Dress for Success prepares women for the work force

While working in London, Pat Nathan discovered a global organization called Dress for Success. She was impressed by the company's mission to empower women through clothes and professional development. 

After retiring to North Carolina in 2005, Nathan founded Dress for Success Triangle — a North Carolina branch of the larger organization. 

More than a decade later, Nathan said she still has an active role within the organization despite officially retiring over three years ago.

“The first year we were open, we served 134 women; we were only open half the year," Nathan said. "And we serve, now, more than 2,000 women a year. We’re one of the largest affiliates in the Dress For Success group, which is interesting, larger than a lot of very big cities.”

Laura Martin, executive director of Dress for Success Triangle, said that the organization reaches potential clients by promoting the programs to networks of women in the community, homeless shelters, colleges, workplace development professionals and also through self-referral. 

“We have hundreds of local referral partners," Martin said. "And that’s a relationship where a variety of local organizations link up with us, and they refer women directly to us. I think about 30 percent of women right now are finding us through self-referral, meaning a friend told them about us or they hear about us, and they just go online.” 

Nathan said the organization gives women confidence with job applications by helping with every step of the process. 

“Many of them have never had the opportunity to see themselves in a business setting," Nathan said. "And putting on the clothing allows them, first of all, to look in the mirror and see someone that would be in a business setting.”

Between their two locations in Raleigh and Durham, Martin said Dress for Success Triangle has served over 12,000 women, 2,300  in 2016 alone. 

“At the Raleigh boutique, we’ll have maybe five or six women a day, three days a week, who are coming in and getting, just initially, help with their resume, a career coaching session and an outfitting session,” Martin said. 

For women who want extended assistance with the employment process, Dress for Success Triangle also offers longer term, professional women’s networking groups. 

“We’re having anywhere from 30 to 40 women who are engaged in groups of networking and career development activities,” Martin said. 

Nathan said the organization builds a sense of community among women through its work. 

“The ongoing training that they do — the Going Places Network — allows them to see other women that are in a similar situation that they are and to recognize that women from all walks of life have the same challenges,” Nathan said. “That’s a great equalizer for them and helps them realize that they’re not broken, and there’s nothing wrong with them.”

Marketing and Corporate Engagement Manager Karen Johnson said spending a small amount of time working with Dress for Success Triangle improves prospects for employment, but Johnson said the extended partnerships with clients are most effective for helping women find jobs. 

“Women who walk in the door and just get an hour or two with our career and image coaches, 56 percent of those become employed," Johnson said.  "And 74 percent of the women who go through our 10-week program of going places network become employed." 

Dress for Success is part of a worldwide organization with over 130 affiliates, with a central headquarters that provides coordination and branding assistance, according to Johnson. Each chapter is independently funded through local sources. 

“A lot of corporations come to us and ask what are the opportunities to volunteer,” Johnson said. “The first step in building a relationship with them is to get their employees engaged and see how our women are impacted.” 

Johnson said interest and funding from companies allows Dress for Success to develop new programs that tailor to women with specific needs. 

“Often what will happen is a corporation will want to sponsor a particular program,” she said. “Lenovo, for example, sponsors our veterans program, so they give us a large contribution each year so that we can have a program specifically targeting women veterans and spouses of veterans so that we can help them transition from the military into a civilian role.”

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