. I want to have it now.

The understanding of the long game and really working towards building that body of work behind you, especially as a creative and having that, that is the thing that gives me a lot of excitement and a lot of joy, because I also look at it as this podcast. I look at it as almost like compounding interest. I might only have a certain amount of episodes out right now, but I know that over a year I’m going to have 52 episodes, and over two years I’m going to have 104 episodes. And I’m not great at math, but it builds, and then that gives people more access, and then they can binge and go through, but I can’t get there unless I continue to do the work moving forward to do that. And I think a lot of people don’t recognize that. They want the instant win. They want it now. They want to do the thing. But if you’re not willing to put in the work and not see results for months, sometimes years, yes. If you’re not willing to do that and just hold the faith and know in your heart of hearts that it will pay off, that’s where the universe is testing you, going, like, unless you truly believe this will pay off one day, it’s not going to come to you.

[00:18:22] Joshua Pasquale: I didn’t call myself a stylist or model or designer until I went to London Fashion Week in February. And I had professionals in fashion validate me as an artist. And I’m like, you’re right. I remember I went out for dinner with this model once after this London Fashion Week show, and I was like, oh, I’m not really in fashion. I love it, but I’m just here as a guest. And she looked at me and she’s like, oh, darling, you are in fashion because I dressed to the nines for every show that I went to.

[00:18:53] Calan Breckon: You dressed the nines for everything.

[00:18:55] Joshua Pasquale: Everything.

But in the back of my head, I knew that every look that I was creating, even if it was just for like a New Year’s Eve party, it would pay off down the line because it was teaching me stuff. Last year, I might not have called myself a stylist on paper, but I knew that it was teaching me things. And I applied that knowledge when I was doing this Paris Fashion Week show. And I’m going to continue to apply that knowledge when I do Toronto Fashion Week in November or London Fashion Week next. Know, you don’t even need to have a name for it.

It’s brave to have a name for it. But it’s not so much about the name as the intention.

[00:19:39] Calan Breckon: That’s definitely, definitely. And also doing the work. Like it’s. Which came first, the chicken or the egg? Do you do the work and then you become the thing, or do you become the thing and then you do the work? It’s like, I’m a firm believer that you have to go through the process and do the thing, and through doing that, you become.

It’s like experts, they say they need like 10,000 hours to get to that. Like, a piano player doesn’t start being the best piano player in the world. They have to build towards that. Anything that you look at and go, wow, that’s amazing. Performers, all sorts of things, artistry, it takes time to get that expertise, to get there. There’s some people who are naturally talented who can Maybe do something well, but if you look at the edges, you can see, okay, well, they’re new, they haven’t learned this technique, they haven’t learned this thing. And that comes with time and through doing.

[00:20:29] Joshua Pasquale: When I look back at some of my posts and I’m just like, oh, I would change that if I had more resources, time and skill, but I didn’t know. But I will say this. I look back at every post that I’ve done with my looks that I’ve created and I’ll go like, okay, I would definitely fix this. Like, girl, what were you thinking? But I never scorn it because I always see the intention behind it. And if there is intention behind what you’re doing, other people will see that, too. It’s just elevating that.

[00:21:01] Calan Breckon: It’s just elevating exactly. Like, you’re not going to learn the lessons if you don’t go through it. So you wouldn’t have learnt that looking back and looking at that thing and be like, oh, I would have changed this or would have changed that had you not done the thing in the first place, you wouldn’t be able to have that experience to learn.

[00:21:16] Joshua Pasquale: Exactly. And I know so many people who get artist freeze where they are gripped by perfectionism, and I completely understand. But then they just don’t do it. They say no. Yes.

[00:21:30] Calan Breckon: So many, like, even starting this podcast and the podcast I’ve had before and everything else, people are like, how do you do this? How do you do that? It’s like, I just do it and I don’t think about the results of it and I don’t think about other people’s perceptions of it because people are going to shit on you left, right and center. It’s just no matter what people do, I’ve had hate. So much hate come at me for many viral videos that have happened on YouTube and stuff, and just the toxic hate that has come back and I just delete the comments and block them from seeing the channel because it’s like, I don’t have time to care about you, but that’s always going to be there. And it’s just a sad reality of the world. But you can’t let that hold you back from doing what you truly want to do and becoming what you truly want to become.

