Our Team

Joe Lupo & Jesse Garza

Style. Wellness. Luxury Living. 

Visual Therapy was founded in 1995 by Jesse Garza and Joe Lupo. Having set a new standard for developing original style, the Visual Therapy team applies their fresh and enlightened principles to all aspects of consultation, including private client styling services, interior design, speaking engagements, and brand creative direction. They have been featured in top-tier publications such as Vogue, Bazaar, and The New York Times and published three books sharing their styling process and philosophies. Heralded as a leader in the field of Luxury Lifestyle Consulting, their unique 5 Step approach to identifying and nurturing one’s individual ‘style type’ begins in the wardrobe, transforming lives and empowering through style.

In distinction to other style consultants and trend experts, Visual Therapy excavates and enhances the client’s already unique style personality in the belief that true and lasting style is an outward expression of an inner state. Merging fashion, psychology and spirit, the Visual Therapy method brings clarity to the closet, enabling people to form a concise and confident coordination of their external image and internal identity.

BRANDS WE’VE WORKED WITH

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OUR BOOKS

 

  1. Nothing to Wear? A 5-Step Cure for the Common Closet, 2006
  2. Life in Color: The Visual Therapy Guide to the Perfect Palette, 2009
  3. Work It! Visual Therapy’s Guide to Your Ultimate Career Wardrobe, 2010

Jesse Garza

Co-Founder and Creative Director

Jesse Garza has worked in the fashion industry since he was 21, when he began selling clothing at Chicago’s renowned boutique, Ultimo. Mentored by the store’s founder and legendary style maven Joan Weinstein, Garza rose from working the sales floor to becoming creative director over a period of 10 years. During that time, he collaborated closely with the best names in fashion; staging runway shows, creating artful merchandising and adapting cutting-edge design for the Chicago market. Inspired by the creative partnership of designer Yves Saint Laurent and French businessman Pierre Bergé, Garza moved to New York to set up a luxury lifestyle consultancy with friend Joe Lupo. With Garza’s A-list Rolodex and Lupo’s business acumen, the two successfully launched Visual Therapy in 1995 based on a sincere belief in the transformative power of clothing chosen to express one’s truly unique personality. Since then, Garza — a self-described “Fashion Evangelist” — travels the country to work with a roster of high-visibility clients.

Joe Lupo

Co-Founder and Creative Director

Joe Lupo unofficially began his career in fashion working in a high-end department store while still in high school. Moving to Chicago to study finance at DePaul University, he began working at a bank where he quickly advanced, becoming vice president at the precocious age of 25. Unable to contain his love for fashion and style, he would spend his Saturdays on Oak St, renowned for its luxury boutiques, spending countless hours discussing style at Ultimo with friend Jesse Garza. Leaving the world of banking in 1995 to start Visual Therapy with Garza in New York, Lupo was able to realize a long-held dream of making a business out of his passion for fashion. With a natural eye for style, and an expert in color, he decided to further develop his passion branching into interiors. In 2012, he began studying interior design at The New School at Parsons School of Design in New York, launching VT Home in 2014. In addition to interior design and styling some of the most influential leaders in America, Lupo and Garza travel the globe speaking to groups of women on their philosophies and the significance of the power of style.

Lisa Marie McComb

Lead Stylist, Chicago

Lisa Marie McComb has built her impressive career through hard work, persistence and a true love of fashion and luxury. Her career began as a highly sought after model in the US, Europe, and Asia for designers such as Versace, Chanel, Armani and Donna Karan. When her career inevitably transitioned into styling after 16 years on the model circuit, it wasn’t long before these same designers became her own clients. Lisa Marie’s innate taste and fashion expertise led her to consult with clients such as The Oprah Winfrey Show, Nike, Macy’s, Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus and many others. Lisa Marie has become known as one of Chicago’s top production talents in producing fashion shows and as a style expert, has done wardrobing for ABC and HBO productions. Lisa Marie has been a lead stylist with Visual Therapy since 2006. She currently focuses her talent on building and managing wardrobes for some of Visual Therapy’s most influential and powerful clients. Although she calls Chicago home, she also works with clients across the country. She believes, “we don’t just dress people….we create wardrobes that allow men and women to put their best out there in the world.”

