Do you need help finding clothing for your next interview, but don’t know where to start? Does your own personal styling experience sound like exactly what you need right now, but there are simply too many obstacles in the way? We hear you, and we want to make a way for you.
Dress for Success Cincinnati not only wants to style you with interview and employment clothing that will make you feel confident, we want to also pamper you in a way that you truly deserve. The first step to achieving this is to eliminate all of the stress that may be surrounding your styling appointment and break through any obstacles that are keeping you from a luxurious day of shopping with your own personal stylist.
There are numerous challenges women face that make it difficult for them to take advantage of our services. The greatest faux barrier that women may think they are facing is lack of funds to purchase clothing. Women who hear about our services may miss out on the small but extremely important fact that all of the clothing you leave our office with – including the styling experience with your own personal stylist—is all free of charge. Thanks to our donors and volunteers, we are able to make this easy and completely free for our clients, sending them home with all the clothing they will need to succeed for absolutely no charge.
Now that the most important barrier has been debunked, there are numerous others that keep the clients we would love to meet out of our office. One of the biggest barriers women face in coming to our office for a styling appointment is actually getting there. Transportation is a difficult factor for many people, including our clients. If a client does not have reliable transportation for the day of her appointment, we are happy to supply bus passes to get her to and from our office.
Additionally, with the current high prices of gas, we know that it can be hard to afford driving places outside or your usual route. In light of this, we are happy to offer our clients gas cards that they can use to refill their gas tanks after attending their appointment. Whether you are driving your own car to your appointment, or you have a friend bringing you and they need assistance filling their car up, we are happy to help out and make your styling possible.
Here at Dress for Success Cincinnati, we deeply value our clients who are mothers, as well, and understand that childcare is an expensive and difficult obstacle for many of them. It’s often difficult for mothers to prioritize themselves for something like attending a styling appointment to get interview or employment clothing when they just don’t have many options for help concerning childcare. We will soon be able to offer an amazing option to assist with this problem.
Dress for Success Cincinnati has partnered with the Care Center in Loveland and will begin offering our styling services within their facility in March. If you don’t already know about the Care Center, they are a resource center that helps people with everything from job skills and life coaching to supplying them with basic necessities such as food, cleaning supplies, and now, clothing. An exciting factor of partnering with the Care Center is that they also offer childcare for their clients, making this location an option for any Dress for Success Cincinnati client who would like to be styled but also needs this service.
If you are not able to drive to the Care Center in Loveland to take advantage of this opportunity, we can also create a style kit for you filled with all the clothing and accessories you will need for your next interview or starting your new job. This option is also great for clients who do not want to risk potential COVID-19 exposure throughout the course of an actual styling appointment. Our Styling Manager, Kate Black, will discuss your style kit needs with you over the phone, have you fill out a quick form, and she will have the style kit ready for you to simply swing by and pick up.
Another barrier that is commonly faced by our plus-sized clients is finding a selection of clothing that fits their body well. We are fortunate to not only receive many donations of plus-sized clothing from our supporters, but to also receive plus-sized clothing donations via our Amazon Wish List. These donations have allowed us to build a large selection of plus-sized options to be able to support clients of any shape and size.
We strive to have all of the resources our clients need, and in doing that we are happy to purchase any item that you may not find in our style studio. For example, we are happy to purchase items such as steel-toed boots, restaurant-approved shoes, and any other special requests that a client may need in their specific profession.
We strive to combat any physical barriers that may be keeping women from attending a styling appointment, but we also recognize that there are a number of mental barriers that can keep women from taking advantage of this experience.
We realize that as women, we all face the issue of body image throughout our lives. Some women struggle with having a positive image of their body and find it difficult to enjoy experiences such as a personal styling appointment. Maybe throughout the pandemic your body has changed and you don’t feel as comfortable in your own skin? Maybe you have long struggled with body positivity and haven’t quite mastered it yet? No matter how you are feeling about your body, our number one goal as an organization is to empower you and help you feel confident.
At our StyleHER studio, we aspire to be a positive and uplifting space. Our fantastic volunteers who will help to style you are not only gifted with a remarkable fashion sense, they are also gifted with an inspiring attitude. They are there to help you feel the very best that you can feel, and that energy transfer freely throughout our studio.
Or, maybe you feel perfectly confident in your appearance but lack confidence in your professional skills or capabilities. We can help with that, too!
Once you finish your styling appointment and are dressed for success, we will connect you to our Cincinnati Works affiliate staff member who will help you with your resume, cover letter, interview tips and any other help you need to prepare for your upcoming interview.
If you feel like you could truly benefit from these services and you would like to expand on them, we will also send you information on our four-week Career Development program, HigherHER. This program allows you to learn more about your career field and ways you can move up in that field, as well as teaching you the basics of interview etiquette, tools for job searching, and so much more, all while surrounded by like-minded women in a classroom setting.
Dress for Success Cincinnati strives to be the best resource that we can be for YOU. Our organization is here for you, and our main goal is to make it as easy and obstacle-free as possible for you to utilize us. We are constantly aiming to break down the barriers that stand between us and our next client, and we hope that this article can motivate you to connect with us now. We are here for you, we hear you, and we want to make a way for you to use every resource we offer to achieve your dreams.
To make your styling appointment now, fill out this form or contact Styling Manager Kate Black at kblack@dfscincy.org.
If you would like to learn more about the Care Center, follow this link.
For more information on our HigherHER program or our Career Center, visit our website at this link.