[00:22:15] Joshua Pasquale: Yeah. And I find that people like the raw edges.

They don’t like things that are too perfect, even in fashion. Because I can be a huge perfectionist. I have to remind myself that at some point you just have to go down the runway and burn it. And what will happen is what’s going to happen.

[00:22:35] Calan Breckon: Exactly.

[00:22:35] Joshua Pasquale: Chips will fall where they may.

[00:22:37] Calan Breckon: Exactly. And some people love it, some people won’t. But that’s what being a human is. It’s part of life.

What advice do you wish somebody had given you early on in your career?

[00:22:49] Joshua Pasquale: Well, I’m still fairly early on in my career, officially as a stylist. So I think that probably in like 20 years I’ll look back and give myself advice right now. But at the same time, I appreciate what I’ve done so far. I think the advice I wish I received was just don’t be scared to declare yourself something.

Because I think that I was wrapped up in the idea of output. And if I’m not like, I don’t know if I’m not in magazines or I’m not getting invited to these parties, and I’m not a stylist, I’m not a designer, I’m not a model. I’m just kind of like just this goofy kid who likes fashion. And I was so hesitant to tell people my official titles, because I thought that you had to jump through hoops. And now I realized that I was doing it all the time. And in retrospect, I had a lot of people around me actually being like, why don’t you do fashion? Even at my day jobs that were unrelated to fashion, they’ll be like, Josh, why don’t you do fashion? It was almost kind of like the last person to realize that was know. And then I had a light bulb moment, and I’m like, it was like, Sharon clueless when she’s like, I love Josh. It was me. It was me going, oh, I’m in, like, it’s not this peripheral world that I’m just interested in. I am in fashion, and I am.

[00:24:23] Calan Breckon: Know, and nobody needs to give you the permission to do that. You’re allowed to do that.

[00:24:27] Joshua Pasquale: No. If you are an artist and you have a craft and you have a point of view, then no one can take that away from you. No one.

[00:24:36] Calan Breckon: Exactly. I want to touch a little bit about the side of maybe fashion or being a creative that a lot of creatives don’t like, or at least a lot of creatives I’ve worked with don’t like is I like stability. I like working systematically and creating systems and actually doing PR and writing briefs and all those things. What advice would you give to creatives who maybe are like, I just want to be the fashionista. I just want to be the fashion person. I don’t want to do all this admin work.

[00:25:08] Joshua Pasquale: Then find a partner that can do that for you. If you truly cannot do it yourself, if your brain is just so creative and you feel like it’s going to hinder your creativity, partner up and collaborate. Throughout the entire summer, I said to everyone, successful people do not compete. Successful people collaborate. And that’s true. You can’t do everything on your own. And even for my career, eventually, I want people to run the admin. I want people to run the marketing. I want people to run the books, because right now, I’m kind of doing everything on my own. And that’s okay because I have the marketing experience and I have the professional corporate experience, but I just want to do creative stuff eventually. And that’s work in itself. That’s a lot of work in itself. And I’m a firm believer that creativity should be paid properly and should be valued properly because it is work.

And so, yeah, early in your career, you might have to do more of the admin, marketing, financial stuff, but there are talented people in the world. Who can take on that work with you. If you learn how to collaborate and work with people and then it can be mutually beneficial because not everyone’s creative. Exactly.

[00:26:33] Calan Breckon: And I would also recommend especially early entrepreneurs who are creative, who are just like, oh, I just want to be creative and not be bogged down by these other things. It is important to dabble and learn about what you don’t know. Because if you want to get to that big position in your life and you’re making millions and doing really well, you’re going to want to have a knowledge of how taxes work and how your bookings bookkeeping works because you could get screwed over SEO easily and many celebrities and many famous people do because they never took the time to genuinely learn and understand how it all worked. But by giving yourself that gift of learning that then it’ll set you up better for the future so that you can be even bigger and do even more.

