The founder of Navigating Life, Zimmerman brings her solid core of dogged determination to her work with clients, who come to her for life coaching, image consulting, personal training and nutritional counseling. The key to success, she says, is working with clients “from the inside out” to help them achieve an authentic personal brand.

“You never get a second chance to make a first impression,” Zimmerman likes to say. Here are Zimmerman’s tips for making that first impression count:

If you want to rise in the corporate ranks, dress like the people a rank or two above you. “If your look is polished, pulled together and professional, they’ll assume your work and work ethic probably reflect those characteristics,” Zimmerman says.

1. Buy clothes on sale, but use the money you save to have them tailored, so you get a custom fit.
2. Earrings tend to finish a look for a woman. They frame your face and keep a listener’s eyes focused on you.
3. Your face and your hair create a frame. Your hair fashions three sides of that frame. The color across the bottom – directly underneath your face — should complete that frame. It should pull out the undertones in your skin to make it look even and polished. The right color blends into your natural coloring. The wrong color makes it look like there’s no frame on the bottom of the picture.