Champions For Change

A Perfect Fit: Nancy Chistolini and Suited for Change

Of all the experiences she remembers in her thirteen-year association with Suited for Change, the most vivid in the mind of Nancy Chistolini, a retired senior vice president for Hecht’s Department Stores, are the fashion shows she helped organize with Suited for Change clients as the models.

“When you see somebody who is not a model … have the confidence to go out there, wear an outfit, model, it’s gratifying … because it’s not easy to go out in front of a crowd of 150 people,” she says.

The Suited clients wore career clothes and weren’t required to be a size eight or 10 to walk the runway. Hecht’s provided professional makeup artists and hairdressers. One of the clients told her personal story and the guests all received information on Suited’s programs. “When I saw the pride the women had … it was transformative,” says Chistolini.

Chistolini became involved with Suited for Change early in its life. As Hecht’s senior executive in charge of community outreach and support for non-profit organizations, she received hundreds of requests for support each week, but Suited stood out. “One reason is because it is just a very simple idea -- providing clothing, classes, training programs. It’s just very easy for people to grasp and to help in some way,” says Chistolini.

The fashion shows were only one project that Hecht‘s sponsored for Suited for Change. “Suited was a very, very good fit for a department store, because our livelihood was based on selling clothing,” says Chistolini. In addition, the store provided Suited with its first set of clothing racks, accessory shelves and mirrors. It also donated clothing, shoes, pantyhose and shopping bags, and hosted several very successful in-store clothing drives. “The customers would bring in a piece of clothing suitable for a job interview and they would receive a $10 gift card,” says Chistolini. “Whatever seemed to be the need, if we could do it, we did it.” Hecht’s also featured Suited for Change in some of their full-page ads in the Washington Post, which drove new volunteers and donors to the organization.

Chistolini liked Suited so much that she agreed to serve on its advisory council and then on its board for several years. “The cause was a great one. And there was substance. And I thought the people that were on the board, the volunteers … everybody had a commitment. They weren’t just there to put their names on a piece of letterhead, to put their names on an invitation.”

At a staff and board retreat that she attended as a guest, Chistolini came up with a way to raise money to buy large-size career clothing, one of Suited’s most pressing needs. “A vendor in Florida could do a shirt and a pair of pants and a jacket for $39,” she recalls. “So, I said, why not try to do something?” The idea caught on as the “Dressing Fine for $39” campaign. And though the price of the suits has increased to $49, Suited is still raising money using Chistolini‘s original concept.

Chistolini was also an early mentor to the staff and board of The Women’s Alliance, the national membership association of organizations like Suited for Change. Chistolini and Hecht’s sponsored the kick-off luncheon for The Women’s Alliance, with WJLA-TV anchor Maureen Bunyan as mistress of ceremonies. She also attended several conferences of The Women’s Alliance as a speaker on marketing and fundraising.

Chistolini retired from Hecht’s in May 2006 after 38 years in retailing, and shortly after that the store was absorbed into Macy’s. She is still active with Suited and serves on the Fifteenth Anniversary Task Force. Suited’s future, she says, “is all about the money. We can’t expand if we don’t have the money to expand.” To that end, she would like to see the organization hire a full-time development professional-- or become the beneficiary of a generous donor. “My goal would be that we would find a wonderful benefactor who would give Suited a great deal of money!” she says.

Suited for Change thanks Kathleen Currie, a Washington, D.C. freelance writer for writing the profiles and Dara Walsh, a freelance Washington, D.C. photographer, for photographing some of the profilees.

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