Champions For Change: Robin Finnell

In 1994, Robin Finnell was new to the Washington area when she saw an ad for the Washington Women’s Show, a trade show organized around services to women. A stay-at-home mom who was bored, she put her one-year-old son, Evan, in his stroller and went to check it out.

"The only thing that grabbed my interest was Suited for Change," she says. "I thought that was the coolest thing. … I just thought that being able to provide clothing and help somebody pick stuff out so that they could make their way into the world and be successful just sounded really enticing."

Clothes came naturally to Finnell. She has a degree in fashion merchandising and was a dress department manager for several years. After attending Suited’s volunteer training in January 1995, she became a "suiter" and has been helping clients select professional attire just about every other Friday since then.

She began volunteering at Suited’s first office on P Street, which she describes as a "small space in a bunch of little rooms with lighting that was not good." She says that at first she was timid, thinking "What have I gotten myself into?" because of the challenges of working with Suited’s limited resources and enormous mission. That didn’t last long. Over the years she has developed her own style of interacting with clients. It goes like this:

"Hi, I’m Robin. We’re going to try and find you some interview-appropriate clothing today. … What kind of job are you looking for? Our job is to make you look absolutely fabulous when you walk in for your interview, so good that they’re already ready to hire you and all you’ve got to do is say the right thing."

She tells her clients that they don’t have to take anything they don’t like, but that she won’t allow them to walk out with anything too tight or too short. "I’m a perfectionist," admits Finnell. "You’ve got to have the Robin Image before you go out the door." This includes: correct proportions, colors that complements clients’ skin tones, good professional shoes and advice on which undergarments to wear. "I don’t want them to look like they are wearing hand-me-downs," she says.

She is also a self-described accessory obsessive. "I like accessories, because you can put on a suit and a blouse and you look okay, but if you put on a pair of earrings and a necklace, all of a sudden the whole thing comes together," she says.

She advises her clients to dress like they are "ready for the next job level." She would like to see more basic blouses in the Suited inventory -- and of course more accessories. "I had a coffee [at my house] for Suited. In order to come in, you had to bring jewelry or other accessories," she says.

Finnell loves seeing the transformation that happens with the women she serves. One in particular stays in her mind. "I think she had been homeless. She came in wearing her long underwear. I asked her to dress. I remember putting her in a cobalt wool suit. She came out and her long underwear was still sticking out." Finnell asked the woman to trust her and remove her long johns. She helped the client pull together an outfit with a blouse, shoes and accessories. When the client saw herself in the mirror for the first time, she cried. "I can’t believe I look this good," she told Finnell.

"I don’t know what happened to her {after that}," says Finnell. "But it’s a story that I tell a lot, because it keeps me coming back to Suited for Change."

Finnell says she cries with some clients and that she worries about more than a few. One woman she remembers came into Suited with what looked like cigarette burns all over her arms. "She told me that she had left an abusive situation," says Finnell. The client had recently found out that she was diabetic, but cancelled a doctor’s appointment to visit Suited. To her, getting a job was more important than her health.

A first, Finnell found this decision distressing, but she came to understand the client’s priorities. "She was probably thinking of food for her or for her children," she says.

Finnell says her ultimate goal for Suited is to see it go out of business because its services are no longer needed. Until that day, she will continue volunteering. She says she often brings her worries for her clients home with her, but reminds herself that she is helping by doing her part. "You pray and hope that things go well," she says. "{The clients} are on the path. They’ve made it to Suited. They’re getting what they need here."

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.