Dress for Success: Rotorua women to benefit from new group

"I cannot explain how it feels to look in the mirror and see your outside finally reflecting what's inside."
These words from former Kawerau woman Shelly King stole the show from New Zealand performer Tina Cross at the first Dress for Success Rotorua event.
King was speaking as a former client of the group's Northland affiliate, who has gone on to run the Professional Women's Group support network in her area and represent New Zealand at international conferences.
Dress for Success provides women looking to enter or re-enter the workplace with appropriate interview and work clothing, along with support, advice and a boost in self-esteem - something King experienced first-hand.
"In my head I knew I had the ability to do the accounting job I was applying for, but I did not really believe it. Then I looked in that mirror and saw myself in those shiny shoes and smart suit and I said, 'Damn you look gorgeous!'.
"I could see a confident, courageous, aspiring Maori woman who deserved to be applying for that job and deserved to get it - and I did." King said she was excited to hear Rotorua was launching a Dress for Success affiliate.
"Women in this community want to work, they want to be self-sufficient, they want to be healthy and they want to be strong."
She was talking to a group of invited guests at the Millennium Hotel on Tuesday night, when the newly-formed Dress for Success Rotorua board introduced themselves, explained what the organisation did and the support it needed to get established.
New Zealand singer Tina Cross attended the event as the organisation's national ambassador, offering to perform free at the Rotorua group's next event.
"Dress for Success really resonates with me, because of my own background. I grew up in Otara and there are members of my own whanau who could have benefited immensely from an organisation such as this," she told The Daily Post.
Cross performed at Dress for Success events around the country before becoming the ambassador last year.
Kim Pears has spent more than a year putting together a business plan and application to Dress for Success to gain approval for an affiliate here.
The board is formed and the paperwork for charity status is going through the system.
She is looking for premises and the funding to begin operating.
"Our board met for the first time in April and I am really humbled to have such an amazing group of women involved.
"We have an excellent balance of people with board experience and women new to governance and a good range of skills."
Information on Dress for Success is available at www.dressforsuccess.org and Kim Pears can be contacted at rotorua@dressforsuccess.org