[00:27:15] Joshua Pasquale: Or you just even have the humility to find the person that does know these things. They’re all around you, lawyers, accountants, whatever, marketers, and they can help you. Don’t think that if you don’t know something, yes, put yourself out there and try to have a basic understanding of it.

My marketing experience is going to be with me forever.

When I’m like a creative director of a major fashion house or even my own house, I’m going to be like, I don’t like that marketing strategy because I understand the bolts of it, but at the same time, you can’t do everything on your own and you don’t have to collaborate.

[00:28:00] Calan Breckon: Exactly. And mentorship, mentorship is really important. I know when I got my mentor, my first mentor, she was a bookkeeper and I was like, what is this going to like? I wanted somebody in marketing and these other areas that I wanted to learn about. But then when we got paired, the more we actually worked together, the more I was like, oh shit. I actually really need to know a lot of this stuff. And it’s actually really be really helped me along my career. We’ve just hit our two year mark of working together and I just expressed her. I was like, I am so grateful for you because you have saved me thousands of dollars in not getting screwed over and all of these things that, it’s like I didn’t see the connection, but I’m glad that I allowed myself to be like, well, let’s see where this goes. The universe is obviously delivering this for a reason. So if you’re creative and you’re finding looking for that partner or that mentor or somebody, it doesn’t have to be a specific way. It could be somebody completely offshoot because they might be helping you in a different way to get to where you want to go.

[00:28:59] Joshua Pasquale: How did you meet your mentor?

[00:29:01] Calan Breckon: I got a loan through the Futurepreneur program. And as part of their program, you have to be matched up with a mentor because they actually want you to be mentored on how to use the money appropriately and all that kind of stuff. So it was a great program. Shout out to futurepreneur.

Okay, so what advice would you have for other aspiring creative entrepreneurs moving forward?

[00:29:25] Joshua Pasquale: The advice is just advice that I always tell myself, and it bears repeating, collaborate, do not compete. It gets stuck in our head that because the arts are SEO called competitive, that we have to compete with everyone else, we have to be better than everyone else and we have to do everything on our own. That’s going to burn you out. And the arts and the fashion world, even in London and Paris, the fashion world is very small. Actually. The actual I getting a foot in the door is really important to meet these people. But then it’s also how do I cultivate these relationships so that down the line I get a phone call from someone being like, hey, do you want to style this show that I’m doing in Milan? And I’m like, yeah, I do like a river dirtie. Let’s get the like, of course I do. So it really is like, I’m lucky that I really like, know I’m going to a fashion networking event tonight around like seven. And even though the back of my head I’m just like, oh, I’m so tired. I’m like, no, networking is so important. And just being yourself, because these relationships are going to cultivate into something much bigger down the line and they’re super important. It’s okay if you’re introverted or more shy, but I meet a lot of designers who just kind of like stay home and work on their stuff and I’m like, well, you have to collaborate in this industry and if you truly can’t find someone who can, I was.

[00:31:07] Calan Breckon: Just going to say, bring it back to that notion. Find the person who does want to be the extrovert who does want to go to the parties and does want to do the things. I will agree with you that my business did not start taking off and doing really well until I started doing collaboration and until I started going to these networking events. And I want to be clear because when I first thought about it, I thought networking was kind of gross. Because I just looked at all these people just trying to climb the ladder. But then when I got into the world that I was in, I was like, okay, well, I just want to do business the way I feel good about. And for me, that’s just making genuine friendships. And from that, hoping that either maybe a contract comes from it or they point me in the direction of a contract, or they bring it around. And that’s what I focused on. And so I’ve made just genuine friendships, and that is how all the businesses ended up coming to me. And I had this realization that I was like, oh, shit. Networking is just a gross name they put on this. But really, it’s just making friends with people that you don’t know yet. And that’s how I look at it now is it’s just making friends with people in your world that you were like, let’s hang out. I’d grab a coffee with.

