All you have to do is meet Bev to know that you trust her. This is not a hobby with her. She's well educated and well trained and she's so professional, yet you also have the feeling that she's so interested in making this the best experience for you. She's really in your corner. And she's a teacher - she doesn't just tell you what looks best on you, she helps you understand why, and that's valuable.

I would have to say the thing I found most useful was going through my closet. I loved it all, but going through my closet, there was just a lot of teaching going on. It let me understand why I didn't feel comfortable in some pieces. The best part was that she put all kinds of things together that I would have been afraid to put together, and she made a record of it and emailed it me. So if I'm wondering what to wear with a certain sweater, she's given me three or four outfits that go together using that sweater.

I went shopping with her, and I don't know that I'll ever go shopping alone again. I look back and realize how much money I've wasted getting things that look okay, but weren't my best look. And I can save time and money, just shopping with her.

I've just really loved how I get caught up in her enthusiasm. It's always there, her attitude and her joy in making things work for you. She's offering to open up and expand your world - and she's there encouraging you.

I get a lot of compliments. They don't say, "That's a pretty top," they say, "You look fabulous!" I feel like that's because she's put it all together to make it reflect my best look!

Diane Schmidt, Weight Watchers Leader and Women's Size Specialist for the Dina Porter clothing gallery, Chapel Hill, NC

I feel so supported by Bev and how much she cares, in great detail, about me and the people she serves. I've rarely met someone who is so thoughtful and giving, both in the material sense and in the heart sense - she has enormous generosity of spirit. And she has enormous patience with my endless questions! Bev is a wonderful person.

Now that I know what colors are my best ones, and how to use them as well as the styles that are best for certain situations, I can go into a store and it takes me a tenth of the time to eliminate what I don't want and to focus on what I might want to consider. It's more fun to shop that way! And when I do buy something I know why I'm buying it, I know it's flattering for me, I know it has a purpose in my wardrobe, and I know it enhances my coloring and how I want to portray myself.

I've had extremely frequent feedback from others who've made comments on my appearance since I've been working with Bev. It's amazingly cool. People come up to me and say things like, "Helen, your eyes are incredible!"

Bev brings to her work an enormous background of experience, a high degree of intelligence, a deep sensitivity toward women, and simply a love of what she does and who she works with.

The joy and peace in my heart that I have from looking and feeling so good has been well worth the time, money, and effort.

Helen Spielman, Performance Anxiety Coach, PerformConfidently.com, Chapel Hill, NC

I'd never known that image consultants existed, or that I could afford one, or that I would ever use one. And I didn't want to waste money with any service!

Bev has something about her -an energy, a charisma, an aura - that's welcoming and warm. She's not intimidating at all.

She takes feedback. She listens to you. She really hears you. And she's very willing to change and adapt to what you're asking. Everything she says is always a suggestion and an option. And I always know why I'm investing my money.

I see how the colors I thought looked good on me, don't look good on me. And I see the colors that do - that really do. I feel better about what I'm buying. Because I know I'm going to look good in it, I feel good about the money I'm putting into it. And of course, you always ask your husband how do I look, and he'll say something that totally supports what she's told me.

Her expertise and her ability to educate and communicate the care that we want to put into ourselves - that's what I've taken away from every experience. Every time I see her, I learn something.

Having your colors done is an investment in your life! As ladies, we're always looking at clothes, at our own clothes, at our peers' clothes - we're always looking. I would say the one piece of advice I would give someone who's thinking about working with Bev is, why not? Why not give her a try? You don't need to feel obligated to fall in love with it right away the way I did!

Jamy Malialani Albo McGee, MA, HFS, Health Education Director, University of North Carolina Wellness Center, Chapel Hill, NC

Within five minutes of meeting Bev, I was so impressed with her ability to really get to know the person she's working with. Her whole concept is about letting people see who you are.

The knowledge and confidence that Bev brings to working with you allows the experience to be more one of fun than of work. And when I say fun, what I mean is, there's lightness, humor, acceptance. She takes what might be a very delicate, intimate experience and makes it fun. She's really willing to be all out, totally there, all herself.

