Dress for Success empowers women to get into the workforce

Dress for Success director Jo Jacobsen gets ready for the ball season.

Getting kitted out for a job interview can be a daunting experience for many women, and especially so for those who are financially strapped or have lost their confidence. Dress for Success Hawke’s Bay helps women with more than just their wardrobe, also offering personal styling and mentoring to support those in our Hawke’s Bay communities access and secure employment opportunities, says Dress for Success director Jo Jacobsen.

“Our service is for any woman who finds herself in a challenging situation. Be that a graduation, a court summons, supporting tamariki and mokopuna, or attending an important function,” Jo says.

Dress for Success is an international organisation founded in Boston 25 years ago. It was also started in Auckland that same year. Jo launched the Hawke’s Bay branch in October last year, after spending nearly two years dotting the ‘i’s and crossing the ‘t’s to become affiliated worldwide. This meant around 100 pages of documentation, including job descriptions, forecasts, budgets and referral agencies, she says.

“I didn’t want to open without enough money. I wanted enough in the bank to be able to pay for two years’ rent.”

A launch party held at Urban Winery included two guest speakers and regional mayors Kirsten Wise, Sandra Hazlehurst and Alex Walker.

“The three mayors formed a panel about their challenges and what they had to offer.”

Jo says she wants Hawke’s Bay to be a community where women have unimpeded access to economic opportunity and are confident in their ability to find and retain meaningful employment.

“Our goal is to uplift as many women within our community as possible. It could be through support with identifying transferrable skills to add to a CV, interview techniques, support with identifying suitable roles, helping with application letters and connecting in with potential employers.”

Since launching in October, Jo says they have supported more than 45 women, who have all gone home with a full wardrobe. All Dress for Success clothing, from size six to 26, is donated, mostly second-hand, and taken home to be washed by Jo. She is always on the lookout for volunteers to help with steaming, ironing and repair work.

Dress for Success director Jo Jacobsen has a selection of beautiful clothes available for women in need.

“We do more than simply distribute clothing. We do anything we need to do to get a woman into the workforce.”

Dress for Success does this by providing styling advice, mentorship and a network of support and guidance through their post-employment support and Professional Women’s Group membership, which offers learning and development and networking opportunities.

Jo says all women who have been helped are “besides themselves”.

“They mostly burst into tears. One woman said, ‘Oh my god, I look like one of those women walking down the street who I’ve always wanted to look like’. Another said, ‘Oh gosh, I look good enough to search for work now’.”

Dress for Success has a range of top-quality clothing to help empower women.

“Most recently, we have supported women who have lost everything as a result of Cyclone Gabrielle, and are delighted to be able to do so.”

Last month, Dress for Success offered clothing and styling support to “precious kaumātua” associated with Waipatu Marae.

“Many had lost their homes to Gabrielle. The evening started relatively quietly and morphed into 60, 70 and 80-year-old nannies grooving to their boombox hits.”

Before Cyclone Gabrielle devasted parts of Hawke’s Bay, Jo says Dress for Success was going to launch their Empower 100 Women campaign.

“We didn’t feel it was right to progress after the flood, so pivoted and put it out there on Facebook. We were donated several boxes of new clothes and shoes by Augustine.”

With the ball season upon us, Dress for Success is offering its styling services to young women needing a new dress for their school ball.

“We have so many beautiful dresses available, so we are going to offer our services for the ball season.”

Jo says the organisation survives because it is part of a caring network.

“Our overarching strategy is to ‘link-weave-grow’ - linking our service into other agency and community group services so that we can weave support around each woman and help her capacity to grow to support her whānau and make an impact in her community.”

To contact Dress for Success, check out www.facebook.com/dressforsuccesshawkesbay or phone Jo on 0274 789 311.