After spending years with a difficult home life, Karen courageously decided to find a better life for herself and her four children, relocating from Texas to North Carolina with only their RV. At age 55, without a stable source of income, Karen had difficulty finding a house for her family. At Dress for Success Triangle, she found the confidence to change her story.
Almetta was working as a Clinical Trials Assistant when her job ended in December 2020. While figuring out what the next step in her career would be, she saw an advertisement on the news about Dress for Success Triangle and the resources that are provided for women who were job searching just like her.
Niki had worked as a graphic designer for public institutions for twelve years. Wanting to try something different, Niki started taking classes to learn how to become a project manager so that she could leverage her career and earn a higher income. After realizing this wasn't the best fit for her, Niki sought help transitioning back to the public sector.
Lily was working in Hawaii as a behavioral therapist with children who have autism when the pandemic shut down her classroom in 2020. Although she lost her source of income, she decided it wouldn’t tear her down and continued tutoring children with special needs who were struggling with virtual learning.
Karen never wanted to be a bus driver, but it was the highest-paying job she could find. Driving a bus was strenuous on her body and was not a sustainable career as she got older. After getting injured at work, Karen was forced to take a year off while she recovered. She knew she had to do something different to switch up her career, so she started taking classes to become a Phlebotomist.
Phung was born and raised in Vietnam. When she moved to the United States with her family when she was 10, she didn’t know any English. Being in a new country and not knowing the language was hard. “It was really a damper on my self-esteem,” says Phung. Over the years, Phung was able to learn English and when she was ready to start her career, she landed a job within Human Resources.
Laura had just graduated with a master’s degree in education, but she wasn’t sure how to apply her degree to the positions she was looking for. Her job was unstable, paying her by the hour, but her hours were never the same, making her income unpredictable. After talking to a friend who had already joined Dress for Success Triangle’s job acquisition program, the Going Places Network, Laura decided to sign up too.
After leaving a position that wasn’t a good fit for her, Cathy was left emotionally reeling. In her mid-fifties, Cathy wasn’t sure where to go; she was at a juncture in her career. She found herself needing to continue in her career path or consider pivoting to something new. After coming across Dress for Success Triangle at a Wake Tech Community College exhibitor fair, she found her next step in our job acquisition program.
Anne worked for the same company for more than 9 years. When her job duties dwindled and her position became obsolete, she thought it would be easy for her to transition to another role within the same company since she had been there for so long. After finding the transition to be a difficult one, she found herself hurt and without a job. After going on a few unsuccessful interviews, Anne felt even more discouraged.
Since she was 16, Laura knew that she wanted a career where she could help people. This led her to a position with the North Carolina State Parks and to serve in the NC Army National Guard, including six months in Desert Shield/Storm. After working various government jobs, in 2013 Laura unexpectedly found herself unemployed.
As a survivor of sexual and physical abuse, Judy developed severe PTSD and was considered too high risk for employment, forcing her to go on disability. A decade later, Judy’s mental health stabilized, and she underwent gastric bypass surgery to help with her physical health. Judy was determined to go back to work, but she realized that after not working for so long she no longer owned any business professional clothing and with the surgery, she no longer had any clothing that fit her.