There were times I may have said something a little judgmental about my body, and Bev would find a way to bring it around to something positive. She's very mindful about how she uses words when she speaks with you about your body. It's always in the positive, it's always supportive. I felt safe. So, you know, it helped me with my acceptance of my body.

And you can see how much she loves what she does!

My eye for what looks good has changed. I just don't buy things that aren't really it any more, because now I know what it is. I spend less time agonizing over shopping and clothes and accessories. And I definitely feel better about the money I spend!

If you want to look your best and feel your best, you owe it to yourself to do this. This is an investment in yourself. This is about learning about you. What looks best, what feels best, what you like - it's an investment in your personal growth.

I've referred quite a few people to her. I just say, you have to go. And then I'm amazed all over again by how much better someone can present herself!

Jennifer Albrecht, InBalance, Inc., Enlivening Wellness by Promoting Positive Change, Raleigh, NC

What was really interesting in working with Bev was how she took into consideration not only my body composition, but who I am. She got into, what kind of person do you think you are? What kind of clothing do you feel comfortable in? What sort of work do you do?

She listens to you. And that would be with her eyes and her ears and her other senses. She hears where you're coming from in terms of your budget or your perspective on life, and with regard to the clothing you're currently wearing and how you want to look different. She's just very attentive to all elements of who you are and how to reveal that.

Going shopping is much easier and more fun. I think it's the training to go into the store with your eyes kind of squinted towards those colors that you know are good for you, so you don't waste time looking at other things. She encourages you to think creatively about the matching of colors.

And the skincare products she's given me have really improved my rosacea - the redness - that's been a real boon.

I owe Bev a debt of thanks for helping me make the passage into middle age an upbeat experience!

Joan M. Pellettier, MA, Durham, NC

Bev is very different from other stylists I've seen. I've gotten advice from other people about clothing, hairstyle, makeup. Those solutions never worked for me. I had a sense there was something missing from those consultations, and when I met Bev, I could finally put my finger on it - it's because it wasn't part of my whole life. Those people weren't addressing me as a whole person, they were looking at just my skin, or just my hair, or just my clothes. With that compartmentalized approach, I never was all together.

I wasn't looking for an extreme makeover - I wanted something that was much more organic and unfolding, and that's what I could sense about Bev. She doesn't approach it as a one-time fix-it solution - it's a journey of the soul, and that really appealed to me.

It's like, you bring in this rough piece of coal and you say, Okay, Bev, this is what I'm working with, and she helps you turn it into gold. It applies to so many other parts of life, so in many ways, it's nothing about clothes, hair, makeup - it's about selectivity and being able to refine what works for me, being able to refine what I want, being able to create that vision and move towards it.

I have this weird relationship with my body. I love and accept it, and I also often feel very frustrated by it. So I wasn't sure I was ready to have my body be a subject of evaluation. But that concern went out the window as soon as I met with Bev. She has an amazing way of speaking the truth with great compassion and affection, and of asking the right questions. She's the perfect combination of somebody who's going to talk to you straight, but also with great kindness and empathy and warmth. This has helped me relax. I know she hears me and sees me as a whole person, not just as the body or the clothes sitting in front of her on any given day.

For example, I've had a love-hate relationship with my asymmetrical jaw. Bev offered me a choice: you can decide to counteract it, and that's totally fine - or you can decide you want to play it up, and that's fine. And sometimes I choose to play it down, and other times I choose to play it up.

Bev has given me a lens through which to see more about myself, and I value this beyond anything else. She literally and figuratively held up the mirror and asked, "What do you see?", and then helped me put words to that. It's been profoundly important to legitimizing who I am.

I always had an instinct, I always knew certain things looked better on me than others. Working with Bev helped clarify what those hunches were, and validated my innate ability to pick things out - and that in turn strengthened it. It's so much more efficient, and such a better use of all of my resources - time, energy, money - now that I know what I'm looking for, what's going to work for me. It really cuts down on mistaken purchases!

I just don't have the frustration in the dressing room any more because I know why something's not working when it's not working. Instead of having generalized dressing-room angst, I can say, that doesn't work for me because it's polka-dots - or whatever. And I can explain that to other people, which means they can help me find what I need a lot quicker.

