The Care Collective
Join Dr. Uwaila Oronsaye, Pharm.D. and Dr. Siddhi Chandra, OD as they launch The Care Collective—a monthly podcast dedicated to empowering and connecting individuals passionate about creating positive change. Through insightful conversations and shared knowledge, they foster a supportive and inclusive community that inspires growth, connection, and action. Together, they aim to cultivate care and amplify the power of collective impact. Tune in and be part of the movement!
The Care Collective
Fashion Trends & Empowerment: "Styled & Strong"
In this episode of The Care Collective, Jodi Bash of Dress for Success Houston joins Dr. Uwaila Oranseye and Dr. Siddhi Chandra to explore how professional attire can shape career success. From interview suits to scrubs and long-term support, Jodi shares the organization’s holistic approach to empowering women. Tune in for inspiring stories, practical style tips, and a reminder that confidence often starts with what you wear.
The Care Collective Podcast | @sthopehealthcare
Hi, welcome to the Care Collective, a podcast brought to you by St Hope Healthcare.
Speaker 2:I'm Dr Uwaila Aranse and I'm Dr Siddhi Chandra. The Care Collective is a podcast dedicated to empowering and connecting individuals who are passionate about creating positive change. Our mission is to share valuable insights and knowledge, foster a supportive and inclusive community and provide engaging and entertaining. Foster a supportive and inclusive community and provide engaging and entertaining content that inspires growth and connection. Together, we aim to make caring contagious and amplify the power of collective action.
Speaker 1:Welcome back to the Care Collective Podcast. I'm your host, dr Uwaila Aranseye, and I have my co-host, dr Siddhi Ch Chandra, and we are here and we're talking about dressing for success, so we're going to be talking about the fashions. The appropriate work attires all that fun stuff right, absolutely.
Speaker 2:I'm so excited.
Speaker 1:This is my favorite topic fashion, fashion, fashion yeah, I love fashion as well, so it's always always fun. It just makes your day better.
Speaker 2:Speaking of, I actually had a really fun Zoom call with Jodi Bash, who is the engagement speaker for Dress for Success. Okay, yeah, we had a great conversation on setting ourselves up for success, for clothing, mentorship, job applications, scholarships, that they provide Just truly a great resource for all our patients and even for ourselves to be aware of that's really good, is it?
Speaker 1:Well, I guess we'll hear more in the Zoom that you guys had, so we'll get into that now.
Speaker 2:I'm excited to introduce our guest speaker from Dress for Success, Jodi Bash. Welcome to the Care Collective podcast.
Speaker 3:Thank you so much. It's a pleasure to be here. Wonderful, how's your day? So far it's going very good. We're having a great day.
Speaker 2:Love to hear that you know. To start off, I would love to know more about Dress for Success and what are some key resources that you offer to help women prepare for the workforce, and how do these services support long-term success?
Speaker 3:Yeah, thank you so much for asking. So Dress for Success has been around the Houston affiliate has been around for 27 years, so we've been doing this a long time. We have four key areas that we offer for our women to help them get the support they need. The first is our job search program. So this is for unemployed or underemployed women in the community, and so they might come in because they're looking for things like help with a resume setup, practicing an interview, getting to know what LinkedIn is and how to maximize that profile everything you might do kind of on the front end as you start to look for a job. Then we have a suiting program. So a suiting program is obviously what a lot of people think about when they think about Dress for Success, because it's in our name. You can come in and get a full suit from us, which is an interview outfit but includes shoes and a handbag as well. If you have maybe an interview coming up, if you have a job fair or career resource fair, you're going to. Also, if you've recently graduated and that doesn't just mean a graduate from college, but if you've completed some kind of program, certification program etc. That's a qualifying event to come in and get a suit because you're ready to take the next step. Part of that suiting program is also what we call employment suiting job or maybe has been recently promoted. She can come in and we give her eight pieces of professional attire mix and match separates to what we call kind of a starter wardrobe, so that she has a way to enter the workforce, doesn't have to wear that suit every day, but she's got the resources she needs. We can also offer scrubs to women in that case, because in Houston we've got a lot of people who are going to the medical industry or home health care and so scrubs is a priority for a lot of people coming in for that employment suiting.
