Tuesday, December 8, 2015

Empowerment





What item of clothing or outfit makes you feel good? What makes you feel most confident? It’s important to know and find that go to outfit.  For me it’s a pencil skirt and heels. You might think from most of my posts that it would be a power suit of pants and a blazer, but if pants were not a better choice for my daily activities, I’d most likely wear a pencil skirt to the office every day. I also wear them outside of the office.  You can dress them up or down. A pencil skirt is generally universally flattering to everyone. A great fitting pencil skirt creates a great silhouette. You don’t have to tug or pull at them or worry about them blowing up in the wind outside.  A piece that I can wear worry and fuss free and look good in gives me confidence. I’m short in stature so a comfortable pair of heels gives me a little height and helps elongate and shape my legs too.

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I’ve had some key women in my life along the way that helped shape who I am. I doubt that without their contributions, no item of clothing alone would make me feel good. Success and confidence starts on the inside. For me, the first person who really inspired me to go after goals and dreams was one of my former teachers and cheerleading coach, Mrs. Stephens. She sought me out and sent word to me through another coach while I was in the eighth grade that she wanted me to try out for her high school cheerleading team.  Me? A cheerleader? I was a gawky, unattractive, shy, socially awkward teenager. I was a high academic achiever, but not good at sports and not confident to do anything outside the academic arena.  I had no idea who this lady was, but after some discussion with Coach Johnson, I decided to go ahead and try out for the cheerleading team. After all, Mrs. Stephens asked for me. Me? Really?  (I made the team and was captain during my junior and senior years.)  Mrs. Stephens also taught English, journalism, and an “I Can” class that was all about self-confidence.  Through her mentoring and encouragement during her classes, I became a more confident and more well-rounded person.  All she really gave was a little of her time, but that went a long way.
Today I’m teaming up with Shopstyle and Dress for Success to talk about empowerment and to give back. It’s the perfect time of the year for giving back.  Dress for Success helps empower women to achieve financial independence and does so by providing in both ways I’ve spoken about above.  They provide outfits for interviews and training to build skills, thereby building confidence in women.  Today and tomorrow, I’m donating 10% of all my sales and earnings through my affiliate links to Dress for Success. Shopstyle is matching that contribution by 100%. See more details about how this works and the disclaimer here. So get busy shopping my post, knowing that we are contributing to a worthy cause.  Thanks for your support!

Linking up here: