Confidence, Charisma, and Career with Steve Doss

Steve Doss, host of Refinery29’s Facebook Live series Do It with Doss, is a natural on camera as he shows his millions of viewers how to pull off simple and inspiring hacks to help them level-up their hosting and decor. We want to know Steve’s secrets for success in his career and how he built his confidence as he went from aspiring actor to celebrated host. 

For an even deeper dive than our interview here, watch our conversation on IGTV and get an exclusive promo code for a discount on your own Candid clear aligners. 

Congratulations on celebrating the one year anniversary of Do It with Doss for refinery29 on Facebook Live! Tell us about the show. 

Last summer, as the event industry tanked because of the pandemic, we were scrambling to figure out what we could do to keep our team afloat but also bring events to life digitally. And one of my colleagues goes, why don’t you do event hacks from your kitchen? Just show people how to do stuff at home. And now here we are dozens of episodes and millions of views later. And we’ve shown people how to do all kinds of stuff from creative gift wrapping to making cocktails. It’s been amazing and really fun. 

You started your career wanting to be an actor. How did you get here?

I was actually recruited by Disney to play Aladdin in the stage show at Disneyland when I was younger. And from there I really gave acting and modeling the old college try. But the truth is, it didn’t quite pan out for me. I didn’t enjoy that starving actor lifestyle and living from gig to gig so I needed to find another job. 

I actually went in to get a waiter job at Wolfgang Puck catering in LA and to make a long story short, met a casting director there, got hired as an actor to play a waiter on these Good Morning America segments before the Oscars, and fell in with great people at Wolfgang Puck and they offered me an event management job. That was 15 years ago and it was a match made in heaven. 

About six years ago, I found a happy home at Refinery29 and I’ve produced events and hosted a fitness show on Facebook Live and now I host Do it with Doss. 

You’ve gone from aspiring actor to producer to on-camera host. How have you thought about your appearance throughout your career?

I’m a very teethy person. I have a big smile. I had braces and retainers when I was younger, but as I got older my teeth started to shift, as they do. Then I had my wisdom teeth out in my late 20s and basically things got a little jumbled. As I started to see myself on camera often, I’d look at myself and frankly, I’d see a flaw. No one else seemed to care about my teeth, but I did. It was something that I want to fix. I wanted to appear “my perfect.” 

Do you see "your perfect" now that you’ve completed your Candid treatment?

I see my perfect. After treatment I have gotten so many compliments on my teeth. People have even asked if my teeth are real!  

Today, I’m able to wear my smile as big as I can all the time and not have that little voice that I used to hear saying, "Maybe not such a big smile" or "Close your bottom lip a little bit to cover your jumbled teeth." It was a big win for me. And now I love wearing my retainers at night because I know they are keeping me nice and straight.