[00:32:14] Joshua Pasquale: Yeah. Mike. I got invited to London Fashion Week in February as a guest, which, again, very random. I wasn’t expecting that because I was just in London, in London, UK, not Ontario. I have to make that clear to people. I was in London for two months. I get this phone call from a friend who I knew from Vancouver when I lived there, and he’s like, kid, you’re the perfect mix of professional and fun. And I’ve really seen you blossom with your fashion. You want to go to London Fashion Week? And I’m like, yeah, it’s the top four fashion cities in the world. And he’s like, go dress up. Be professional, and give it your all. And I did, and it was gaggy. And I still have these. I met people who work for, like, Vogue, who are in Parliament working for fashion, and they’re still following me. And they followed me throughout Paris. It’s been like, how long? Since February. But they’re still invested because I went to London Fashion Week. I put myself out there. I was professional, but I also had fun.

[00:33:20] Calan Breckon: Yeah, you also have a story. Like, you have a story with your fashion and your personality. And I think that’s why we also connected, because it was like, I just saw you living your best life and just being, like, a. A nice person when I am around you and interacting with you.

[00:33:36] Joshua Pasquale: Thank you.

[00:33:37] Calan Breckon: Which is also what a lot of people don’t think. They think fashion is, like, caddy and cunty and bitchy, and you have to portray something. It’s the same with, like, drag queens. Sometimes they think they have to be fit, the aura.

[00:33:49] Joshua Pasquale: Those people don’t last long. I’ll tell you, the nicest people I’ve met have been in fashion. Yes, we’re vain creatures, but look at us. Why wouldn’t we be? But if you’re passionate and polite, you will be respected and you will go far in fashion.

[00:34:07] Calan Breckon: I always say kindness will take you miles further than anything else in your life. If you are just a genuine and kind person, like you genuinely care about people and you genuinely care about others, you will go way further than you ever imagined.

[00:34:24] Joshua Pasquale: Yeah, it’s not always like, devil, worse, Prada. If anything, my old corporate jobs, I think were a bit more cutthroat than fashion.

[00:34:34] Calan Breckon: Definitely corporate can be very cutthroat. What’s the next big things that you’re working on? You mentioned Toronto Fashion Week.

[00:34:41] Joshua Pasquale: Yes. That is mid November, 2023. I’ll be styling some shows, and I also am showing off some of my designs just on the red carpet, which I’m really excited for because right now I live in Toronto and even though I’m looking to relocate to London next year in 2024, it really is my Canadian home and I have found a lot of support in Toronto for my fashion. So I’m excited to support that.

I think, again, just networking, putting myself out there and making know, staying busy. I genuinely just love fashion. So for me, if I can spend the rest of my life debating with other artists how a hat should sit on someone’s head, I would be very happy. I’d Be very happy. How camp, how lucky. Honestly, I freaking love that.

[00:35:34] Calan Breckon: Where can folks find out more about you? If they’re interested in to see your fashion, watch what’s going on in your life. Keep up to date.

[00:35:41] Joshua Pasquale: Sure. My website is pasqualefashion.com and then you can reach me on my Instagram. Joshua Gpasquali no underscores, no nothing on my Instagram. And see my kaleidoscopic fashion.

[00:35:56] Calan Breckon: Perfect. And I’ll make sure to have that in the show. Notes for everybody who wants to check it out. Thank you so much for being a guest on the show, Josh. This has been magical.

[00:36:05] Joshua Pasquale: It’s been so much fun. Let’s connect soon.

[00:36:07] Calan Breckon: Definitely. And all the best to you on your fashion adventures.

[00:36:10] Joshua Pasquale: Thank you.

[00:36:12] Calan Breckon: Thanks again for tuning in today. Don’t forget to hit that subscribe button and if you really enjoyed today’s episode, give me a star rating. I would really, really appreciate it. The business Gay podcast is written, produced and edited by me, Calan Breckon. And if you’re interested in getting a free SEO website audit, you can head on over to CalanBreckon.com/audit and set one up with me. Or just click the link in the show notes. That’s it for today.

Peace, love, rainbows.

Calan Breckon
Calan Breckon

Calan Breckon is an SEO Specialist and host of "The Business Gay" podcast. He has worked with companies such as Cohere and Canada Life and has been a guest on the "Online Marketing Made Easy" podcast with Amy Porterfield as well as featured in publications like Authority Magazine and CourseMethod.

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