Gia Kazarian, Leadership and Social Consultant for First Impressions Consulting, leads a women's workshop at Her Space in Fresno to discuss techniques and practices to create better first impressions in the work place.

Local female business leaders and First Impressions Consulting partnered up for a sold-out workshop hosted at Her Space in Fresno Wednesday morning.

The First Impressions Consulting workshop was led by Gia Kazarian, a leadership and social consultant for the New York based marketing company, and was set up with help from RPM PR, a local public relations firm. The event also had coffee donated by Dutch Bros. Fresno and floral arrangements from Lilium Floral.

More than 30 women attended the event, with admittance for the workshop an in-kind donation to Dress for Success Fresno, a local nonprofit that provides support and professional attire to help disadvantaged women thrive in the workplace.

Kazarian, who was born and raised in Fresno, has 15 years of experience in human resources and leadership development. She brought First Impressions Consulting to Fresno about two years ago to help clients on the West Coast improve communications skills and self-image.

During the workshop, Kazarian discussed the various ways to help manage a first impression in the workplace. Topics she covered included appearance, conversational skills, body language, and nonverbal communication, and the psychology behind making first impressions.

“Today we wanted to get a hook to expand so women could get these professional tools to enhance their career and reach their fullest potential,” Kazarian said.

Though today’s workshop was catered towards women, the workshops are open to anybody.

Rae Pardini Matson, founder of RPM PR, says that there is a lot value for the community in the concepts that Gia presented in the workshop.

“The first impression consulting principles and methods can help anybody both personally or professionally to create a more positive first impression and impact,” said Matson. “I’ve actually seen first hand the results that first impressions can bring to a business and to a person.”

There was a raffle and the winner received $25 and a book by Dr. Anna Demarais, a New York-based author and founder of First Impressions Consulting.

Katrina Covarrubias, a student and part of the Entrepreneur Mentor Program at Fresno State where Kazarian is a mentor, she said she really enjoyed the event.

“All those ideas that she went over really set in for me,” Covarrubias said. “Connecting with others and the power of networking and how body language and what you give off to other people and how that affects your interactions with them really stood out to me.”