Hello and welcome! My name is Laura Cermak, and I’m the Founder and Executive Director of True Style Inc. A bit of background about me: I was a four-year model with the Pure Fashion model training program, which was an organization that served and inspired hundreds of young girls in the DC area and around the country. I can confidently say that the talks, retreats, and fashion shows were some of the most formative aspects of my high school career. When after 10 years the program came to a close, there was a desire in my heart that I couldn’t put aside, a desire to carry on the torch, mentoring girls on the subjects of authentic beauty and strong femininity.
I graduated valedictorian from Christendom College in Front Royal, VA with a degree in political science and economics, and I spent several weeks doing consulting projects in Europe with The Beacon Fellowship. Now in my job at Saffron Ventures, I get to help build international internships and student training programs. I work part-time as a business analyst with an autism therapy center for children, and during the school year I also tutor high school Latin students. There’s nothing I enjoy more than reading and discussing ideas with people, except possibly the thrill of building something from scratch. I also have a love for debate, theatre, and choral music – plainchant and polyphony most of all.
Over the course of my internships at various nonprofits, think tanks, and creative agencies, I realized that my skills and passion lay in entrepreneurship and the education of young women. Slowly, plans began to take shape in my mind for a model academy and fashion show that would combine all the best aspects of my past model training experience with fresh, new ideas for how to create value for high school girls.
What spurred me to launch True Style was the coaching I received through the DC Accelerator program and then meeting MollyKate. The time and circumstances of how we met were simply miraculous, and it was clear to both of us that God had great adventures planned for us as co-founders.
One of my core beliefs comes from St. John Paul II, when he wrote about God entrusting the human being to women in a special way. Women have a unique mission to safeguard the dignity and mystery of the person. To fulfill that mission, we have a superpower, ‘the feminine genius.’
It’s our receptivity to people, our depth of perception, and our ability to see others’ potential that makes us women the trustees of humanity.
We have a great responsibility, one that starts with safeguarding our own dignity and mystery. Thus, modesty in dress becomes a meaningful, happy responsibility for us, because it allows us to be seen as whole persons, body and mind and heart and soul.
To be seen for who you are and loved for who you are is the greatest hunger any human being can have, man or woman, and satisfying that hunger starts with making sure we don’t reduce ourselves to anything less. I’ve never doubted this truth, but I’ve experienced how challenging it is to put into practice and also to express your own personal style. Sometimes it can be hard to know what your personal style even is.
My hope and prayer is that True Style models might first know themselves, know their worth, and be proud of who they were created to be. I hope every girl who meets a True Style model might find in her a role model. And of course, that with a little practice, we’ll all feel great walking in heels.
