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Ever wonder who makes QVC’s hosts and on-air guests look stylish and put together? It’s Toi Sweeney! With more than a decade of experience, Toi is an authority on personal styling. She knows what looks good, what doesn’t, and how to match clothes with personality. A longtime QVC employee, she worked her way up the ranks and now gets to call shopping with all 26 QVC program hosts part of the job.

Ashley Hartle: Tell me about your career and how you became a fashion stylist.

Toi Sweeney: I came to QVC 15 years ago with a Fashion Marketing degree and started in the Merchandising department. It was not the job for me—I was really bad at it. I had decided to go back to school for my Fashion Design degree when one of my friends said, “There’s an opening for a fashion stylist!” I didn’t even know QVC had fashion stylists! So I got the job and began freelancing while I attended school. After graduation, I started a couture evening-wear line that was sold in a boutique outside Philadelphia. Host Jane Treacy was my first customer—she bought a dress to wear on air for QVC Presents “FFANY Shoes on Sale”!

Shortly after that I was featured on the cover of the business section of the Philadelphia Inquirer. Then when Philadelphia Magazine launched, I was their first feature design story under “What’s Hot Now.” It was around that time that I began working in the booking office at QVC, meeting vendors and suggesting models to help sell their product. I later became a full-time fashion stylist, then got promoted to the job I have now, where I primarily work with hosts and guests.

AH: What’s your typical work day like?

TS: It varies. On Thursdays I sit down with guests new to QVC and give them a style consultation—sort of the dos and don’ts on air. I may go shopping in the morning from around 10am until 2pm and then come back to the office, or I may leave and go to a host’s home and do a closet edit for a few hours. It’s different every day and I love it. Hands down, I have the best job in the world!

AH: It sounds so exciting! Where do you find inspiration?

TS: Everywhere! One of the things you learn in school is how to pull inspiration from things around you. If I’m looking at the white chair you’re sitting in, I’m thinking about how white has been trending the past few seasons, and how the chair is textured and perforated. I think about the brands that are doing that, and then my mind goes to which host that look would work on. My mind never stops!

AH: How would you describe your personal style?

TS: Creative, dramatic, and elegant.

AH: If you could trade closets with anyone, who would it be and why?

TS: Oh, that’s tough! I’d have to say no one. I think style is so personal that it’s like saying I would trade lives with someone, and I’m all about the journey. If you trade style then it changes everything.

AH: Let’s say I can only buy one new item for spring. What should it be?

TS: Gosh, can it be two new things?

AH: Go for it!

TS: I would say a magnificent handbag and a great pair of really comfortable shoes. If your accessories are of great quality, then people will assume the rest of your outfit is, too. So you can wear an inexpensive T-shirt, but if you’re carrying your great Dooney & Bourke bag and wearing your Marc Fisher sandals, no one is going to question the other items you have on.

AH: So tell me, what do you like to do when you’re not busy making hosts and guests look super stylish?

TS: I love spending time with my son, Tucker, who’s five and my husband, John, of 14 years. We think we have the most beautiful child in the world, but I guess we are supposed to think that!

AH: One last question: What styling advice would you give other women?

TS: Fashion is dead and everything is about personal style. It’s all about the relationships you’re building with others, but also the one you’re building with yourself. So you have to be comfortable, but not to the point that you’re sloppy. You have to just be yourself in small ways and in big ways. I should be able to look at you and know who you are instantly. It shouldn’t be a guess.