Joana Meneses of Styling You Confident is a style strategist, and she's quick to point out that her work goes much deeper than colours and shopping trips. She starts with identity (how you want to be seen and what you want to communicate), moves on to personal branding, and only then gets to the fun part: the clothes. Her path there runs through 15 years in fashion retail, watching women lose confidence in the fitting room, and a patriarchal upbringing that told her women mattered less than men, a message she has been challenging ever since.

Why is a stylist on a tech show? Because, as Natalie puts it, we buy confidence. Joana explains enclothed cognition (the idea that what we wear shapes how we think, feel and act) and tells the story of a client who moved from the end of the boardroom table, where she was the one asked to turn the TV volume up and down, to the side where decisions get made, and went on to lead a department. They also get into decision fatigue, the 'pretty or smart' messages many women grew up with, and why dressing one notch above the expected dress code is a useful rule of thumb.

In the final part Joana shares practical tips for moving from a formal meeting to a relaxed networking event, explains why AI colour-analysis tools can get it badly wrong (lighting and what you're wearing in the photo both skew the result), and reveals that she worked only with men for her first couple of years in the business.

Guest: Joana Meneses, Styling You Confident (stylingyouconfident.com)

Recorded for The Technology Show on Voice FM 103.9, Southampton — broadcast 25 September 2026. Listen live on Fridays at 1pm. More episodes: thetechnologyshow.uk