I understand now that I have endless choices of what will look "right." Paradoxically, this variety and freedom comes from knowing what will not work for me. Because I know what color and style palette I'm working from, I can focus on the fun of creating combinations within that palette. Having a palette removed the clutter and streamlined the overwhelming world of conflicting advice and possibilities.

That's true with makeup as well. I don't have to have a ton of makeup that's semi-working. I have a streamlined wardrobe, and I have streamlined makeup, and the same with my hair. There's not a lot of trial and error left, so any of the things I'm doing are just for pure fun. I have an essential foundation, so everything I get to add on is play, pleasure, fun. It makes life so much happier!

The tools Bev has given me transformed what had been a befuddling experience of dread and frustration in the dressing room into a creative endeavor. I now think of clothes shopping more like buying art supplies for an ongoing and ever-evolving art project (me!). The despair of trying to fit into the current marketplace concept of fashion and knowing that it will never be possible is gone. Now I get to focus all my energy on drawing out and communicating the aspects of myself that make me feel unique, excited, proud. While I'm still far from the masterpiece that I have in mind as the desired end result, I now know how to do something every day that supports the true me and communicates that to the world.

Bev shows you the universal quality of the experience - this is tough for everybody. Everybody is coming to this with their own set of frustrations, issues, concerns. It was so comforting to realize immediately that this wasn't about trying to fit myself into some pre-prescribed fashion magazine concept of style. She gives you the skills to create your authentic style as opposed to trying to fit yourself in, and that's a huge relief.

You know anything she says is completely honest. This is not a pep-you-up superficial change or conversation. There's a real honesty and integrity to anything that Bev communicates. She's there as an advocate and a teacher, and she's going to be honest without being harsh. Her personality has a perfect intersection with frankness and being completely supportive. And it's that particular intersection that I so appreciate.

Bev's passion for this work, her full dedication, belief, and passion for what she's doing is infectious. I walk out of her office feeling more energized - it's like going in and getting a little charge from a battery. There's a real advantage to working with somebody who's that excited about what she's doing, so it goes beyond the practical information.

Kara Curtis, Raleigh NC

One concern I had was whether she would apply her style to me. I'd looked at Bev's website, and I think she looks darling in all her things, but they're not the kind of clothes I would wear.

And it turned out that's one of the things I liked most about working with her. She has this knack for figuring out who you want to be, and then helping you present yourself that way. It's one of the mysteries to me about what she does, because I think it would be very difficult to take such a wide variety of people and be able to see things that work for them - for who they are - but that's what she does.

I love having my colors done because it simplifies shopping so much. I can focus in on things that are going to look good, colors that really highlight me, and I feel very confident that I'm wearing a pulled-together outfit.

Before, I spent so much money on clothes, and still felt like I didn't look pulled together. Now I feel like my money is so much better spent than it was before. I've already worn everything I've bought with Bev several times - and it's been just a few months!

She puts you at ease right away, and she's very light-hearted about all aspects of it. She makes it very easy for you to participate. It's totally worth it. And it makes you feel so great. She makes the whole thing fun. I just love her!

Linda Coerr, Durham, NC

I'm a plus size person and hard to fit, so I wouldn't normally look for someone to help me with an image kind of thing. I love color, and over the years I've figured out what I can wear and what I can't. So I wondered, is it worth it for me to take the time or spend the money to go do this?

Bev's underlying philosophy is that she's helping you let people see the real you. She's not trying to turn you into something that you're not or disguise who you really are. That honesty and that feeling that nobody was going to try to make me do anything that didn't reflect who I am was very powerful for me.

Having my personal color fan done has helped so much - I'm making better choices. There are a lot of colors I love, and I gravitate towards those colors in the store, but what appeals to me most isn't always the right choice. I'm doing a better job of what I buy because I'm sticking more to what looks best for me!

She's not about trying to make you spend money that you may not be comfortable spending. She gives you really good ideas about things to do and how you can have less pieces and make them work bettter for you.

She makes you feel good about yourself. Everyone has something about themselves that's not their favorite thing - and women are really tough on themselves. Bev is so positive - you walk away feeling so good!

Pam Riley, Duke University, Durham, NC