Finally tonight, picture this.

You just landed a job interview for your dream position, but your wardrobe is a little outdated and a little out of style.

What do you do?

"Carolina Impact's" Jason Terzis joins us with the story of one organization that has solutions to those very questions.

- Well, it's an organization with a huge international presence, 130 locations in 20 different countries, serving more than 1.3 million women worldwide.

And its Charlotte location is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year.

But as I quickly learned, Dress for Success is a whole lot more than just its name.

- Holly, this is Q calling from US Bank in the university area.

My call is not urgent, however, it is important that I do speak with you.

- Marquisha Crosby, known to everyone as Q, makes customer service calls from her office at US Bank.

- Again, that number is 980-376.

It is my absolute passion to be able to help my customers go from not having credit to building credit to purchasing their first home.

So I feel like I get more excited than they do.

- [Jason] Across town, Nakeeta Joe helps people another way, as a Peer Support Specialist for Quality Comprehensive Health Center, - We provide medical, we have mental health, we have management classes.

If I can't find it, it does not exist.

- [Jason] The women help others support their families and are productive members of society.

But it wasn't always this way.

- I was homeless.

I had just graduated from college.

I became homeless, separated from my family.

- I just had my daughter and was told that I had to wait six weeks to go back to work, and that was not gonna cut it.

Being out of work for six weeks meant no pay.

- [Jason] It was during these stressful times when each was introduced to Dress for Success.

- And I went there sad and broken, didn't really feel like being there.

- They were interviewing me, had me come in, tell them about myself, and then tell them what type of position I was looking for, which at that time, I found that I can go into banking.

- [Jason] The women's stories aren't as uncommon as one might think.

- The needs for women aren't changing in our community.

Women continue to face barriers for job security.

They're more likely to live in hourly roles, jobs without benefits.

And so as long as that is true, we have a responsibility to continue to serve women in this community.

- [Jason] So who and what exactly is Dress for Success?

- Dress for Success Charlotte provides pathways to stable living wage jobs for women in our community.

So we support unemployed and underemployed women in finding stable jobs that support the economic needs of herself and for her family.

- [Jason] On the surface, Dress for Success provides clothing free of charge to job-seeking women.

- Clothes are all donated to us, so primarily through individual donations, but we also have some corporate donors that will give us inventory.

- [Jason] At the front end of their South End location, there's a swanky lobby and fitting rooms.

- We call it the Boutique.

- [Jason] And in the back is the operation center, filled with all types of clothes, blazers, pants, suits, dresses, cardigans in every size imaginable.

There's tons of shoes, and all the accessories like purses, necklaces, and personal care items.

- Rather than feeling like she's shopping in consignment and going through racks of clothing, we actually bring her clothes that meet her needs and that she's expressed interest in or that she feels comfortable in.

And we will bring her as many options as she needs to find the right clothing items.

- They gave me a stylist and this stylist went and picked out clothes that I could interchange for free, which was absolutely amazing.

I'd never heard of anybody doing any of these things, and for free?

Oh my gosh, I was so excited.

- [Jason] Each client coming in gets two complete outfits for interviews.

Then once landing a job, can return to get up to another five additional full outfits.

- Yep, clients keep all of those clothes, and they're all no cost to the women who come in.

- I went there, was loved on.

I did not leave out the same way.

I actually landed a job at Autism Learning Center with the clothes that I got from Dress for Success, and I do believe, because I know nothing about autism, so I do believe the suit did the job because I looked very splendid.

- [Jason] While the name Dress for Success is at the center of what they do, clothing is just one part of it.

- But the reality is the clothing and the suiting, that's on the back end.

We need to make sure that we are empowering, edifying, uplifting the woman internally, and then we give the clothes so it matches what she has internally.

So that means that we're making sure that she knows her brand, she understands her value, she understands that where she may have come from doesn't have to dictate where she's going.

- Then I found out that Dress for Success also helps you resume writing, public speaking, financial literacy.

- We provide a full spectrum of workforce development programs, so everything from job readiness and job acquisition to job retention programming.

We also have financial education courses.

We have an entrepreneurship program.

- [Jason] Dress for Success wouldn't be able to provide its services without a few things.

Donations in the forms of clothing and financial contributions, a pipeline to companies, jobs, and job training programs, and of course, volunteers.

- Last year in 2024, we had over 600 volunteers, and they provided more than 39,000 volunteer hours with us.

So we literally would not be able to support women and serve women without the volunteers that we have.

- [Jason] In Charlotte 25 years, and at their current location for 15, Dress for Success is being evicted, along with all the other businesses in the South End Business Park - In 2023, we learned that this business park was sold for redevelopment.

Our next door neighbors just left, a lot of leases are ending, and so our lease is currently scheduled to end at the end of June 2025.

We're really excited to be under contract on a new home that we will be purchasing so that we can continue to invest in women in this community and won't face the uncertainty of being gentrified or moved out due to the pricing demands of the area.