Mary Alice Stephenson wears a lot of hats!  Her Facebook followers are in the five figures, she is a media go-to for her red carpet commentating and heart-filled fashion segments, a world renown stylist who has styled for icons such as Avedon, Hiro, Demarchelier, Lindberg and Richardson as well as serving as a brand ambassador and spokesperson for many fortune 500 brands.   Oh, and we can't forget to mention how cool it is that she and Barbie are talking fashion in her "dream" closet for BarbieWow.com next week, while still making time to be the national fashion ambassador for the Make a Wish Foundation.  She gives her time and love for fashion to many charitable organizations all while being a single mom.  She's our new hero and we think soon to be yours, too!

As a fashion consultant, you get to do something different every day- which days are you favorite?

Every day is different and I love it that way!  It’s such a mix- from red carpet commentating to consulting behind the scenes for fortune 500 companies, to creative directing, to styling editorial shoots with top photographers. Each week it's high fashion to mass fashion, it keeps me happy to be in both worlds!  I can reach so many real women all over the world via social media, my followers love that they can get a look into the real world of fashion and learn how they can apply that glamour to their lives in a realistic way.  One day I’m shooting for a European Vogue, doing a fashion segment for the Nate Berkus show or styling a super model for Estee Lauder and the next day I could be helping real women get their glam on in a mall in middle America!

As fashion week is approaching, what are the most important things you do start to prep?

It’s fashion week basically all year long for me.  Since I do so much media for fashion week, it some times means I am sitting front row, wearing more makeup than anyone else there!  I have to be prepared for anything.  Last fashion week I was doing Sally Hansen videos with Prabal Gurung and Alexander Wang, styling a show, hosting a live chat at Lincoln Center with Donna Karan for American Express, live chatting for several mass brands, doing TV and radio reporting and throughout this whole process I was followed by E!.  I have a great team that helps me led by my incredible studio director, Denise Caldwell.  We are a well-oiled machine!  My mom flies in from Michigan to help with my son as well as my nanny, you can’t say to a six-year old ‘see you later I'm going to the Marc Jacobs show.’

Starting now, basically every day is booked with some sort of project, styling, taping or commentating!  Through it all I’m constantly communicating via social media so that I can give my personal take and tell my followers who I’m talking to and what I’m seeing.  I try to eat really healthy and get in a morning run or yoga.  Because I am on camera so much I have a hair and make up person each morning.  I’ve done this for a long time and you learn to do what’s most important and really focus.  I do end up missing many shows, which is hard, but try then to make sure I support that designer in other ways. 

The fashion business is hectic and that's okay because I balance all that out with my fashion philanthropy.  Using my passion for fashion and beauty to help others feel good about themselves is a main reason I feel so fulfilled by this industry.  Every past fashion week I have had a Make a Wish child in the front row with me or backstage at a show, fashion doesn’t feel right to me unless I’m doing good with it.  I just created Style for Heroes with the Bob Woodruff foundation to help female veterans and the caretakers of our wounded warriors to feel beautiful and pampered.  I like to support brands that give back.  My style icons are not women or men that just have great style; to me it's so much more than that.  Who cares what it looks like, if it does not help someone it's just not as beautiful.  My style icons are people who have taken their talent and love for style, created something magnificent with that, and then used their gift to make a positive impact on people's lives.  Evelyn Lauder, Ralph Lauren and Donna Karan are examples of who my heroes are because of all the good they have done with fashion and helped others.

Who are young designers that we should be looking to for the future of fashion?

I just had lunch with the talented designers of Cushnie et Ochs, I try to support as many up and coming designers as possible.  I know how tough this business can be and how much support they need to make it.   I love Flora and Alexa from Ohne Titel, Jaun Carlos Obando, Joseph Altruzara, Christian Cota, Suno, Frank Tell...  There is so much talent out there right now.  I try to shoot their clothes, or get them on the red carpet as well as talk about their clothes in the media to help get their point of view out to mass America.  The American public needs to know there are more options than just the big brands that can afford to advertise.  It’s still a struggle, for example, there were a wide range of luxury brands seen on the Golden Globe red carpet but where was Erdem, Prabal Gurung, Thakoon, Alexander Wang, Proenza Schouler?  I was happy to see Givenchy, Nina Ricci and Jason Wu- so that is some progress!

Your fashion editorials that really tell a story have such life to them, ones that come to mind are the Chloe Sevigny ‘Cautionary Tale’ featuring a tired looking star being forced into rehab and Harper’s Bazaar’s version of the ‘sound of music.’

It’s been hard for me to do as many editorials as I used too, I have to say ‘no’ a lot because of all of my other projects but styling is something that makes me so happy, it’s in my blood!  Every second I’m on set I am in heaven.  When I do say ‘yes,’ I get high off the creative process of telling a story with clothes.  I recently shot a story for Chinese Vogue with Chris Craymer- it was a blast!  We worked in Miami with Greg Lotus, whose work with Italian Vogue is sublime!  Last week I shot with newcomer Cameron Krone, which I loved.  As for the ‘Sound of Music’ story for Bazaar, it was Glenda’s idea for Terry to put his edge to the story and a genius one!  I love shooting stories that submerge fashion into pop cultural happenings or kooky situations in a real life moment.  I never want to let all the media I do eclipse my styling and creative directing, so get ready to see a lot more!  

I love the story you did recently with Lindsey Wixson for W.

Yes shooting with Phil Poynter for W Korea was an amazing day!  With American magazines, there are so many advertising restrictions for a stylist and it can be challenging but the team at W Korea was so cool and just let us do what we wanted.  It was a Chanel story that I mixed with younger designers- Libertine, Joseph Alturzo, Narciso Rodriguez and Derek Lam.  It was a perfect opportunity to show how cool, edgy it girls wear Chanel.  Phil is so talented and laid back and I loved working with him. 

As media’s go-to style expert have you ever seen a look that you would have styled differently?

Yes, but I try to stay positive as much as I can.  I know how much hard work goes on behind the scenes and how sometimes what a stylist wants to do and what ends up being allowed to do are often two different things!  I do critique looks when I'm commentating on television or in the press but not in a mean spirited way. I might give suggestions on how it could have looked better but I think trying to get a laugh at someone else's expense is rude and cruel.  I would rather poke fun of myself!