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" We tend to personally shop for ourselves, which just makes the rarified world of personal shopping for others one of life&amp;#039;s many mysteries. Lifetime is breaking down those walls (which were most likely purchased with a black Amex) with its new show, Million Dollar Shoppers. Watching from a fashion lover&amp;#039;s perspective can make it a bit of a competitive sport (why would you choose that, for her?), but it&amp;#039;s all in good fun\u2014and there are a lot of sparkly Louboutins. BAZAAR spoke with series regular Amy Salinger about her glam\u2014and not-so-glam\u2014job below.  Why did it sound like fun to do the show? I love helping people to look and feel their best. The idea of offering helpful (and entertaining) advice to a larger audience was extremely appealing. Plus, the joke among people that know me is that I always act as if there is a spotlight on me, except I am the only one that sees it. Now everyone else can too! What are your secrets to successfully choosing pieces for your clients? You have to truly understand your clients and get inside their heads. Being a great shopper is part style, part shrink. Literally. I take the time to really talk to my clients to understand their personalities and their overall lifestyles. It is all about who they want to project to the world, what is their style brand? I create an upgraded version of who they already are. Do you have an interview process? How do you learn their tastes? I always start with a phone consultation. I really don&amp;#039;t need to actually see a client to understand everything I need to know. Typical questions include: \u00B7Who are your favorite designers? \u00B7How often do you go shopping? \u00B7When is the last time you cleaned out your closet? \u00B7Is there a favorite part or your body/least favorite part? \u00B7Who is your audience? Who are you mingling with every day? Once I do the closet consultation, meeting them in person and seeing their current wardrobe, I can learn everything I need to know.  How did you get into personal shopping? I graduated from Northeastern University with a communications degree knowing that a &amp;quot;typical job&amp;quot; was never going to work for me. I have always been a very creative individual and come from a family of entrepreneurs. With no formal education or experience, I decided to try fashion styling. I moved to Chicago and literally Googled fashion stylists asking for advice or opportunities. I signed with an agent for photo shoots who ended up working at Harpo. When Oprah was looking for a local, young, trendy stylist for makeovers, she came calling. Along with that, some of the senior producers were looking for a personal stylist. I realized I could make an entire business out of personal shopping and voila, a career was born! Do you have go to brands? Go to stores? Of course! But it depends on the budget and items I am looking for. For jeans, DL 1961. For great sheath dresses, Ted Baker. For amazing boots, Jimmy Choo. Classic white button downs with a twist, Anne Fontaine. Comfy cashmere, Magaschoni. Everything studded, Valentino. Downtown, edgy, rocker pieces, All Saints. Reasonably priced trendy pieces, Vince Camuto. I also love department stores because you can get everything under one roof. I work with the personal shopping departments at all of the stores. I pull prior to the client getting there and then there is a huge, beautiful room filled with a &amp;quot;clothing store&amp;quot; just for them. I don&amp;#039;t have to leave the dressing room because the personal shoppers at the store will run around and pull different sizes. For high end, I go to Bergdorf&amp;#039;s, for mid-level I go to Bloomingdales and for budget friendly, Lord and Taylor is a gem. And don&amp;#039;t forget designer discount, I am all about a bargain at Loehmann&amp;#039;s and Century 21. My mantra is to &amp;quot;Buy what you need. Use what you have.&amp;quot; I am not about breaking the bank, I am about spending your money wisely and mixing high with low.  What&amp;#039;s the most fun and most challenging part of your job? People not being clear on what they want. I am great at asking leading questions to really get to exactly what the client wants. Fashion is such a gray profession, I am there to extract what they are thinking (even though they might not be able to verbalize it on their own). I get down to exact details, pull exactly what we discussed, and then they don&amp;#039;t like it.... Because they honestly don&amp;#039;t know what they like! Most clients trust me and what I pull because if they are hiring someone like me, they want me to tell them what to wear. I am the expert. Do you still enjoy shopping for yourself? I love this question because I always joke with my friends that I don&amp;#039;t feel like &amp;quot;working&amp;quot; on the weekend when they want to go shopping. Do you want to go to your &amp;quot;office&amp;quot; on a Saturday? I love vintage, consignment and flea market shopping to unwind. I really don&amp;#039;t do this much for my clients, so doing it for myself is really fun. It is like a treasure hunt, I am not looking for anything specific (which is all I do for my clients), so the thrill is finding something you never knew you needed... If you could choose anyone to shop for you who would it be? Easy, Andrea Lieberman. She is Gwen Stefani&amp;#039;s stylist, creative director at LAMB and created the clothing line ALC. She really is a creative genius.  Million Dollar Shoppers appears on Lifetime on Thursdays at 10PM EST.  "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/film-tv/interviews/a1194/inside-million-dollar-shoppers/>