CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Eyewitness News anchor Erica Bryant will be featured on billboards across Charlotte Monday as part of a campaign for Women’s History Month.
This is part of a campaign supporting Dress for Success Charlotte throughout the month of March.
According to Dress for Success, their mission is to empower women to achieve economic independence by helping to provide “a network of support, professional attire and development tools to help women thrive in work and in life.”
The organization said the Your Hour, Her Power campaign will feature female leaders in the Charlotte community who have committed to paying it forward. They are encouraging others in the community to consider donating an hour of compensation throughout the month of March.
[ Women’s History Month: Charlotte’s first female firefighter hired in 1980 ]
Women, especially women of color, have been disproportionally affected by COVID-19, according to Dress for Success. The organization, citing the center for American Progress said, “the risk of mothers leaving the labor force and reducing work hours in order to assume caretaking responsibilities amounts to $64.5 billion per year in lost wages and economic activity.”
Dress for Success Charlotte said the money raised throughout the month of March will be used toward helping women who have been impacted by the pandemic.
Dress for Success prepares you with more than clothes
Dawn Papariello says there’s much more to Dress for Success than clothes.
“They gave me the push. They helped me revise my resume so that I can utilize my degree,” she said.
Papariello left a career in banking to take care of her two children. Once her children were grown, she re-entered the workforce and started working part time as a classroom assistant at the Clover School District in South Carolina.
Wanting to do more, she signed up for a networking class with Dress for Success.
In addition to helping her with her wardrobe and resume, she said the organization also helped train her for interviews and built her confidence, which led to her getting an operations job for the same district.
“They brought that up in me that, yes I am important. That yes, although I was a stay at home mom and working as an assistant, I matter,” she said.
“All the women that I met also go through the group. Everybody helps. Everybody helps each other,” she said.
To learn more about the campaign and Dress for Success Charlotte, click here.
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