High heels are ladder to self-confidence, businesswoman says

When Suzanne Fetting sees women shuffling down sidewalks in heels way too high for them, it makes the confidence coach crazy.

"Instead of lifting their feet up and planting them gracefully, they do a little thing called shuffling," says Fetting, a former runway model. "It drives me nuts."

And if they aren't dragging their feet forward, they wear the heels the way they wear running shoes. "They don't have that sexy sway that you get when you activate the hips," she says, adding you have to do that if you wear five-inch stilettos.

Fetting, who'll be speaking this weekend at the West Coast Women's Show in Abbotsford, has a closet filled with five-inch stilettos. She adores high heels. She has Fluevogs, Iron Fists, and lots of other styles. At five-foot 10, she already towers over most women, but she likes the feeling heels give her.

"I know when I put on high heels, I feel more confident," she says.

After years of watching Vancouver gals wobbling along in their heels, Fetting decided to take matters into her own hands. She set up a business called High Heel Appeal and offers classes to anyone who wants to learn how to strut her stuff like a runway pro. Why?

"I really want to make this city sexier," she says.

The lessons are a fun sideline for Fetting whose other business, Absolute Confidence, helps women develop confidence in all aspects of their lives. While she will sell her new High Heel Appeal DVD this weekend at the West Coast Women's Show in Abbotsford, her true purpose is to share her seven steps to absolute confidence with attendees. She says that while confidence is essential for every aspect of life, many women only experience it in a limited way.

To develop authentic confidence, women must develop relationships with themselves and not look to others for validation, she says. They also need to let go of the past.

"So many women focus on the should-haves and could-haves and guilt," she says. "But you will never get to a place of confidence if you keep thinking about the past all the time."

The 9th annual West Coast Women's Show, at Tradex in Abbotsford this weekend has eight different exhibit zones, including the brand-new Careers and Opportunities Exhibit Zone focusing exclusively on employment, education, investment and networking. Other highlight zones include the expanded Home and Interior Design Zone and the Worlds of Taste Zone.