By Marisa Young | Reporter
Woman-owned nonprofit Esther’s Closet exists to empower women in Waco who face economic or educational boundaries in entering the workforce. It seeks to fill this need by providing both physical and educational resources to women in need, and all services are free.
“The mission of Esther’s Closet is to enhance women’s skills through career development,” Coordinator Heaven Lee said. “We have a mentoring program, we do some light case management and then resource navigation.”
In addition to these, Lee said Esther’s Closet hosts resume-building workshops and mock interviews to help women enter the professional world.
The nonprofit gets its namesake because it is partially an in-person boutique, which provides professional clothing and workwear to women who may not have access to those resources otherwise.
“In our suitings, [women] get one outfit, and then upon receiving employment, they get seven to 10 outfits,” Lee said.
While they have some of their own resources as part of the Cen-Tex African American Chamber, the organization is also dependent on donations from the community to supply work clothing. When accepting these donations, Lee said her team maintains a high standard for the quality of the clothing.
“We try to stay in as in-season as possible so that items can quickly leave our boutique,” Lee said. “We say … things that still have life in them, things that someone would passionately wear and be comfortable in going into the workplace.”
According to their website, Esther’s Closet has helped over 800 women in their employment journeys, some of whom have gone on to start their own successful businesses.
Mackenzie Olvera is a former client of Esther’s Closet, and she said the nonprofit provided her the resources she needed to transition to her current sales-coordinator position.
“My needs were professional work clothes, and they provided me with six to eight different outfits and even shoes and purses,” Olvera said. “I felt so happy, and honestly just blessed.”
Olvera said she remembers coming into work the day after her suiting and feeling confident in her ability to proceed with the new job.
She said that Esther’s Closet continued to support her even after she received the job, and they have maintained a relationship of mutual networking.
“I do follow up with [Lee] from time to time, and I like sending her a lot of different young professionals that may need help,” Olvera said.
Moving forward, Olvera said she hopes more people will be able to discover Esther’s Closet and become empowered as she was.
“I do think that more women in the community should get involved and know that it’s there,” Olvera said.
Lee said many local women in similar positions remain unreached, and she hopes to remedy this through increased awareness and growth of Esther’s Closet.
“You don’t really know about it unless you need it,” Lee said.
