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National Wear Your Pearls Day: Dress for Success Memphis

Julia McDonald

December 15 is National Wear Your Pearls Day, which may feel a little silly but speaks to jewelry or clothes’ ability to empower women. No one may know this better than Dress for Success Memphis, which equips women with professional attire and skills training to help them enter the workforce.

Perhaps best known for the business suits and pearls it gifts its clients, Dress for Success Memphis also helps women in manufacturing and the service industry. One client didn’t have the right pants or skid-proof shoes to work in a hospital cafeteria. Shocked to find the shoes alone can retail for $300, its executive director Rhonda Treadwell shopped around and procured the pants and shoes for a fraction of the cost. “For sixty dollars, we could help her keep her job,” she shared.

Seventy percent of Dress For Success clients are single heads of households and 98 percent are women of color. When the agency empowers women to achieve economic independence, it creates a ripple effect for their families.

Click here to learn more about Dress for Success Memphis from the Mid-South COVID-19 Regional Response Fund impact report.