Today we’d like to introduce you to Katie Mann.
Hi Katie, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I’m a Kansas City transplant who has completely fallen in love with this area. My husband Jeff and I have moved our three kids to four different cities over the years, so reinvention has been a consistent theme in my life. Every move required rebuilding community, reestablishing identity, and often rethinking my closet right alongside it.
Change has shaped me more than anything else.
I began my career as a high school history teacher. I loved teaching. I loved helping students think critically, draw connections, and see how pieces fit together to tell a larger story. When we moved to Ohio, I fully intended to continue teaching. Instead, I was told I was too expensive due to my experience. Districts had plenty of newly graduated teachers they could hire at a lower cost. It was abrupt and humbling. A career I cared deeply about ended in a way I did not expect.
That season forced me to rethink what I was building and who I was becoming.
Out of curiosity more than strategy, I applied to Stitch Fix as a stylist. During the interview process, I vividly remember standing in my closet feeling like I had nothing to wear. Not because I lacked clothes, but because my life had shifted and my wardrobe had not caught up. That experience became a defining moment. It gave language to a feeling I now see in so many women. The disconnect is rarely about the clothes themselves. It is about identity.
What started as a styling role quickly expanded. I moved into leadership and eventually led and mentored a team of 50 stylists while helping build out the Dallas region. I saw firsthand how emotional getting dressed can be. Women were not just asking for jeans or blouses. They were asking whether they still felt like themselves. Whether they could show up in rooms that mattered. Whether their outside reflected their inside.
But I also saw the limitations of transactional styling. Boxes of clothes do not create clarity. They do not teach you how to understand your proportions, your preferences, or your lifestyle transitions. So I built Intentionally Chic upon moving to Kansas City.
Looking back, none of the pivots were detours. Teaching, motherhood, leadership, cross country moves. All of it prepared me for this work. Kansas City has been the place where those threads finally wove together, allowing me to build a business rooted in clarity, intention, and partnership. I truly believe this is the work I was meant to do.
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?
Not even close to a smooth road. Is anything worth it ever smooth? Moving multiple times, starting over in new cities, shifting careers in my late 30s and 40s. None of that is easy. Each transition required rebuilding community, credibility, and confidence. There were seasons where I felt very small and very unsure.
Leaving Stitch Fix was one of the hardest chapters for me. I truly loved working there. I loved the people, the leadership, and the opportunity to mentor and build a team. When my husband accepted a job in Kansas City during COVID, it was an opportunity we could not turn down. But Stitch Fix did not have a hub here at the time. Walking away from something I had poured myself into felt humbling. For a while, I questioned whether I had rebuilt my professional identity only to lose it again.
When we arrived in Kansas City, I took on a few smaller roles that did not feel aligned. That was another hard lesson. I realized I did not just want to work. I wanted to build something I believed in. I wanted to work directly with women again in a way that felt personal and impactful.
Starting Intentionally Chic as a solopreneur came with its own challenges. Building something from scratch can feel isolating. There are moments when you wonder if you are qualified, if you are needed, if it will work. When I struggle, I go back to my why. I work with busy women who are carrying so much responsibility and decision-making in their daily lives. If I can remove one consistent source of friction and help them feel more prepared and aligned when they walk into their day, that matters. Remembering that impact has helped me stay steady even when the road felt uncertain.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Intentionally Chic is a personal styling business built for women navigating full, layered lives.
I work primarily with growth-minded moms and professional women who carry a great deal of responsibility each day. They are managing households, making decisions, supporting others, and often placing themselves last. By the time they stand in front of their closet in the morning, they are already mentally spent. Getting dressed should feel supportive, not draining.
Many of the women I work with are in a season of transition. Returning to work, stepping into something new, navigating body changes, or simply evolving into a different version of themselves. Those moments can create a disconnect between who they were and who they are becoming. My role is to help close that gap by creating clarity and ease inside their wardrobe.
When a woman can open her closet and immediately see outfits that work, when she understands why a silhouette flatters her or why a color energizes her, it changes how she moves through her day. Removing that daily friction allows her to show up prepared and aligned in the rooms that matter most.
What sets me apart is the education woven into my process. My background as a teacher shapes how I work. I do not simply hand clients outfits. I teach them how to see why something works. I break down fit and proportion. I create categories inside their wardrobe that reflect real life. I reduce decision fatigue by building systems they can rely on long after we are done working together.
I am also deeply relational in how I build my business. My services are both in person in Kansas City and virtual across the country. I partner with local boutiques, seamstresses, and other women owned businesses whenever possible. Community matters to me.
Brand wise, I am most proud that Intentionally Chic feels grounded and intentional rather than trendy. I am not trying to chase fast fashion or viral aesthetics. I am helping women build wardrobes that support their actual life.
I want readers to know that personal styling is not reserved for celebrities or special occasions. It can be practical. It can be strategic. And when done thoughtfully, it can remove a surprising amount of daily friction.
At its core, my work is about helping women feel aligned when they walk into the rooms that matter to them.
Do you any memories from childhood that you can share with us?
Summertime.
Some of my favorite childhood memories are long, unstructured summer days in the 80s and early 90s. Playing outside for hours with neighborhood friends. Riding bikes to the candy store. Going to the pool with my mom and siblings. Catching fireflies as the sun went down. Staying up late because no one had anywhere to be the next morning.
There was a lot of freedom in that season of life. A lot of imagination. A lot of figuring things out on our own.
Looking back, I think those long summer days shaped me more than I realized. They built independence and creativity. They taught me to entertain myself, to take initiative, and to be comfortable trying things without a guaranteed outcome. As an entrepreneur, that freedom and self direction has served me well.
But more than anything, I remember the feeling of time moving slowly. Of being fully present in the moment. That is still something I value deeply today.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.intentionallychic.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/intentionallychic/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KMintentionallychic
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katie-mann-intentionallychic/
