Rachel Parcell
Rachel Parcell is a social media model, fashion blogger, and influencer whose outfit of the day (#ootd) is liked by thousands. She has more than 1.1 million Instagram followers. Those followers want to imitate the classy, outdoorsy, and modest look she is known for, and her clients include national brands such as J.Crew. She has her own retail lines—women and children's clothing and home goods.
Her first outfit post was in September 2012 for her 200-something followers. Her business bloomed from there. She credits Utah Valley Bride magazine with launching her career when they featured her wedding on the cover and inside its 2011 issue. Rachel’s husband, Drew, with a degree in entrepreneurship, is part of the business mind behind her creative success. She has successfully tapped into "what might be called 'church chic'—refined looks for baby blessings, weddings and pulled-together looks for Sundays that don’t show a lot of skin and can transition to a date night."[1] She runs her multimillion-dollar enterprise out of offices in Utah and New York.
In a November 2015 interview with utahvalley360.com, she was asked, “How do you handle your religion as part of your persona?” Rachel, a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints replied:
- From the very beginning, I showed pictures of my temple wedding. I had a link to mormon.org on my blog. I didn’t want my religion to be something nobody knew about me. I like to do subtle hints. I’ll take a picture in downtown Salt Lake and talk about going to Women’s Conference. I’ll be cuddled up watching General Conference, and I’ll tell my readers what I’m watching. They’ll ask more about it. And I’ll either respond or my Mormon readers will do it for me. I work with national brands, and they don’t want me pushing politics or religion. But I feel like Mormonism is such a lifestyle and not just a belief on Sunday. My whole life is based on it, so it’s naturally integrated into what I do. In New York, I’ll tell people I’m from Utah and they’ll ask, “Are you one of those Mormons? I can’t believe you are stylish and wear normal clothes!”[2]
Parcell studied graphic design at Utah Valley University. She and her husband have three children.