Speaker 3:Another program we offer is our Women Veterans Program. That is obviously for women who have served in our military. That is obviously for women who have served in our military and it's really about connection and finding a community to be a part of and be with women who are going through the same unique challenges that they are. Our veterans program has been around for about 11 years now, so it's been growing steadily that whole time. And then the last program we have and this really speaks to the long-term success and what we're trying to do for the women is our professional women's group throughout the year, offered on Saturdays, thursday evenings, online availability as well for anything that's going to help their self-defined goals and how they can continue in that career journey. It's not just about getting a job, it's about building the career and finding the next step.
Speaker 2:Wow, that's incredible. Those are a lot of resources, you know. I'm not sure how many people know about the resources that you offer, so thank you for breaking that down. It's really truly start to finish, from job prep to clothing and, you know, afterwards building a community as well. It's really beautiful.
Speaker 3:Thank you, thank you.
Speaker 2:What is one common fashion mistake professionals make that might undermine their authority, and how can they fix it?
Speaker 3:Yeah. So I think you know it's interesting because when you say professional, that really is thing is to understand what is common for your industry. What are the policies, maybe, that your company that you work for have in place for attire? So I think the biggest mistake is people who don't take time to learn that and maybe are showing up in the wrong types of clothing. The most important thing when you're at a job is that you're exuding confidence in what you're doing. If you're wearing something that's distracting because it's not what you're supposed to be wearing in this environment, then people aren't paying attention to your great work and what you're doing. They're focused on the wrong thing. Don't undercount things like jewelry, makeup. What is appropriate for where I'm working in those scenarios as well, it's not just clothing. It can be more than that.
Speaker 2:That's helpful insight. It's a great way to look at it, because each workforce and scenario can be completely different and even the small things add up, like you said makeup, jewelry and sometimes we overlook it because we think it looks amazing and great, but is it appropriate for the setting?
Speaker 3:Exactly, and you probably do look amazing and great. But again, is this going to be distracting when I'm talking to a client or a co-worker or customer?
Speaker 2:That's very good insight. Can you share a success story that highlights how the resources provided by Dress for Success, like career development or mentoring, help transform someone's life?
Speaker 3:Absolutely. We have so many incredible examples of women who've come through our programs and want to share their story and talk about what they've seen so that other women take advantage of it. There is a woman, yemi, who's actually she's now a volunteer with us. She started out as a client. She came to the US from Nigeria with three young children and a husband and then found herself in the unfortunate position of a single mom needing to get a job and make money for her family. She came to Dress for Success. She got a suit for her first interview, got a job and was invited to join our professional women's group. So when she joined the professional women's group, she was able to get a scholarship through our scholarship program for seven consecutive semesters of school that allowed her to get a business and accounting degree and move from the job that just helped her support her family to the career that she could build on and be there more for her family. So it's just been an incredible journey for Yemi.
Speaker 2:Wow, that's a really inspiring story. It's beautiful. Gives a lot of hope as well For people that would be interested in your resources. How do they get contact with that?
Speaker 3:Yeah, so we partner with about 150 agencies around Houston that can refer women to our program. So if you are at a university, your university might be a partner of ours and you can go to the career services and get us. You know, hey, I want a referral to Dress for Success. There's so many different women's shelters, workforce solutions, so many different places. But you can also self-refer, so you can. We have an online form and easy to find dfshoustonorg get support and there's a button that takes you to a form where you can just fill it out and you can say I need your job search services or I need your suiting or your veteran services any one of those and then within 24 hours we'll contact you to set up an appointment and get you in the right spot for our program so we can start helping empower you.
Speaker 2:Oh, I love that. That's great. It's wonderful. I'll definitely be passing that along to many of our patients who are looking for resources. Please do Absolutely Well. It was a pleasure speaking with you today and thank you so much for being on the podcast and we will be in touch. You're welcome. Hope you have a wonderful day, Thank you.
Speaker 3:Thank you so much. Have a good one.
