Meet the alumna changing lives one suit at a time

Michelle Dayvault, a 1996 graduate of IU Southeast and executive director of Dress for Success Louisville.

The most rewarding part of Michelle Dayvault’s, B.A. ‘96, job is witnessing the transformation.

It's watching a client walk through the front door of Dress For Success—sometimes uneasy and unsure—and watching her walk out with a new interview outfit and a renewed sense of self-confidence.

“That’s something I enjoy seeing every day,” she said. “The impact we’re making on women across the community."

In Dayvault’s first year as executive director of Dress for Success Louisville, the agency helped over 700 women in southern Indiana and the Louisville metropolitan area take steps to achieve economic independence.

Most clients come to Dress for Success’s doors through the Suits for Success program, which invites women to pick out professional attire from a boutique consisting entirely of donated suits, dresses, shoes and accessories.

But the suit’s just the start. Dress for Success also offers professional development courses, mock interviews, career readiness programs, and educational enhancement opportunities to disadvantaged women hindered by socioeconomic, transportation or geographic barriers.

Dayvault says clients range from women who never graduated high school to mid-level managers with masters’ degrees. Some clients referred to Dress for Success are survivors of human trafficking or the opioid epidemic.

WATCH: Executive Director of Dress for Success Louisville Michelle Dayvault, B.A. ‘96, has a vision to help women achieve economic independence across the region.

Dayvault recalls one client, Emone, a then-homeless woman who came to Dress for Success through another agency in hopes of finding an interview outfit to help her enter the workforce. Not only did Emone enroll in school and land a job, but she came back to Dress for Success wearing the same outfit and offered to volunteer at the boutique.

“She has been instrumental working with some of our other clients and sharing her success,” Dayvault said. “She tells them, ‘I basically went from having nothing being on the streets to getting back into the workforce and trying to make a difference.’ And now she’s giving back through volunteer efforts here.”

Dayvault discovered her own calling to make a difference in the lives of others shortly after graduating IU Southeast in 1996 with a degree in speech communication. After stints with Metro United Way, Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation and the Make-A-Wish Foundation, Dayvault was named executive director of Dress for Success Louisville in March 2017.

“I have a passion for helping people in general, specifically women and children,” she said. “And this is something that just feels so right.”

Dayvault is tight-lipped about future plans for Dress for Success, though she coyly hints that the organization will soon be “taking our services on the road.”

“There are several things on the horizon that, unfortunately, I’m not at liberty to share with the general public,” she said with a grin. “But please be on the lookout because we have really cool and exciting opportunities coming to Dress for Success and our clients."

Dayvault credits her success to a core group of IU Southeast professors who took an interest in students like her.

Toya Ross, a Dress for Success client, smiles in the new interview outfit she picked out from the Dress for Success boutique. (Photo by Rachel Terlep)

Gallery: Homecoming 2017