Conversations with Camellia Jade

Today we’d like to introduce you to Camellia Jade.

Hi Camellia, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
This has been a five-year journey to where I am right now. I didn’t know that this was going to be where My career would take me, but I’m so happy that it has. I feel like I have truly discovered my special gift and right now. I’m honoring that.

I began working with Style Finder five years ago as a social media consultant. We like to joke now that I didn’t know nearly as much as I thought I knew.
I joined the team during Covid. The brick and mortar was shut down to the public, so the company was in the midst of pivoting their in person business to be online. A major part of the success for the online component of the business was our weekly live sale shows.

Because I have a background and modeling a very easily hopped in front of the camera for product photos, as well as showcasing the clothes on the live shows. From there, it was a slow evolution to hosting the live shows, and taking ownership of photo shoots for new inventory.

When we look back at our old social media feeds, I just laugh. We hadn’t found our niche so we were doing what we saw all the other clothing boutiques doing – wearing clothes and recording dance videos.

During this time, Mary Michelle would work with clients at our brick and mortar to help them discover their style and revamp their wardrobe. She had one video go viral on TikTok, and after that everything changed.

We knew what our audience wanted to see. I started filming style sessions with friends. I was fortunate enough to have one of my videos go viral as well.
This was the video that Launched Our social media growth. I filmed a simple style tip about rolling the sleeves up on your jacket. Next thing I know within 24 hours it has close to 30 million views.

This was our approach for the next two years. Sharing style sessions online while hosting our daily live shows.

Something in me changed though. I felt a calling to be more vulnerable online. This is where my series is your body is not the problem. Your clothes are began.

I’ve been fortunate enough to have so many wonderful experiences through sharing my vulnerability online.

I’ve created new connections and community. I’ve received amazing opportunities to be on podcasts and stages. Best of all, this has been the most healing journey for myself.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I have struggled so much And so many different ways on this journey.

I’ve struggled with feeling secure and confident in who I am and what I’m saying and the advice that I am giving to my clients. I failed my style sessions and share them online, which has opened me up to so much criticism. We hear about the online trolls and how bad they can be, but until you are the person who has a video go viral you don’t know what it’s like.

This unfortunately developed a very toxic relationship between myself and social media. In a way I was looking for the negative comments and the criticisms because I knew if I started getting those types of comments that my video would go viral and at that point that was what was most important to me. Growing my audience at any cost, even if that cost included my own mental health.

I also struggled with toxic workplace environment.
One of the best things about working for a small business and a boss who gives you the freedom to try things is that the sky is the limit. There is nothing you can’t do. I was told all the time that if I made a mistake, but the intention behind it was good. It would be a learning experience and not a failure. I appreciated that so much.

The downside of working for a small business, especially when you care, Is that you know your work ethic and what you achieve affects the bottom line.

I wanted success. I wanted to growth. I wanted financial security. I knew what I had to do to get there.
This road will require long hours. This would require working on the weekends. This would require a extra effort that not everyone was willing to give. Unfortunately, because my personal goals were different than some of the members on the team this created friction.
This is the first time I’m really sharing this publicly and I’m trying to do so in a sensitive way, but this is my story and these are my feelings.

Relationships and friendships change. We all hear about how people come into your life for a reason or a season or a lifetime. What we don’t hear about as often is how difficult it is to navigate the change from for a reason to for a season.

There was a shift that happened almost a year ago. They gave me the freedom to step into more of my true self and my true being without feeling inhibited.
Going through this experience taught me a lot about how important it really is to have the right circle of women around you. The People you are around will either bring you down or lift you up. Through this experience, I was able to find the most amazing supportive, kind, caring, uplifting, inspiring, encouraging women. I put myself in the right rooms to find the right people. This is something I am so passionate about because I did not realize how much my external environment was holding me back.