Speaker 1:I'm so sad that I missed the Zoom with Dress for Success. I got stuck in traffic, but here we are. But what was one of the highlight things that she went over that she really liked about it?
Speaker 2:You know, one thing she brought up which was actually your question because a great question is what is the mistake you can make? Oh yeah, and she was talking about how it's like the little things, like your makeup, your jewelry, your hair, and I was thinking I was like that's so true, because you have to dress for the professional environment you're in which could completely vary, right if you're, you know, in a medical office, or if you're working as a teacher or you know, whatever the situation is, it's a completely, it's completely different attire.
Speaker 2:So to kind of be aware of that when you're dressing for a job.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so I guess, when it comes to your particular fashions, what would you say you're more into like sneakers or heels?
Speaker 2:Oh, love, heels, heels I do, but as I've aged, so graciously I feel that heel is getting shorter and shorter and shorter it's becoming those little kitten heels.
Speaker 1:Right, those are in right now, exactly, there's nothing to like yeah, for that it's actually in style.
Speaker 2:Um, so I do explore block heels and you know shorter heels and stuff like that for comfort yeah, but I love the look of a high heel. It's very elegant to me I don't know for me.
Speaker 1:I I love sneakers and heels, um, but when it comes to heels, I don't know like. It can only be like black heels. I can't do the stilettos like could you ever?
Speaker 2:or is it just now?
Speaker 1:it's just my legs just don't work for those kind of shoes. I don't know, it just does not. My feet just don't ever feel comfortable in them. Um so more like thicker, um heels or um platforms I really love platforms because they're comfy, but you still get the height, um. So, yeah, those are some of my. I like to do sneakers as well, so I like I used to be a sneaker head back in high school, but what's your favorite sneaker that you, that you have?
Speaker 1:I guess not that big of a sneaker head, so I like the looks of sneakers, but I'm not. I don't care about the names.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:Cause I know that's like a whole thing, isn't there one that's?
Speaker 2:like Panda or something. The black and white.
Speaker 1:What are those called? Oh my, gosh.
Speaker 2:Okay, we may have to stop talking.
Speaker 3:I'm not a real sneaker head.
Speaker 1:Okay, I just like looking at sneakers, I don't care about the names, like my husband is into sneakers, knows the names and all that I just like. If I see something and it's cute, then I'm going to get them, but I'm not really into like the names.
Speaker 2:Oh, I know it's a whole thing, but I don't know them either.
Speaker 1:If you could raid one celebrity's closet, who would it be?
Speaker 3:and why, if I could raid?
Speaker 1:Rihanna's closet. I would love to, because I just love like she doesn't have like her style. It varies, it has like a variety of looks, and I like that because that's kind of how my style is. I kind of dress per my mood, okay, and I feel like that's how she is too, and she would have so many good things in her closet. I just know.
Speaker 2:Her clothing is beautiful.
Speaker 1:Yes, and she just dresses her body so well. So even when she's in comfy things or if she is in something more fitted, it's always so nicely done.
Speaker 2:I know. But you know what is it? The effortless look that takes the most effort.
Speaker 1:I know right that the effortless look that takes the most effort. I know right how do you, I guess, dress based on like comfort or like your mood, or how do you go to your closet and pick out what you're wearing for today?
Speaker 2:okay, so I do love to be creative, absolutely like I just I love colors, I love styles, I love different, just being vibrant, um, and I, I, I do like different looks as well. I don't like to stick to one look, but, with that being said, I've noticed that as much as I want to be creative, I will prioritize confidence over it okay so if I look or I think in my head, I look better in one outfit, even though I like the other outfit more.
Speaker 1:I'll go with the one that is more flattering yeah and, you know, suited to me yeah, I love that because, yeah, I'm the same way like you know, you'll see something you're like. I just love the way this looks on the hanger and you put it it on. It's just like, uh, maybe it doesn't fit right in the bust area or wherever, and it's just for me. If I'm not comfortable at home, then I'm not going to wear it. Because then I'm going to be very uncomfortable outside.
Speaker 2:Right, and then I'm just going to be self-conscious the whole time. And you know, yeah, no, so I do go for confidence.
