Latest / The Steve Harvey Morning Show / Uplift: She founded Jackets for Jobs-it has provided professional attire and career training to more than 40,000 job seekers.

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Uplift: She founded Jackets for Jobs-it has provided professional attire and career training to more than 40,000 job seekers. · The Steve Harvey Morning Show

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Speaker 1: Welcome to my show. I'm Rashon McDonald, a host of
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Speaker 1: Money Making Conversations Masterclass, where we encourage people to stop
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Speaker 1: or advice on how to be a successful entrepreneur. Now,
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Speaker 1: let's get this podcast started. My guest is an international speaker,
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Speaker 1: award winning author, and the founder and CEO of Jackets
0:45
Speaker 1: for Jobs, a Detroit based nonprofit that has empowered over
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Speaker 1: forty thousand job seekers with professional attire and career training.
0:54
Speaker 1: She's widely recognized for a leadership in workforce development, women's empowerment,
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Speaker 1: and entrepreneurship. Please welcome the Money Making Conversations Masterclass from Detroit.
1:04
Speaker 1: Alison Vond. How you doing, Allison?
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Speaker 2: I am wonderful. How are you. I've been looking forward
1:09
Speaker 2: to this conversation always.
1:11
Speaker 1: Well for thank you. You know, I'm a big fan
1:13
Speaker 1: of the of the Detroit community of a good friend
1:15
Speaker 1: up there, Terrence Wheeler. He does an annual turkey giveaway
1:20
Speaker 1: every year. I've been telling them he always invited me.
1:23
Speaker 1: But that's that cold part of Detroit Thanksgiving week. Woo,
1:27
Speaker 1: am trouble.
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Speaker 3: Super cold here? Yes, I know, Terrence, he's a friend
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Speaker 3: of mine. And it's very cold here. I mean when
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Speaker 3: the school's closed here, that means it's super cold and the.
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Speaker 1: Schools have been closed absolutely. Well, let's talk about what
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Speaker 1: you've been doing for the last twenty six years. An
1:42
Speaker 1: idea that a lot of people have ideas, but you
1:44
Speaker 1: followed up on your idea. Tell us about it.
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Speaker 3: Well, you know what, I stepped out on faith with
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Speaker 3: my idea. I started Jackets for Jobs twenty six years ago,
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Speaker 3: and with the thought of helping job seekers. I realized
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Speaker 3: kind of the catch twenty two if you didn't have
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Speaker 3: an out fit to go for an interview, you know,
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Speaker 3: a job interview, you didn't go, but you needed the
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Speaker 3: job to pay for the interview clothes. And so it's
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Speaker 3: kind of a catch twenty two and so for twenty
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Speaker 3: six years, I've been making people look good.
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Speaker 2: I'm an image consultant.
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Speaker 3: I dress people so they can look professional when they
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Speaker 3: go for a job interview, not just to get the job,
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Speaker 3: but to keep the job. So I'm trying to get
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Speaker 3: our job seekers to look like you or Sean Sharp,
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Speaker 3: dress really nice so they feel confident when they go
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Speaker 3: for that job interview.
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Speaker 1: And the confidence is very important. You know, growing up
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Speaker 1: in the inner city, I didn't have the clothes that
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Speaker 1: I wanted, and I noticed that I didn't want to
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Speaker 1: go out to events. I didn't want to go to
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Speaker 1: dances because I didn't feel that I was showing my
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Speaker 1: best self. Now, this whole idea when you said faith,
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Speaker 1: you know an idea when you start sharing your ideas,
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Speaker 1: what were people thinking and how did people assist you? Not?
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Speaker 1: So it's lasted twenty six years in Detroit, I know well.
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Speaker 3: First to be able to say twenty six years, I
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Speaker 3: think that is such a blessing.
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Speaker 1: Absolutely.
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Speaker 3: If you google the average lifespan of a business, it'll
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Speaker 3: tell you for a small business, the average lifespan is
3:08
Speaker 3: like five years long span about ten to fifteen. I mean,
3:13
Speaker 3: you know you're a moneyman. You know, banks won't even
3:16
Speaker 3: give you a loan unless you've been in business for
3:18
Speaker 3: about five years, just to see that you're stable.
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Speaker 2: So to be able to.
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Speaker 3: Say that I have lasted twenty six years in the
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Speaker 3: city of Detroit and clothed over forty thousand job seekers,
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Speaker 3: that's a testimony in itself. So and I think the
3:30
Speaker 3: reason that I've been in business so long is because
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Speaker 3: God gave me the vision. And when God gives you
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Speaker 3: the vision, he maps everything out for you. Because I
3:37
Speaker 3: didn't start off doing this. You know, I graduated from
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Speaker 3: Michigan State about a round trip ticket to visit a
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Speaker 3: friend in Los Angeles. I never used the return portion
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Speaker 3: of the ticket. I stayed out in California, started working
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Speaker 3: for United Airlines, and God said, I have something different
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Speaker 3: for you to do.
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Speaker 2: So I left.
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Speaker 3: I went into the office at United and I said,
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Speaker 3: you know what, I think I'm going to lead the commpany.
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Speaker 2: And they said, are you sure? And I said yeah.
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Speaker 3: They said, because you know, once you get into the
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Speaker 3: airline industry, it's like quick saying, it's hard to get out.
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Speaker 3: You know, you have all the travel benefits, you know,
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Speaker 3: you're you know, in Hawaii one day and Florida the next,
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Speaker 3: and they say you sure you want to leave? And
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Speaker 3: I say yes, God is giving me this vision to
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Speaker 3: start a business. And I knew nothing about entrepreneurship because
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Speaker 3: that wasn't my goal, you know. I wanted to be
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Speaker 3: a news anchor or do politics or something other than
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Speaker 3: having my own business. And so I stepped out on
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Speaker 3: faith and left a secure company to run, not even
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Speaker 3: knowing where my next paycheck was going to come from.
