Dress for Success Opens Doors for Women

"You get home safely," Monique told me after our first conversation. Her deep voice possesses a softness that contradicts its rough edges. Monique is a woman on her way to a new life. Now in a reentry program, from drug addiction to a new job as a receptionist for a software company, Monique looks toward a future she had lost sight of for so long. Recently she has realized "a different calling," one of helping people with handicaps. "My heart goes out to them," she says.

Many women heading out to the workplace are not allowed the luxury to decide which skirt to wear or which pair of pumps to don for a job interview. It can be a chore to find anything in the closet that looks professional enough to meet with a potential employer, or even nice enough to be considered the most casual of office apparel.

Sometimes all we need is a little help from our guardian angels. Monique's guardian angel came in the form of Dress for Success.

Started in 1996 by Nancy Lublin, a law student , and three nuns from Spanish Harlem, Dress for Success has grown to include locations around the globe. With the initial gift of one suit that a woman can wear to job interviews, a whole new world opens up to her. "It's a lift to your self-esteem," says Monique.

Dress for Success assists low income women coming out of bad situations by giving them each a new suit, and continues to guide them and help them to possess new found confidence. Once the women are back in the workplace, the Professional Women's Group maintains the mentoring and encourages the women as they help others in their own communities.

Joi Gordon, CEO of Dress for Success, sees a suit as "a tool." A new suit may get things moving but it's "what comes next" that's important. As a mother herself, Gordon knows how difficult it is to "work life balance." Motivated by the women she meets, Gordon knows that, in spite of the challenges they face, "it still is doable." She sees her own mother in so many of the women and gains strength from them.

Looking ahead a year, Monique says she wants to "enjoy some of the things that life has to offer." She's been given a second chance at the life she's meant to have. Dress for Success has lit up the path for Monique and given her the ability to believe in herself.

Monique, you get home safely.