Speaker 1:But I try know. So I do go for confidence, but I try to be creative.
Speaker 2:Are you like a print person? Or when you say, like colors and variety, um, do I do prints, I, I do prints. I'm not gonna lie, okay, I do prints I do colors, I do pastels, I'm trying to do, and I love neutrals too, don't get me wrong, I just love it all yeah, and that's you're like opposite for me.
Speaker 1:I I'm not a big print person and I'm not like. I used to only wear like dark colors and neutrals and my mom was like I was driving her crazy when I was younger. But I've gone. I'm more of like my foundation is mostly neutral, but then I'll do like pops of color okay, but I'm not a colorful person when it comes to outfits.
Speaker 2:And see, that's also a trend.
Speaker 1:Like the neutrals.
Speaker 2:It's very demure.
Speaker 1:Yeah, demure, demure. Aesthetic is how the kids are saying now.
Speaker 2:Yes, how do you balance staying true to your personal style while experimenting with new trends?
Speaker 1:staying true to your personal style while experimenting with new trends. So with my personal style, I like to try new things but yeah, I don't know as long as I fit it into, like how I would wear it. Like I was saying earlier, I don't leave the house. If I'm uncomfortable then I'm not leaving and I want to make sure I'm comfortable. But sometimes with trendy things before I like buy like a more expensive version of it. I might buy like maybe like a cheaper version or a more affordable version and see if I actually like it. And if it's something I like, then I'll go ahead and, you know, buy more quality versions of it. So that's how I kind of play around with the trends, because I'm not going to waste my money on things that if I'm not going to wear it, then yeah yeah, do you do online shop or in store?
Speaker 1:These days online, I do actually prefer in store. These days online, I do actually prefer in store, but I just don't have the time for that anymore and I do both. But majority right now is online. Yes, yeah, and their return um rates are like a lot. Their return policies are so much better now because the only thing with online is just trying to figure out your sizing and like. Sometimes I like I can be in between sizes for certain types of styles and things.
Speaker 2:And it can change.
Speaker 1:Mm-hmm.
Speaker 2:I think I'm the same. I definitely online shopping is easier, right, it's like click click, click.
Speaker 1:Yes, maybe a little too easy, and they make it too easy.
Speaker 2:And then I mean I'm terrible.
Speaker 1:Like I will return everything that I don't like if it doesn't fit. So I'm a big buyer and returner. I know some people don't like that. Right, and I get it. That's, that's great. I don't get it. I personally, if it didn't fit me, I mean the whole point. If it does, it's the same thing in the store, like if it doesn't fit me, then I'm gonna return it but you would have tried it in the store right and I wouldn't have bought it exactly, and that's the thing, that's why I do like in-store better.
Speaker 1:Yes, um, when I do have time to try things on, I don't have to go back and return anything.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, and the other thing is within store there's so many. I will like find something. I love it. I try it. I think it's great and then I'll just search online real quick, which is what everyone should do, because you never, know if you can find it cheaper, and so they will price match most stores price match, so always like before checking out.
Speaker 1:We'll check yeah, if it's a little, I need to be doing that more.
Speaker 3:Oh, do it all the time. You'll be shocked.
Speaker 2:And then I'll see the online picture and I see and I'm like I would have never bought this online right, based on the model, right?
Speaker 1:yeah, sometimes I'm why would they style it like this? Yeah, yeah, it looks better in person. Yeah, true, very true. Or the model is like no way you can even see yourself wearing it, based on the model's body type, or anything like that.
Speaker 2:What's one fashion trend you loved in the past but wouldn't wear now. Oh, that's a good one. I can't wait to hear this.
Speaker 1:Okay on. You know the millennials love a skinny jean oh okay and I still kind of love it, but now that I've been doing, you know, the baggier, looser look is like what's in now? Yes, it is actually more comfortable. Um, now, when I try to put on my skinny jeans, I still like the way they look, but they're just not that comfortable. So, fair, um, I, I don't wear them at all anymore. And, based on, like the youngins, they were like no, you can't wear, it's not in anymore, and I just I.
