Dress for Success director runs empowerment shop
Nonprofit helps women look, sound professional for job searches.
Meet Mary Hart, executive director of Dress for Success Palm Beaches.
In addition to providing women professional attire to assist in seeking employment, Dress for Success offers an impressive 10-week job preparation and mentoring program called New Directions. The mentees have diverse paths, many seeking new opportunities after significant accomplishments in various fields. The mentors also come from various fields.
There also are consultants who help Dress for Success clients create or refine their professional look — at no cost to the client. The organization accepts donations of clothing, accessories, money and time.
One of the nonprofit organization’s signature fundraisers is coming up next month. The fourth annual Shop for Success pop-up opens its door from Oct. 4 through Oct. 7 at the Palm Beach Outlets. Shoppers will find accessories and clothing in sizes petite to plus.
Name: Mary Hart
Title: Executive director, Dress for Success Palm Beaches
Age :56
Hometown: I’m a native of Buffalo, New York, and have lived in Jupiter since May 2010.
Education: I have a bachelor’s degree in business studies from State University of New York/Empire State College. I also have certifications in leadership through emotional intelligence, teaching English as a second language, and am pursuing a certificate in addiction studies at Palm Beach State.
Family: I’m the mother of three adult children and a stepson who’s just entering UNF, and I have five grandchildren
ranging in age from 5 to 15.
About your organization: Dress for Success is all about empowering women. We go beyond simply dressing our clients in a workplace wardrobe, additionally providing them with the advice, guidance and programming that prepares them for an interview and ultimately landing the job that’s right for them. Since opening the doors to our Palm Beaches chapter in 2010, we’ve assisted nearly 5,000 women in need — many who face issues such as homelessness, poverty, addiction, recovery, domestic abuse and mental or physical disabilities.
In the job readiness courses that we’ve been offering for only the past four to five years, our success rate is increasingly notable. More than 200 women age 26 years and older have completed New Directions, our free 10-week course, with 65 percent obtaining jobs as a result. And, among the more than 100 women who’ve experienced our Next Step program for 18- to 25-year-olds, 60 percent have gone on to earn jobs. More importantly, these women — as well as the countless others who come through our boutique and meet with a career coach — gain a new found self-awareness, self-confidence and mega-boost in their self-esteem. It’s an unparalleled head-to-toe, inside-out transformation.
First paying job and what you learned from it: My first full-time job was in a call center as a telephone service professional for a financial institution. It was a great experience that allowed me to professionally grow up.
I learned how to lead, and how not to lead. I learned the importance of professionalism no matter what role you play in an organization. And, perhaps most important, in such a metrics-driven organization, I learned that if you take care of your employees the numbers will take care of themselves. I worked my way up to a senior vice president/director position.
First break in the business: Although I was on a successful career track in the corporate world, I became a dropout in 2007, seeking a transition to the nonprofit sector.
Surprisingly, it wasn’t so easy to change directions, but finally, upon my relocation to South Florida, I got my break, working first as director of Student Services for Keiser University and then as executive director of the Women’s Chamber of Commerce of Palm Beach County.
The job with the chamber set me on a path to networking with some very exceptional and amazing women.
When the opportunity to head Dress for Success Palm Beaches popped up about three years ago, I was seriously interested in it even though I did not have fundraising experience, which is a key qualification.
What persuaded the board of directors to offer me the job is that I have the proven ability to build strong relationships and execute effectively. I’m grateful to have had this level of support from my fellow women who exemplify female empowerment — which is exactly what Dress for Success is all about.
How your field has changed: There are more than 5,000 nonprofit organizations in Palm Beach County alone. We all believe in our mission, but passion is no longer enough.
More and more, funders and supporters are looking at outcomes. That is one reason I love what we do at Dress for Success: our single most important measurable outcome is women who become employed. We know that everything we do — the suiting, the coaching, the classes — makes a difference, but in the end what matters is helping women become gainfully employed.
All of the women who come to us are referred by other nonprofit agencies. I believe our model epitomizes collaboration, which is what more and more funders are looking for in nonprofits. Collaboration makes good sense and benefits the entire community.
Best business book you’ve read: “Outward Mindset,” from the Arbinger Institute. This book reminds us of the importance of focusing on others, rather than self, to achieve the best results for those we are trying to serve.
Best piece of business advice you have received: Practice influence rather than control.
As I was climbing the corporate ladder, I tended to barrel through. Fortunately, I had a manager who shared this wisdom to gain buy-in and consensus. I try to incorporate this principle in both my organizational and personal life. Even though it sounds like it would be disempowering, in reality it is quite the opposite.
Many successful people learn from failure. Do you have a failure you can share and what you learned from it? As I mentioned, SHOP FOR SUCCESS POP-UP
What: Four days of shopping for gently used accessories and clothing from sizes petite to plus.
Where: Palm Beach Outlets
When: A ticketed preview from 6 to 9 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 4, kicks off the pop-up. It will feature champagne, hors d’oeuvres and entertainment. Tickets are $30 for the first 30 who register, $35 for all others and available online at palmbeaches. dressforsuccess.org/. Public shopping hours on the following three days are Friday and Saturday, 10 a.m. until 9 p.m., and Sunday, 11 a.m. until 7 p.m. I was unsuccessful breaking into the nonprofit world when I first left the corporate world, so I took on a consulting gig as a project manager.
It was a disaster! Having been in a leadership role for so many years, I struggled with taking direction from someone else. As a strategic big-picture thinker, dealing with so much detail was beyond my comfort zone.
On mutual agreement, I left the role after just a couple of months. I was humiliated. What I learned, though, is that we need to play to our strengths.
In the call-center world, I had surrounded myself with detail-oriented people to offset my big-picture thinking. To get through this consulting job, I just kept repeating to myself, “It’s good to be humble. It’s good to be humble...”
What do you see ahead for Palm Beach County? The “why” behind what we do at DFS is because the poverty level for women in our county hovers around 15 percent.
That figure is even higher for the demographic that we serve, mostly single moms, mostly African-American. What I see for our county is improvement in those numbers because we have so many amazing nonprofit organizations that are focused on helping the underserved. We also have extraordinary women in leadership positions in our county, city and state, and they continue to fight the good fight for all women.
Power-lunch spot :My desk ... LOL!
What is the most important trait you look for when hiring? Coachability. I am willing to work with anyone with the right attitude even if they don’t have the right skill set.
I need to know that they are open to being coached, and desire to continuously improve.
Where we’d find you when you’re not at the office: Either at a networking event or in a cozy spot at home reading a book.
Any recent accomplishments? It’s been only two years since I joined Dress for Success and there is only one other paid staff member, our operations director.
So, it’s the incredible corps of volunteers who are the organization’s lifeblood and drive our accomplishments. But, I think we have bragging rights to a few very significant achievements since I assumed leadership.
We’ve attracted more community partners to fund our initiatives, cemented relationships with more of the social service agencies and their caseworkers who refer their clients to us, and have added more programming, including Women Achieving Growth in Employment (WAGE) which helps women once they’ve been hired, providing advice on workplace issues they might face such as worker rights, co-worker relations and financial literacy.
Also, our key fundraisers have come of age to be major events on the Palm Beach County social calendar.
Our Shop for Success pop-up at Palm Beach Outlets is Oct. 4-7. In its fourth year, this flash retail experience features bargains on donated designer label and popular name-brand fashions and accessories.
We anticipate surpassing the $25,000 raised last year.
Then on March 8, we’ll be hosting our sixth annual Style for Hope luncheon and auction. Expect to see the bar raised on that event since our goal is to substantially exceed the $40,000 we raised this year.