Kellye Henton

Lead Stylist, New York

Upon graduating top of her class from Columbia College Chicago with a degree in Fashion Retail Management, Kellye's fashion intuition and high end sensibility led her to major styling opportunities with Jil Sander, Chicago modeling agencies and Harpo Studios among others. In 2011, Kellye joined Visual Therapy where her talent and hard work allowed her to dress women across the country and led her to become the youngest lead stylist on the team.

Gabriela Rocha

Lead Stylist & Blog Director, Los Angeles

Gabriela began her career in fashion assisting the fashion director of Tokion Magazine on editorial photo shoots while studying towards her bachelor’s degree at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York. Her role and contacts at Tokion Magazine led her to freelance styling opportunities with major brands such as Hilton Hotels and People Magazine. Upon graduation, she channeled her love for style, trends, and writing into a role as a contributing writer for Refinery29. Joining VT's New York team in 2015, she has been able to combine her two biggest passions—styling and writing. Now based in Los Angeles, Gabriela is working to build VT's client base on the West Coast.

Deanna Sylvester

Assistant Stylist, New York

Deanna graduated from Columbia College Chicago with a B.A. in Fashion Business. With her love for style, trends and shopping, she created a trend and style blog, Trend So Hard in 2014. This gave her an opportunity to attend Teen Vogue's Fashion University as an Express Ambassador in college. She continued her career in fashion with an internship at Azeeza and as a social media intern with bridal designer Lee-Lim. This led her to freelance styling opportunities, where she assisted on many fashion shows and photo shoots. Deanna joined Visual Therapy as an assistant stylist in 2016 and loves working with our Chicago client base.

Kristi Porcelli

Lead Stylist, Chicago

Kristi Porcelli graduated from Columbia College Chicago with a B.A. in Fashion Business. With over 15 years of experience in the fashion industry she has developed a keen eye for what is on trend as well as strong organizational skills from her retail management and production background. In addition to working with her clients, Kristi enjoys teaching Fashion Styling at her alma mater, Columbia College Chicago. Kristi has been a part of the Visual Therapy team since 2005 and assisted in the production of Visual Therapy’s books Life in Color and Work It. After years of hard work and dedication she continues to make her mark as a successful wardrobe stylist, fashion coordinator, and fashion show producer.

Michael Kramer

Lead Stylist, Los Angeles

Michael grew up in the Chicago area and began his career in fashion at the age of 17 while working on his degree in fashion merchandising. After graduating, he continued to pursue a career in the industry in Chicago, blending his passion for visual merchandising and style at Marshall Fields, Bonwit Teller, and with luxury labels such as Chanel, Donna Karan, and Jil Sander. During this time, Kramer also designed and installed windows for prestigious brands such as Tiffany & Co and Hermes. In 1999, Michael relocated to Los Angeles and continued installing visuals for fashion brands such as Ted Baker and Ferragamo, and designed the windows at the infamous Kitson-LA boutique for 6 years. In 2000, Kramer reconnected with VT Co-founder and "friend in fashion" Jesse Garza, assisting him on the Oprah Winfrey Show, and later joined the Visual Therapy team. As one of Visual Therapy's west coast lead stylists, Michael now dedicates his career to working with private clients on their shopping, styling and wardrobe organization needs. He still designs window displays, merchandises, and does home staging and styling in his free time.

Lindsey Weisbrot

Studio Director, New York

Lindsey joined Visual Therapy as the Studio Director in 2018. While completing her Bachelor’s degree at the University of Florida, she spent her summers interning for a wholesale furniture company at the New York Design Center. Her responsibilities ranged from merchandising, social media marketing, and providing general administrative support to the sales team. Upon graduation, she moved to South Florida to complete a sales management program with City Furniture, where she thrived in a fast-paced retail environment. After returning to her native home of New York in the Summer of 2018, Lindsey joined us at VT, where she continues to support many areas of the business, with specific concentrations in office and project management.

Nikki Rose

Stylist & Social Media Editor, New York

Nikki is the newest addition to the Visual Therapy team. She began to pursue her career in fashion during college with internships at Harper's Bazaar, Rachel Zoe, and in PR Consulting. She continued on to do freelance styling and worked for her home town's magazine as an on set stylist. Upon graduating, she accepted a job at Saks Fifth Avenue as an assistant working in the Fifth Avenue Personal Shopping Club. Not too long after meeting the VT team, she decided to pursue her passion in luxury styling, joining Visual Therapy as the newest stylist in the Summer of 2018.