Speaker 1:It took me a while to you know, get away from it, but I, I do so now I'm like now I can't even see myself wearing it more for the comfort, because the skinny jeans are not comfortable no, that's fair, that's a good one yeah for me hmm, I don't know.
Speaker 2:Sometimes I look back at what I was wearing and I was like, what was I thinking? Ever that was so bad, and why did anyone think? Did you ever dress out of desperation? Okay, listen to me. Like you had an event, or you had something to go to and you just had to put something together for it. And I feel like I was in that situation Previously and I just didn't have the right clothes.
Speaker 1:I was just Some of the stuff I do went like some of the old outfits I've worn. I'm always just like, hmm, I probably wouldn't have worn that. It's more for me the makeup when I first was getting into makeup.
Speaker 3:That's where.
Speaker 1:I'm just like oh my God, what did I?
Speaker 2:why was I doing that? The transition Mm-hmm.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:Well, the good thing is, we're only improving with age and time. Yes, with our skills, so we'll only look better.
Speaker 1:Mm-hmm. Yeah, that's all you can do, but I mean, I think fashion is a fun thing and when it comes to like in, like the professional settings, like finding out ways to make yourself pop, I mean we wear scrubs to work?
Speaker 2:Yes, but you know how do you make yourself pop?
Speaker 1:I mean, we wear scrubs to work but you know how do you, how do you make yourself pop for work. The only thing I can do is, I mean, if your hair is done and you're, if you do want to do makeup you don't have to wear makeup? I'm not sure I'm not trying to say you have to wear makeup, but with scrubs, it's really your shoes, and maybe like a dainty jewelry that you can dress it up, or if your watch is nice and just look clean and ironed. Yeah, ironing is huge.
Speaker 2:Ironing is huge, I agree, I think so. My technician, Tanisha. She works with me. One of our favorite things to do is to wear like a bold lip. Okay, and you're always like ooh, you look good today. I think I have seen her with that. With the red lip right. So that's when you know it's a good day, that's when you go talk to her.
Speaker 1:Okay, that's good to know. Good to know, yeah.
Speaker 2:So that's definitely something we do, and I love my scrubs in different colors too, that's something I really like as well.
Speaker 1:I know certain uniforms look nicer too. I love the figs um uniforms the brand. I love the way that fits, and then the texture to the material, the material nice definitely so. Those are one of my favorites, but other than that it's pretty much just hair. But we could dress up for work yeah, we are allowed to do a business professional.
Speaker 2:I know how do you feel about that?
Speaker 1:I actually used to do it a lot more when I first started here. Oh you did, you know, before I had kids and stuff. That's nice, you know.
Speaker 2:So when I was in optometry school, it was business professional. So I actually have that entire wardrobe. So I was thinking, I was like I think I need to like tap into it and maybe do it. I think I might need to break away from the scrub.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it is nice. It's like because you know, once you get into scrub, it's just so easy. Oh, I love it.
Speaker 2:You don't have to think at all, it's like right there in the morning.
Speaker 1:Grab it go. But yeah, sometimes I am like you just feel a little different when you're dressed up.
Speaker 2:So I think maybe I'll try, like once a month.
Speaker 1:Mm-hmm. Yeah, that would probably be nice, right, mm-hmm? Maybe first of the month, the beginning of the month, oh, that's a good way. That could be a thing you can.
Speaker 2:Yeah, the first day of each month, mm-hmm. Business casual, you know, no pressure, but yeah, yeah. Well, this is a really fun episode on fashion. I love learning about your trends.
Speaker 1:Yes, and here also talking with dress for success some great resources for our patients and people who are looking to get employed yes, so if you are um interested, you know this podcast is brought to you by Saint Hope Healthcare and if you would like to schedule an appointment with us, you can go to our website at wwwofferinghopeorg and you'll be able to schedule an appointment.
Speaker 1:You'll find our contact information. We also have our contact information and if you're watching this on YouTube, you can look there as well. So thank you so much for joining us and we'll see you in the next one. Take care, bye.
Speaker 2:You've been watching and listening to the Care Collective, a production of St Hope Healthcare. Join us monthly for new episodes as we explore the latest thoughts and ideas on living your best life.