Dress for Success - Ottawa

Hello dear bloggers! You might remember me, my name is Lorena and I appeared on a Twenty York Loves post some time ago. I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to be here again, but this time as a writer: The Fashion Correspondent. Thank you M for your great generosity!


Christmas is upon us and here at Twenty York Street we can’t wait to open all those fashionable presents that are surely coming our way and show them to you. But we would also like to honour the true spirit of the season, which is to give and help everybody around us. This is precisely what the ladies at Dress for Success Ottawa National Capital Region, a non-for-profit international organization that empowers disadvantaged women, are set to do. I sat down with Visjna Zaborski Breton, the Co-Chair of the Marketing and Communications Committee for the Ottawa Chapter for a little insight into the organization.

This is a wonderful idea, Visjna, tell me a little about Dress For Success.

Dress for Success is a volunteer-based charitable organization that started in New York in 1997 and now has 113 affiliates all over the world. We have served over 500,000 women worldwide. But the project of the Ottawa Chapter started a little more than a year ago and is finally ready to start serving the community. Our first client suitings have gone extremely well - we are so pleased and the clients themselves are overjoyed. All of them have left with bags full of clothing - two interview suits/outfits, purses, shoes and jewellery. Some have also left with winter coats and boots!



What is the organization’s mission?

The mission is to give disadvantaged women the right tools to enter the work-force and stay there. We provide each client with suits to go on interviews and clothing for up to two weeks of employment. This includes outerwear, accessories, shoes and purses.

But it doesn’t stop there. The client also goes through a mock interview with HR specialists that coach her on the dos and don’ts of the job market. After they are employed, they become part of the Professional Women’s Group. The group attends seminars on finance, job retention and how to get better jobs. It is a very comprehensive program and we make sure that the women who need it the most have access to this service through referral agencies. We also have a fashion consultant that helps our clients put outfits together and advises them on the types of clothes that are better for their body types.

This is wonderful because as our bloggers know, fashion, whether we like it or not, is important to succeed.

Yeah, for sure, getting a job has a lot to do with confidence, how comfortable you feel in your own skin, and knowing you are dressed appropriately for your interview is a big part of that confidence.

How can people get involved in the cause?

We accept monetary and clothing donations and we are always looking for volunteers. So far the support of the community in Ottawa has been overwhelming. Over 100 people have assisted us one way or the other, from setting up the boutique to driving the clothing. But to top this off, the amount of donations we have received is amazing, and so is the quality of the clothing. We are very happy, because there is a great need for this service in the community. For more info about how to help, you can visit our website: http://www.dressforsuccess.org/home.aspx or contact us at Ottawa@dressforsuccess.org.

Thanks to Visjna for her time and insight and thank you dear bloggers for reading us. Enjoy, indulge and give during this Holiday season!

Lorena
The Fashion Correspondent