Professional Women’s Group and Alumni Social 2023

PWG and PWG Alumni Members 2023

(From left to right) - Percelita, Mallory, Lucilla, Jackie, Karina, JS, Maggie, Gwendolyn, Monica, Corina, Shaista, Margarita, Ana, Gina and Taneisha.

After three long years, our Professional Women’s Group (PWG) members were reunited again!

What is the Professional Women’s Group? Dress for Success San Jose’s PWG is dedicated to newly employed women who have partaken in one or more of our programs. PWG helps a newly employed woman gain her footing in her role and continue to build her professional network. Each month, PWG members meet to learn about leadership, work-life balance, health and wellness, personal finance, and written and unwritten rules of the workplace.

After being a PWG member for two years, members graduate and become PWG Alumni (PWGA) members. PWGA members meet once per quarter to learn advanced leadership skills. This year, PWGA members learned about The Five Practices of The Leadership Challenge: Model the Way, Inspire a Shared Vision, Challenge the Process, Enable Others to Act, and Encourage the Heart.

By being in a group of like-minded women, PWG members can gain confidence to help them succeed in work and in life.

Selfie Time!

Lucilla, Maggie, Percelita and Brittany.

It’s been a long time coming and at this year’s social, 17 members attended to meet and catch up. “Nice to finally meet you in person!” and “What have you been up to?” echoed around the room. Members naturally greeted one another as each one arrived and found their seat at the table.

While waiting for the meal to be served, our local Dress for Success Global Ambassador, Percelita, asked each member to introduce themselves and describe how they found Dress for Success San Jose. Percelita’s Community Action Project colleague, Jackie, shared with the group how three years ago, while lost in her professional journey, she joined PWG, met Percelita, who helped her successfully gain employment at Stanford Health, and how she has thrived in her role ever since. The sense of community was obvious as the women repeatedly used the words “sisterhood”, “grateful, “empowered”, “strong”, and “supported” to describe how they felt after becoming PWG and Alumni members.

Dessert came around and plans were made to connect with one another after the social to hike and possibly go bowling together. The evening ended with each woman writing words of encouragement for the group and future members.

“To each and every one of us here tonight - You have come a long way.
Each and every day is an experience to be had. GO FOR IT!
We (your sisters) support you 2000%. You deserve the best ALWAYS. You are LOVED.
The best is yet to come, cheers!”

-JS, PWG Alumni Member

The success of this first PWG and Alumni social would not have been possible without the dedication of each member to not only grow professionally but also to be vulnerable enough to share a bit about her personal journey in effort to inspire hope in another.

We are grateful to each member who joined us at this event and look forward to hosting many more in-person PWG and Alumni socials in years to come!

What members had to say about the event:
”I had such an amazing time. I was a little nervous about going out and seeing everybody. It’s easier to hide behind a camera, but this was such an awesome experience. To see the ladies and meet the ladies and laugh at the ladies it was such a rewarding feeling. I love that we’re all in different stages of our life, but we all are able to learn together and succeed together. The atmosphere was great. The food was delicious. It overall was just a very fun experience and I look forward to future get-togethers.” - Corina, PWG Member

“It was such a delight to see old friends that I haven’t seen since the pandemic and learn how much they’ve grown. It’s encourage me to support women’s support groups. Thank you.” - Sherel, PWG Alumni Member

“Having joined "Dress for Success" during Covid, this was one of the first in face events I was able to attend. From the moment I walked in, everyone who I had only met virtually was kind and reassured me this was the place to be. The amount of endless support that had previously carried over only during ZOOM calls was transmitted even more while being present. To hear the side conversations and encouragement everyone offered to each other, answering questions on how they would handle a situation and making that effort to  get to know the face behind the name was heart warming. We all longed for that person to person encounter and we all left encouraged. “ - Ana, PWG Alumni Member

 "Our most recent Dress for Success- San Jose PWG/A Event was awesome! I am glad with Miracle's help that day I was able to attend! Many members were present. It was a sight to see and experience because many of us have not connected in person since The Pandemic (March 2020) Zoom meetings and very few live interactions when possible, while wearing our masks and standing 6-feet apart from each other in a building or outside the DSF-SJ office was our only source of communication besides text messaging and emails. I could tell a lot of planning went into our event. Miracle, Brittany, and the Team at  DSF-SJ/SF always have the best get-togethers for all of us to experience. 

I resonated most with the introduction around the table that night. The buzzwords that stuck with me the most were "Sisterhood" and "Community",

Dress for Success- SJ has evolved so much since I joined them in June 2016. Through their partnerships and collaborations with VIP connections here in Silicon Valley and beyond, they have provided women in our community with tools, connections, and programming for success in this always-changing world. They have also taught me the importance of self-care, that I have an important voice, and that I, along with my sisters in this organization, truly matter!  They have always provided me with a safe space to learn and grow in a forward-moving direction. For me personally, it hasn't been easy. I am eternally grateful for Miracle, Brittany, and the entire Dress for Success Team,  Thank you so much! I am so happy to be part of this organization. - JS, PWG Alumni Member

About our Programs:

Dress for Success San Jose hosts two professional development webinars each month on various professional development topics. We welcome any woman who is looking to expand her professional skills, especially job-searching women. If this is your first time hearing about us, a staff member will reach out to see what other help we can provide. Learn more about our upcoming programs here.

Dress for Success San Jose is here to support you!

All our programs are offered at no cost to the women we serve. We provide professional attire; job search support through one-on-one coaching, group classes, and multi-week programs; job retention programming, financial literacy, and digital literacy training. Click here to learn more.