“I saw more success when I worked one-on-one with a person for six weeks,” she says of the program.
Even over Zoom, it can get very personal, she says. “Once they get through the training, you can see an improvement in their self-esteem or their ability to know what to do,” Pierce says.
Often even in the career counseling center, she would work with someone on a résumé and when it was done, “They didn’t realize their capability until they could see it on paper,” she says. She will tell them: “Look how good you look on paper.”
For Path to Employment, she mentored Shilda Fresch, who works as a special education aide in an Austin school.
“She’s one of the exceptional ones,” Pierce says.
Fresch sought out Dress for Success Austin because she wanted professional clothing, which she received. Then she found out about Path to Employment.
Fresch is going to Austin Community College to get her associate in education degree before working on her bachelor’s to become a teacher.
At her first meeting with Pierce, Fresch was given homework to define what she really wanted to do and what she was passionate about as part of the Path to Employment curriculum. “They really want to know who you are; they are really excited and interested in what you want to do,” Fresch says.
The program helped her realize she wants to create a children’s television program. It helped her define goals and set the path to getting there. She is now taking classes through the Austin Film Society, in addition to finishing her associate degree.
“It opened my mind to something I never really thought I would want to do,” Fresch says of Path to Employment. Pierce “got my self-esteem up and made me feel good about my dreams in the world.”
Path to Employment, she says, “is a really wonderful program. It could really help a lot of people. It could make a change in this community and communities all over.”
