Alene Egol helps Dress for Success clients choose donated clothing.
Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star
By Lucy Lazarony
What’s the first thing an attorney with a master of arts and master of philosophy in Germanic languages and literature wants to do when she retires?
If you are Alene Egol, the answer is dress women for success.
Egol retired from her job as an attorney in Florida Power & Light’s alternative energy division in January 2012. Not long after, a friend approached her about volunteering for Dress for Success Palm Beaches.
“I love it,” says Egol, who serves as grant writer and board secretary for Dress for Success. “I love the concept of helping women get back in the workforce.”
Dress for Success promotes the economic independence of disadvantaged women by providing professional attire, a network of support and career development tools to female clients referred from 67 Palm Beach social service and nonprofit agencies.
“Seventy percent of our clients who come to Dress for Success are single moms. That’s staggering,” says Egol, who lives in coastal Delray Beach with her husband, university professor and published author Winston Aarons.
Egol, who expresses her sense of style as a jewelry maker exhibiting at Cacace Fine Art Gallery in Artists’ Alley, also assists Dress for Success clients with choosing clothes and accessories from the Dress for Success Palm Beaches boutique, at 118 E. Ocean Ave., in Lantana.
“At Dress for Success, we deal with women from 17 to 70 from all walks of life. We have young women with GEDs and women with Ph.D.s and law degrees,” Egol says. “I’ve dressed all different women. It’s just where life has brought them, particularly with our economic downturn, with our mortgage crises.”
What’s the most rewarding part of volunteering? Seeing the transformation after a successful personal shopping session, Egol says.
“By the time they leave they have their heads lifted up and their shoulders back. They have a smile on their face and a sense of self worth.”
Dress for Success provides women with appropriate business attire for initial job interviews, including shoes, a handbag, accessories, plus makeup and toiletries. They also receive interviewing tips and a note of encouragement.
“We even review their handshake with them and smile so they know how to do a good handshake when they go to an interview,” Egol says.
In 2013, 480 women in Palm Beach County were dressed for job interviews and employment suiting thanks to Dress for Success Palm Beaches.
Dress for Success also provides job-training programs to interested clients to help them land jobs.
And when they land the jobs, they can return for more shopping. In their second visit to the Dress for Success boutique, they receive a week’s worth of clothes.
“I really love working with clients. I love dressing them. I love styling them,” Egol says. “Many times our clients leave and we have tears in our eyes. To watch the transformation is amazing. It really is so touching.”
How you can help
Dress for Success Palm Beaches welcomes monetary and clothing donations.
Mail donation checks to Dress for Success Palm Beaches, 118 E. Ocean Ave., Lantana, FL 33462.
To donate by credit card, visit www.dressforsuccess.org (look for Palm Beaches affiliate page) or call 249-3898.
Bring clothing donations to the Career Transformation Center at 118 E. Ocean Ave., Lantana, during business hours, by appointment only. Call 249-3898.
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