Hollywood Stylist Yuri Loza and Her Rise to Success
Yuri Loza brings her passion for style to Television
Think back to your earliest days playing dress up as a little girl. You pull out your fanciest dress, frilliest socks, shiniest shoes, and you sneak into Mami’s room to ‘borrow’ one of her small purses. You spin around and admire yourself in the mirror. You’re a little fashionista playing dress up and your tiny heart is happy.
Many of us cut back on the boldness of our looks. We stop playing dress up and find other passions. But not Yuri Loza.
Yuri Loza is living every little girls’ dream as a Hollywood stylist. She spends her days working with T.V. stars dressing them from head to toe in the finest clothes imaginable. She knows all the tips and tricks to flaunt and flatter these celebs. She is the woman behind the look.
As a little girl growing up in Cudahy and Bell in California, Yuri was the go to girl for dressing up and styling her friends. Although she had no idea that being a ‘stylist’ was an actual job. “I thought it was just designing clothes!” she says. Still, when it came time to go to college, Yuri’s first choice was the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising, otherwise known as FIDM, in LA. She thought she would go to college to learn how to design and create clothes.
Her parents thought otherwise, “They told me, ‘you’re too smart to go there.’”
Like many first generation children, Yuri’s parents wanted her to go to school for something that felt more tangible, something they could see her being really successful in. They didn’t find comfort in an education from FIDM, they wanted something more traditional.
University of La Verne in La Verne California ended up being the four year home for Yuri. They offered her the best financial aid package and the small school vibe she was looking for. “I wouldn’t trade my experience for the world,” she says.
Yuri’s college experience is one that highlights the unparalleled growth that happens when you go away and learn how to survive and thrive in the college environment, but your classes don’t necessarily prepare you for the work you are going to do. Yuri majored in communications and her only brush with fashion and styling was when friends would come to her dorm to get dressed for a night out. Her classes provided her with more experience in work ethic, responsibility, independence and other character building qualities.
College is also where Yuri interacted with the most diverse group of people she had ever been surrounded by. Yuri’s childhood homes had all been in predominantly Latino neighborhoods with a majority of her friends being Mexican or from Central or South America. College was where she first really interacted with students who were White, Black, Asian and more. She learned about diversity here through experiences with classmates at her small school. It was these situations that showed Yuri the similarities and differences across cultures and where she learned to really appreciate people from different backgrounds.
These experiences helped built Yuri into the person she was when she finally left college and found herself on the job hunt. Still unsure of what she would do, she made her way to a Latino based entertainment company in Beverly Hills. Yuri thought she would be a casting director, but her experience at this company quickly changed her mind.
Through networking, Yuri met another Mexican American in the TV industry who offered her a job as a Production Assistant on a gameshow. He told her, “Come in and see what you want to do,”
She told him, “Well I think I want to dress people.”
He told her, “Well you can be a stylist!”
To which she replied “What’s that?”
Yuri’s new found mentor explained to her that a stylist is exactly the job she was looking for. It was a person who dressed people and in this case, it was people on T.V. He told her they were looking for a stylist and they would bring Yuri on board as the assistant. They interviewed stylist after stylist who came with their own assistant, until they got to Carrie Cramer. Carrie took Yuri under her wing and showed her everything she needed to know about styling for television. They started off on the game show together and moved on to reality T.V. with shows like Flavor of Love and now, almost 10 years later they still work together on ABC shoots for shows like Black~ish and Disney shows as well.
But most of the time, you’ll see Yuri shining in her role as stylist to the hosts on the long running daytime talk show The Doctors. She uses her creative style and natural knack for fashion to dress hosts Dr. Travis Stork, Dr. Jennifer Berman, and Dr. Andrew Ordon. When you see these smart and stylish doctors on T.V, know that Yuri is the brain behind their ensemble.
And the most beautiful part of this all? How much Yuri loves her job. “It hardly ever feels like work to me,” she says with a smile. Yuri loves what she does, so much that she makes the time to balance working full time on The Doctors with picking up jobs when other opportunities pop up as well.
One of the gifts that being a fully bilingual Latina has offered Yuri is the ability to work on both Spanish and English productions. Through a contact at Telemundo, Yuri takes the opportunity to work on their sets whenever she can. The difference between English and Spanish speaking sets are noticeable. “It’s like having conversations with Aunts and cousins,” she explains.
Yuri proudly admits, many of the opportunities she has had are because of her Spanish speaking abilities. From her first job to her current gigs at Telemundo. Which is why she’s making it a priority to teach her two sons Spanish. “I have only seen benefits in my life for being bilingual,” she says.
Yuri’s boys are also blessed with more exposure to Spanish because they spend most of their day with her mom, who watches them. Having her family help in this way has allowed Yuri to do what she loves while also spending quality time with her boys. She says, “I’m not neglecting my career because I’m still doing what I love and I’m not neglecting my kids because I get to spend a lot of time with them.” And this is important to her. “The Doctors is great,” she says, “It’s the perfect Mami job for me.”
That work life balance is almost a myth to most people, but Yuri rocks it- and she may be one of the most stylish people out there doing it too.
When talking to Yuri, you can see how every moment and every experience has shaped her to be who she is today. From growing up in her only Spanish speaking home to working on shows like Flavor of Love, The Doctors and Tosh.O- Yuri’s life and career has been a trajectory of growth and understanding of herself and what she wants.
She is a stylist, and she loves her job.
Now as a seasoned stylist in the television game, Yuri knows exactly where she wants to be and what she wants to do. “I do T.V. styling, print sometimes-but mostly T.V.” And she loves talking to aspiring stylist and bringing them along with her. Through her husband's work with nonprofits, she was connected with a high school student who was interested in styling. Yuri invited her to the set of The Doctors and the girl shadowed Yuri as she worked. She even invited the student to come on as an intern. “There’s always room for interns,” she says “I would love to do what Carrie did for me for somebody else.”
Although Yuri didn’t go to school for styling, she used her natural ability, education, and work ethic to bring her where she is today- which is a really great place. She is a successful stylist who knows the value of education for her work. “There are so many pathways to get where you wanna be,” she says. “Sometimes you don’t need to go to a four year university, but I wouldn't ever say not to go to a four year university if you have the opportunity.”
With the ever growing and expanding social media presence, styling seems to be a job on the rise as many IG savvy users are posting OOTD’s and finding inspiration from fashion bloggers. Yuri explains that there are different ways to go into styling and you have to find what kind you want to do. There’s television, film, print, costuming, fashion blogging, personal styling and more. For those thinking of going into styling she says, “If this is your passion then I say you go for it.” She adds, “Try to intern, try to find somebody that can take you under your wing and teach you what you need to be taught”
Check out the gallery below to view this inspirational stylist as she rocks her glam street style and the Educated Latina tee.
Check out some of Yuri's work below on shows like Flavor of Love, Camp Rock, The Bachelor, Larry Mania and more
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