The Diamond in the Light: A Creative’s Guide to Hustle, Humility, and Finding Beauty in the Stillness
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In the vast universe of creative professionals, some artists possess a singular, focused talent. And then there are the rare gems like Loren Maring. As her longtime friend and
Style to Set podcast host Callie Blount beautifully describes it, Loren is like a diamond held up to the light; each turn reveals a new facet, a new color, a new pattern of brilliance. She is a multifaceted force with deep experience across fashion, branding, and design, known for shaping the identities of high-profile clients and major industry players.
At the heart of all her work is a gift for storytelling, whether through a perfectly curated space or a brand identity that feels like a natural extension of its founder. But perhaps her most powerful asset is a profound sense of calm that she carries into every project. In a candid and insightful conversation, Loren pulls back the curtain on her journey from the high-intensity hustle of the New York fashion world to the grounded wisdom she embodies today, offering a masterclass in navigating a creative life with grace, resilience, and an unwavering positive mindset.
The New York Hustle: Forging a Career on Couches and Denim
Like many young creatives with big dreams, Loren was called to New York City. "I always wanted to live there. So I was like, I want the whole experience," she recalls. It was a leap of faith; she moved with no job lined up and spent three months sleeping on friends' couches while she searched for work. At 22, fresh out of college, she was fueled by the raw energy and ambition that the city demands. "You have that energy and you're just like ready to hustle every single day," she says.
She took any gig she could get, including styling for a friend's photo shoots for "absolutely nothing". It was all part of the learning experience. The hard work paid off when she landed a coveted paid internship with Ralph Lauren—the first year the company had ever offered one. Working in their denim design and development department, she was thrown into the deep end of the fashion world. Her days were a whirlwind of activity: running errands, helping to "beat up" denim to create distressed looks, and visiting vast denim archives and vintage closets filled with jeans that were likely a hundred years old. She even made trips to factories in New Jersey to drop off items for dyeing, assisting the designers in any way she could.
One of the most awe-inspiring parts of the experience was simply being inside the Ralph Lauren headquarters, a building she describes as looking like a huge, luxurious hunting lodge. In a detail that perfectly captures the brand's larger-than-life persona, she reveals that "Ralph Lauren has an actual, full on barbershop on one of the floors," complete with his own personal barber. It was a fun, immersive experience where she made lifelong friends and got a real taste of how a traditional fashion powerhouse operates.
The Grind and the Burnout: The Reality of the Fashion World
After her internship, Loren continued to work under the Ralph Lauren umbrella, taking a job on the merchandising team for Club Monaco. Here, her work was meticulous and demanding. She was part of the team responsible for the flagship New York store, which set the creative and merchandising direction for all the other retail locations. The job involved constantly turning over retail spaces, ensuring every item was perfectly lined up and folded, and then photographing the entire store layout to be replicated by other branches.
It was a world of late nights and intense pressure. While she was in her twenties and had the energy for it, she soon began to see the writing on the wall. She was working crazy hours for very little pay, and it felt like "running your head against a brick wall". A sobering moment came when she learned that some of her colleagues had been at the company for seven years without ever receiving a raise.
"It was a good note for me," she reflects, "because I was like...Do I want to do that?". The answer was no. Loren thrives on new challenges and gets bored doing the same thing for too long. The rigid structure and apparent lack of growth potential, combined with a feeling of burnout, made it clear that it was time to move on. More than that, she felt a strong pull toward a new city. "I did feel really called to move to Nashville," she says. "I really felt like my new direction was outside of New York".
The Refining Fire: How Struggling Shapes an Artist
Looking back, Loren sees her time in New York, with all its hardships, as an essential part of her journey. "I think struggling is like the best thing for everybody," she says with the clarity of hindsight. "It's that refining process. It makes you better at your job. It makes you realize what you're good at, what you're not good at, what you want to handle, what you don't want to handle".
The struggle of New York gave her a deep understanding of the industry at a high level, an aesthetic education, and a resilience that would serve her well. When she arrived in Nashville, a city that has never been a major fashion hub, she came with a wealth of knowledge that set her apart. "It helped me be a bigger fish in a pond," she explains. She had a sophisticated understanding of product and process that made it easier for her to get jobs and establish herself in a new market. The struggle wasn't a setback; it was a launchpad.
The Stylist's Compass: How to Know What You're Good At
In Nashville, Loren’s creative career blossomed in new and unexpected ways. She found herself working in the country music industry, doing branding and celebrity styling. It was a wild and fun experience that involved everything from attending cool after-parties to safety-pinning an artist's pants right before they walked a red carpet.
It was also during this time that she began to develop her own photography skills, born out of a practical need. "I really want to style stuff, but I can't hire photographers all the time," she realized. So, she started creating little setups on her bedroom floor, teaching herself how to use a camera properly. Soon, friends and then companies started hiring her to shoot their products, which in turn honed her skills as a prop stylist. She eventually developed a comprehensive branding service, where she would create a company's entire visual identity—from branding to socials to product photography—ensuring a cohesive and beautiful result.
This period of trying many different things led her to a profound understanding of how to identify one's true creative strengths. She offers a three-part test for any creative person trying to find their path:
Does it light you up? The first question is always internal. "Do I enjoy it? Because if you don't enjoy it, I would say don't do it," she advises. You have to listen to that inner voice and pay attention to how a particular task makes you feel.
Are people hiring you for it? External validation is a clear indicator. "If people are hiring you over and over again for something, you're probably good at it," she notes. "It's like very rare that people pay for things that they don't like".
Do you have your own "knowingness"? Beyond enjoyment and external validation, there's a deep, internal sense of quality. "I know that didn't suck," she says, describing the feeling of creating good work, even if the artist's curse is to always think it could be better.
The Anchor in the Storm: Faith, Mindset, and Gratitude
The life of a freelancer is one of inherent uncertainty, with income and clients that can come and go. Loren navigates this reality with a powerful combination of faith, a disciplined mindset, and a commitment to gratitude. "I think faith is what gets me through that," she shares. "Knowing that everything's going to be okay".
She has learned to be logical in moments of emotional distress, reminding herself of her own history. "Have I ever not figured this out? No," she reasons. This track record of provision gives her the confidence to trust that things will work out. She also actively works on her mindset, choosing to assume the best in situations rather than giving in to worry, which she knows is counterproductive.
A key practice for her is gratitude. By reminding herself of what she
does have—a roof over her head, food in the fridge—she can shift her perspective even in the most challenging times. This act of gratitude, as Callie points out, opens a window to feeling loved and provided for, which in turn brings peace. For Loren, the difficult times are not just obstacles to be endured; they are invitations to rest, to trust, and to grow.
The Multifaceted Nature of Beauty
So, what does beauty mean to a creative who has worked in so many different mediums? For Loren, beauty is not a single, static concept. "I think beauty is multifaceted for me," she explains. "It's like the coming together of multiple senses".
It can be a visual harmony she notices when five random items are sitting next to each other in a pleasing way. It can be an auditory experience, like the heavenly sound of Cynthia Erivo's singing, which can move her to tears. And lately, as her life has shifted to a quieter pace in a small town on a river, she finds beauty in stillness. "I'm all about these like really beautiful, quiet experiences now," she says. "The stillness of life feels really beautiful to me when you can get that". In a world filled with noise and voices, these quiet moments are where she finds her truest sense of beauty.
