Carla Mathis consults on image—yes, that’s how you look, and how you feel about how you look—with individuals and groups, but “image consultant” doesn’t begin to describe her. She’s a published author, a world-renowned lecturer, and president/co-founder of Body Beautiful, based in Los Angeles, California. Her landmark book, The Triumph of Individual Style, is used in design schools in the US and abroad has become a ‘bible’ of the fashion and image industries. One of 9 Certified Image Masters (CIM) worldwide, Carla consults in the USA and internationally and teaches Body Beautiful Institute courses locally and abroad. Body Beautiful has a network of 200+ stylists worldwide, trained to offer the highest level of individualized service in the industry using the Body Signature System of Master Color Sets and Consultation Guides with their clients. You can see more about Carla’s exciting work at www.BodyBeautiful.net. This intriguing woman is motivated most powerfully by the character strength of zest, which will not be surprising to anyone who knows her!

Do you know your character strengths?

Do you demonstrate them consistently?

Learn how business people just like you draw on the values and strengths that define them! Join us in discovering how character strengths guide business pursuits, decisions, and successes.

Using a powerful survey created by the VIA Institute on Character, Sue Thompson interviews men and women on the ways in which their values affect their choices and direction in business and personal undertakings.

Those interviewed have agreed to take the
VIA Survey of Character, created by Dr. Martin Seligman of the University of Pennsylvania (often called “the father of Positive Psychology”) and Dr. Chris Peterson of the University of Michigan. The survey assesses one’s strengths within six categories:

the cognitive strengths of wisdom and knowledge—what guides our thinking processes

the emotional strengths of courage—what we use to accomplish goals

the interpersonal strengths of humanity—how we relate to others

the civic strengths of justice—our involvement in the world

the protective strengths of temperance—the preventions of excess

the “meaning” strengths of transcendence—our beliefs and connections to higher things

Looks daunting, doesn’t it? In fact, it’s a way of identifying your internal compass: what really matters to you, and why?  

Anyone may take the survey at VIA’s site for free to learn their core strengths—their top five—but interviewees are provided with the expanded “interpretative” report that ranks all of their 24 in several different ways and provides a more descriptive explanation of their top strengths. It is this report that guides questions addressed to featured guests.

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YourCharacterIsShowing.com  All Rights Reserved.  Copyright 2011-2012

Sue Thompson is the resident expert at Exceptionality LLC. You can see more about Sue and her work here.

Pete Davisson

Traci Lynn

Linda Doak

Dr. Kathryn Stoltzfus

Linda Beverly

Jim Dedrick

Dr. Howard Giles

Past Interviews

May 22, 2012  7:00 PM EST

Stormy Friday