Jennifer Prochna: A Magical Life
Syracuse Woman Magazine/Cover Story/July 2024
A Magical Life
by Maggie Nerz Iribarne
“It’s magic.”
This is how stylist Jen Prochna describes the palpable energy at a cabi fashion party where the room is full of women trying on clothes, talking, and laughing.
Magic is, according to the dictionary, an extraordinary power or influence, something that seems to cast a spell, an enchantment.
Jen Prochna is a wife, mother, friend, registered nurse, and fashion stylist whose magical life shimmers with passion, purpose, and gratitude.
Looking back, Jen’s career in fashion seems fated. Between her undergraduate degree in psychology and earning an MBA at Syracuse University, she worked as a freelance model (something she continues to do to this day), doing advertisements, voice-overs, commercials, and fashion shows. With her graduate degree in hand, she was set to start work at an insurance company when the sudden death of her father-in-law thrust her unexpectedly into the jewelry business. Prochna Jewelers in Armory Square became a successful fifteen year venture with her husband, Gary. Jen jumped right in, quickly learning the market and customer base. Over the years she and Gary ran both the jewelry store and another family business, Dependable Paving Company, from one office. Their three children, Sierra (now 32), Ryan (now 30), and Ava (now 25) grew up observing their busy parents first from office playpens and later as helpers themselves. When an incredulous five-year-old Ryan asked his mother why work stopped her from attending his Christmas play, Jen’s exit strategy from the jewelry business was born, conveniently opening a door to fashion styling.
Three years later, in 2004, Jen found herself charmed after attending something called a cabi party at a friend’s home in Camillus. This company presents and styles their high quality, fashionable (investment fashion, i.e., not cheap) clothing to small groups of friends in private homes. Soon after, Jen began hostessing her own parties and then applied to become a stylist herself.
Each of the two cabi seasons begins with a fashion week in a different city where stylists convene to meet and study the latest line. Afterwards, boxes of clothes arrive at each stylist’s home, where they work producing outfit combinations and accessories for different tastes and body types, preparing for the imminent styling/sales parties. Jen styles at about 15-20 parties each season, with from 5-30 people at each event. Women find out about the parties by word of mouth, one friend invites another and so on. Hostesses provide the wine and cheese and the space for the racks and in return receive half priced clothing and “cabi cash” to inspire further shopping.
Jen says, “I present the current collection and we sip a little wine…then the action starts! We try on clothes. I assist with sizing and pairings…most of my clients I know so well that I have recommendations before we even begin. I’ve been doing this for 19 years…this fall is my 39th season!”
Surprisingly, Jen does not like to shop. Before becoming a stylist, she’d go to the mall and buy multiple single pieces and then have to go back to find more clothes to match. Manycommiserate with this experience of having many articles of clothing yet nothing to wear.
Jen says, “They have items, not OUTFITS!”
And styling is about the outfits. Jen’s long experience gives her the, perhaps magical, ability to help women of every age, shape, and size find the right clothing combinations to look their best.
Looking good is nice, but the friendships and connections forged and nurtured through these gatherings cast the most important spell.
“I have had thousands of clients whose lives I've touched and I am so proud of that…My two best friends are my assistants, my attorney and eye doctor are my hostesses, my hair stylist is a client! Many appointments extend very long because we take time to catch up, hash out the world’s problems, exchange stories of husbands and kids! I have days, just like everyone, where I am not wanting to go to work…tired, weather, whatever the reason. But unbelievably, every time I come home energized and smiling,” Jen says.
Long-time client Karen McGinn, says of her friend,
“Her style advice is dead on and many of us in Onondaga County dress a whole lot better after Jen has come into our lives!”
Judy Bragg, a self-professed “die-hard cabi fan,” cites Jen’s incredible talent for everything from upbeat presentations to fashion knowledge to honest advice to customer care to business acumen among her many strengths.
Jen believes in fashion’s power to transform.
“When I am dressing a client and she looks in the mirror and I see the sparkle come back in her eye and she stands a little taller with new confidence, then I know I have been successful in my mission. Every woman needs and deserves to feel beautiful and special when she sets that foot outside the door,” she says.
However, fashion styling is not the only magical occupation in Jen’s life.
“My 50th birthday gift to myself was to become an RN…I had always loved medicine and I should have gone in that direction right out of high school, but what does a 17 year old know? So I asked my husband if he would mind if I went back to school for my RN. Understand, we already had two [children] in college and one in middle school, so it was hard.”
She attended Onondaga Community College for prerequisites and Crouse Hospital to complete her training before accepting a job in Crouse’s maternity center, where she’s worked the last ten years.
“We take care of moms and newborns after birth (post-partum and post-surgical) and women who are with us antepartum (before birth) if they need extra care before delivery due to illness or a complicated pregnancy. I assess moms [and] babies…offer education in breastfeeding and newborn care. I do my very best to get my families out the door with good information, confidence, and advice. I strive to give them the best possible start as a new family.”
Indeed, becoming a mother, a parent, is a magical moment, a metamorphosis. Jen participates in that magic by advocating for her patients, giving back what she received.
“I always remember this is their [her patients’] moment. I remember everything that happened to me and the people who were kind to me. I do for these new moms what was done for me.”
Jen believes she has the best two jobs in the world. Although motherhood has been the most defining role of her life, she finds both styling and nursing equally fulfilling.
So, what’s next for this magical woman of reinvention?
“It’s nice to know when you’re happy. I’m right where I want to be,” she says, “I am profoundly blessed. Serving women is my passion!”
Inset:
Jen’s Top Five Fashion Tips: (66 words)
1. You don’t have to follow every trend, you are uniquely you.
2. Confidence, and a smile, are the best accessories.
3. Yes, you can wear yellow.
4. Buy a perfect bra, the one you have probably doesn’t fit right.
5. Kick your wardrobe up just a notch. It’s OK to be one of the best dressed people in the room!
