Like a lot of us do, Kayla Foxworth Matherne would sometimes catalog compliments from friends and loved ones as well-meaning flattery, the typical kindness that comes with companionship.

They wouldn’t think I’m that talented if they didn’t love me, would they?

Until one day, at her routine office job, a much older coworker more obsessed with sports than anything style-related off-handedly praised her wardrobe by saying, “Oh, you’re from New York, that must be where your fashion comes from.”

It was then that Matherne genuinely internalized the compliment. She meditated on it and how her stylistic eye may even be a strength that should direct more of her focus and career path.

“When your talent isn’t so obvious, like singing or painting are, take note when people notice it,” says the personal stylist and founder of oKay Threads. “Because that means something, and it has stood out to someone, so it could stand out to other people, too.”

While in a creative slump in early 2020, and unfulfilled in her day job, Matherne began flipping her vintage thrift shop finds after making modifications and conducting photoshoots with her college roommates. “That felt like play, seeing what worked and giving all these fun pieces a brand-new life,” she says.

A 2022 relaunch saw Matherne return with more carefully curated secondhand finds, but with a major focus on personal styling services. She never wants to style others just like herself, though. Her goal is to get to know each client deeply so she can build a wardrobe for them that matches not a certain fashion trend, but what each client wants to express.

She begins with an Enneagram-like questionnaire, and creative conversation sparks from there.

Her sister, a busy mother of three, was her first client.

“She felt in between so many things age-wise, style-wise,” Matherne says. “But she trusted me and that gave me so much confidence. You could see her confidence shoot up once we were done. Strangers now tell me the same thing, that they trust me.”

While the thrill of the thrifting hunt has never left her, Matherne finds joy in pouring over pictures and Pinterest boards and getting to know her unique clientele for whom she builds wardrobes of classic and versatile pieces that will stand the test of time.

“It’s been rewarding to allow myself to try new things and to be okay with it not working out,” Matherne says. “This could have fallen on its face, but it has been amazing to style people in a way that makes them feel good and authentic to themselves. So now the question is, What else can I do to push in this direction?”