My latest obstacle that I’ve overcome is finding the balance between giving the best of myself to others while also giving the best of myself to me.
What I mean by this is I’ve recently dealt with an extreme burnout. But I didn’t know it was burnout. I knew I felt depleted. I knew I felt tired, but I didn’t know how to fix it. I woke up every morning with night sweats and I would have to wash my sheets daily because I was so stressed. I wasn’t sleeping. I wasn’t truly taking care of myself. I was just getting through.

I had the opportunity to attend an amazing women’s retreat and do the internal work, and I realized that I was living to work, but I was not living for myself.

Since then, I’ve become more strategic with my time. I’ve given myself the grace to treat myself and do things that make me happy whether that is enjoying a wonderful cup of coffee and cuddling with my cats or working in my garden. Going for a walk outside with a girlfriend there is one of my favorite ways to reconnect and recenter myself.
I’ve also given myself permission to be silly. I’ve started sharing daily cringe, dance videos on my platform to show women it’s OK to be yourself and if people are judging you well then that says a lot more about them than it does about you. If they are judging you, it’s because they are jealous that you feel the freedom to be who you truly because they most likely feel like they can’t.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
am your body confident confidant
I am your friend that sees your struggles, That here’s your hurt, That helps you find fulfillment in your life.
I’m your stylish sister that reminds you to have fun with your fashion.

I’ve stepped into really sharing my special gift. I believe I have been put on this earth to just help women not feel so alone, to show them it’s OK to love their imperfect bodies, to find the courage to be vulnerable and not see that as a weakness, but as a strength because not everyone can show up with love and kindness in their heart.

Confidence and self love is the destination that I want to help everyone get to And style is the vehicle that I utilize to help us get there

My goals have shifted since I started working with StyleFinder Boutique five years ago. At first, it was just about helping women find confidence in their closet. Now it’s helping women find victory in vulnerability.

The moments I’m most proud of are after I’ve given a speech on a rage, led a workshop or had a conversation and I see that breakthrough in the woman who I’m speaking to. When I see the tears, I know that I have touched something inside of her, and she will be forever changed in some small or large way, and to be the person who has given her that insight is just the most incredible honor that I could have.

Is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers?
In February 2025, a friend of mine in Raleigh helped bring this this truly crazy vision I had to life. I did not know if this would be possible. The fact that we mot only made this happen But changed the lives of the 60 women who attended this event is something that I will never forget

I have been fortunate enough to heal some of my own body dysmorphia through the videos that I share online. I actually didn’t realize how bad my body dysmorphia was until I started comparing what I saw in the mirror to what I later saw on camera. Those two bodies were not the same.

When I was on a walk one day, I just thought to myself that it was so sad that I have been able to have this breakthrough, but I know so many of my friends are struggling with their own body image. I wondered if there was something I could do to change that And it was at this moment that the Self Love Slumber party came to life.

I didn’t know how I would pull this off, but I just saw this vision on my mind of women dancing freely in their lingerie and their bra and underwear and their pajamas and a dark space just having fun. I wanted to help other women feel confident in their skin. I wanted women to embrace their sexuality in a non-sexual way. I wanted women to find freedom in showing their skin And showing their cellulite and showing their belly rolls and showing their jiggle and to find it empowering versus something scary.

There were three components that were really important to me. I wanted a great DJ. I wanted a boudoir photographer to help women feel sexy and feel confident and feel powerful. I wanted a venue that was private, so everyone felt comfortable being vulnerable.

I attended an amazing conference in the fall, called the thriving women’s conference, which is hosted annually here in Raleigh and that was where I met so many encouraging women who helped bring this vision to life, including my party, partner Lucy founder of the crowded table club.

Recently, I was asked to think back on one of my happiest memories, and I can confidently say that standing in the room during the Self Love Slumber Party and just looking at round at all of the women that were smiling that were dancing that we were cheering for each other that we’re loving themselves Without hesitation was One of the best moments of my life.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/camellia_jade/