Modern life means facing decisions again and again—from what to wear to how to address a problem at work, the need to check yes or no is never-ending. Most choices are of the humdrum variety, but some forever change everything that comes after. In a new series titled "All the Difference," we ask women to think back on a decision they made that affected everything.
Caroline Issa is a known figure in the street style world, snapped at fashion weeks around the globe in outfits that are as unexpected and eye-catching as they are classic. And while her CV is up for the job—she's the fashion director of Tank magazine and regularly collaborates with fashion brands, sharing her styling skills with Pandora most recently—Issa wasn't always in the fashion world. Far from it, in fact.
"The decision to leave my well-paying, high-powered management consulting job to move to London to join a small, independent fashion magazine as their publisher—changing careers abruptly and going into an industry I had little practical experience with—felt like a big choice when I made it," she tells ELLE.com of the move to Tank and the editorial side of fashion. Rather than logging intern hours in fashion magazine closets, she got a business degree from Wharton, meaning that her on-the-ground training happened at a more executive level than it does for nearly anyone working in fashion.
Friends, family, and Issa herself worried about what felt like a drastic shift in her very secure career path. "They were concerned about [me] giving up the path I was already on and that my education had prepared me for a big unknown quantity," she says. And while pulling the trigger and booking the plane ticket might have been difficult, her sense of excitement and self-confidence ultimately allowed her to make the change.
"I knew that I would learn so much, that I could always leverage my learned skills as a businesswoman, and that the business I was heading into would require both the right and left sides of my brain: business and creative," she recalls. "It was a lot of learning on the job—and quickly—but because I was so interested, passionate, and curious, the high-pressure stakes were a pleasure every single hour. I worked harder than I ever did, and joined a business that to this day I cherish and am passionate about."
Street style skills aside, it's obvious that that decision was the right one. Besides Tank, Issa is the editor-in-chief of digital fashion magazine because and has worked on a clothing line with Nordstrom. Most recently she signed up to help Pandora celebrate the power of individuality.
"I was really honored to be asked to take part in Pandora's new campaign," Issa says. "I believe anything celebrating our individuality and personal style is a wonderful thing." In the accompanying video, Issa enters into a friendly competition alongside fellow stylists Micaela Erlanger and Rebecca Corbin-Murray to see who can best interpret a volunteer's personal style, offering up the sort of fashion know-how we might never have gotten if she hadn't decided to ditch job security in favor of style―and pursuing her passion.
