At age 22, Janissa Moore didn't know what she was doing with her life - she had taken time off from college, moved across the country and back, and had just started a new job. The last thing on her mind was how she would dress for it.
"When I got there, I didn't have a lot of professional clothing," Moore said, recalling her first days as an office support assistant at the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services. "One of the ladies that worked there ... she gave me this letter and said, "Go here, and take this letter.' It was a two-page letter about why I needed clothes."
Moore's coworker had sent her to Dreams to Reality, which provides professional clothing and image advice to about 250 local women a year.
"In the hour and a half that they allow for consultations for individuals to find out what they're needing, they can build your confidence, and by the time you're out the door, you're smiling, got two weeks worth of clothing and you feel much better about life in general," Moore said. "That was a good thing for me. Honestly, before that day, my license and my money went in my back pocket - I never wore a purse; I never did my hair."
That was 2007. Moore and her mother, Joanne Lewis, moved to Jefferson City from Detroit five years before. Both women have been Dreams to Reality clients - and now both are volunteers.
In 2002, Lewis was unemployed, and visited her brother in Jefferson City to see if she could find work here.
"I had planned to give myself two months, and I found a job within a week," Lewis said. She started out cleaning office buildings and still remembers the day she got a permanent job at the Missouri Highway Patrol - May 26, 2002. She and her children had made the move by July.
Lewis found herself in need of Dreams to Reality's services when she moved on to a new job at DHSS a few years later.
"My wardrobe - it was OK, but it needed to be a little better," Lewis said. "I knew how to dress and everything like that, but I just wanted a different style, a different look."
She had learned about Dreams to Reality after her daughter's initial experience there. Where Moore had appreciated the volunteer personal image consultant's guidance in accessorizing and polishing her overall appearance, Lewis was more concerned with stocking basic professional clothing items like slacks and undershirts - with three sons younger than Moore, money was tight for the family.
"We gave them each a workable wardrobe that included probably 20-25 pieces of clothing, including accessories, so that they could feel confident in getting a job," said Liz Lehmann, Dreams to Reality president. "I feel like it was just a real boost in terms of their confidence and really helped them out financially."
Dreams to Reality connects with clients through referrals from other local agencies.
"By supporting working women, we are supporting the community and making it more stable. If a person is able to keep their job, then their children, their families, everything is going to be a lot less stressful and they're going to be better off financially and psychologically," Lehmann said. "In today's world, when somebody comes in for a job interview, there's an automatic judgment made as soon as you see them. ...
"Plus, when you know you look good, it just has a real positive effect on your whole confidence level, and we see that over and over again with our clients."
The agency's volunteers help clients choose at least a week's worth of clothing and guide them in accessorizing and mixing and matching items to get the most wear out of them. And they always make sure the woman chooses items that fit her own personality.
"I knew about style, but I didn't know about style, the type of style that you can't recreate on someone else - because every woman has her own personal style, and that's what they try to bring out at Dreams to Reality," Moore said. "For me and for other women, by coming in here it allows them to see another side of them that they really don't get to see every day."
Dreams to Reality was a gift that kept giving for Moore; by the time she finished her degree and started a new position at the Missouri Department of Labor, she had outgrown the first supply of professional clothing the agency provided her and, with encouragement, returned to accept their help a second time.
Now, the mother-daughter pair volunteers at Dreams to Reality, helping sort and stock donated items and staffing the monthly boutique sale open to the public.
"We just felt like we wanted to give back, to help them help other ladies or refer other ladies that might feel like they don't need it or are afraid to ask," Lewis said. "If you don't encourage people to better themselves, then they will always stay where we are. ...
"That's what Dreams to Reality did for me. It boosted my confidence. I felt good; I looked good. And whenever you look, good you feel good."
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