4:36
Speaker 3: So when I say I stepped out on faith, that's
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Speaker 3: what I mean.
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Speaker 1: Before we get deeper into interview, Okay, your business, get
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Speaker 1: these attired dressing people. You give a website so we
4:49
Speaker 1: can get people focused on going there and start looking
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Speaker 1: at what you do and also making a contribution. Talk
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Speaker 1: to us.
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Speaker 3: Oh sure, So jack is for jobs. Website is Jackets
5:00
Speaker 3: four jobs dot org. And so I'll spelled out J
5:03
Speaker 3: A C K, E, T S F O R J
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Speaker 3: O b s dot org. And then my personal website
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Speaker 3: is Alison Vaughn dot com.
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Speaker 2: So I have two websites, but they'll take you to both.
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Speaker 1: Now, when they get there, what's the what what do
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Speaker 1: you expect it for people? When they come to their website,
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Speaker 1: what what what the emotional journey and how can they contribute?
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Speaker 1: Can they donate clothes or ship use jackets or how
5:28
Speaker 1: does that work?
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Speaker 2: Oh, I just love you for saying all this. You're
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Speaker 2: just awesome.
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Speaker 3: Yes, they can go to the website, they can see
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Speaker 3: what we've been doing for the last twenty six years.
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Speaker 3: They can make a monetary donation as well as a
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Speaker 3: clothing donation. So we're always in need of clothes. We're
5:43
Speaker 3: always in need of plus size things. I don't know
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Speaker 3: what it is about Detroit, but we have a lot
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Speaker 3: of plus sized women here, so we need a lot
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Speaker 3: of plus sized clothes. And then we always can use money.
5:53
Speaker 3: You know, anytime you're in business, especially nonprofit, you're always
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Speaker 3: looking for funding, and so we always expect and the
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Speaker 3: City of Detroit is so very accommodating because we're actually
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Speaker 3: part of the City of Detroit's workforce development and so
6:07
Speaker 3: we go to the website and support us.
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Speaker 2: I appreciate that.
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Speaker 1: Wow. So as you as you look up, no, let's
6:14
Speaker 1: let's let's I'm gonna take one of your questions off
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Speaker 1: for here. You know, letsons learned from moments when funding
6:18
Speaker 1: was uncertain, Doors were closed or the vision was questioned,
6:23
Speaker 1: because we all do that. You talked about five verse
6:26
Speaker 1: five years. It's ugly. Sometimes it's the ten year mark
6:29
Speaker 1: is like, have I wasted my time? You've been doing
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Speaker 1: it for twenty six years. The uncertainty, the funding issues. People, girl,
6:38
Speaker 1: you need to walk away from this. You've done enough.
6:41
Speaker 1: Talk about that journey, Ali, you know.
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Speaker 3: So that's a good question, because the journey for me
6:47
Speaker 3: since I was not planning on being an entrepreneur and
6:49
Speaker 3: God gave me this vision. I and so twenty six
6:52
Speaker 3: years ago, the Internet and Google was not what it is.
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Speaker 2: No, it was not, so you actually.
6:57
Speaker 3: Had to go to the library. So I used to
6:59
Speaker 3: go to the library every day and I would check
7:01
Speaker 3: out books on how to be an entrepreneur, grant Writing
7:05
Speaker 3: for Dummies, anything that dealt with business.
7:10
Speaker 2: And so I would get.
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Speaker 3: That book and then they have they had a little
7:13
Speaker 3: disc in the back of the book fundraising for Dummies,
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Speaker 3: grant Writing for Dummies. And so that's how I got started.
7:19
Speaker 3: And the Detroit News did an article on me for
7:22
Speaker 3: my twentieth anniversary, and I talked about how I was
7:26
Speaker 3: using the book the Dummy series. Well, that story got
7:29
Speaker 3: picked up by USA Today, and the people at the
7:32
Speaker 3: Dummy Series read the article and was so happy, and
7:35
Speaker 3: so they mailed me a shipment of books Gardening for Dummies,
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Speaker 3: grant Writing for Dummies, all the different Dummy series, And
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Speaker 3: I thought that was so nice, and so I credit
7:45
Speaker 3: my success to the Dummy Series books. You know, I'm
7:48
Speaker 3: not a dummy, but I knew I was smart enough
7:50
Speaker 3: to go to the library and get those books.
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Speaker 1: Well, you know, it's about educating yourself. It's about you know,
7:55
Speaker 1: that's what YouTube is is one of the most popular
7:59
Speaker 1: self help horses for cooking. Do it yourself. I know,
8:04
Speaker 1: I go, I google things about applications. I need to
8:08
Speaker 1: understand myself. But it's about education, not giving up. And
8:11
Speaker 1: sometimes you don't have a mentor. And I asked that question,
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Speaker 1: did you have a mentor in this process or was
8:17
Speaker 1: this learning it all on the job?
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Speaker 2: Yeah?
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Speaker 3: It was on the job training. But you know, my
8:22
Speaker 3: mother was a very big instrumental help for me.
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Speaker 2: My mother.
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Speaker 3: I credit my mother for being right by my side,
8:29
Speaker 3: kind of like in the Bible, like Moses was like, oh,
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Speaker 3: you know, I can't do it, and God, you know,
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Speaker 3: had to help send him some help. So the book
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Speaker 3: series really helped me.
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Speaker 2: That was my mentor going to the library help, That
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Speaker 2: was it. Yes, we know.
8:43
Speaker 1: When you talk about Alice and you okay, what is
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Speaker 1: the long gain here? You know because you start. I know,
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Speaker 1: I've been blessed to in my life. You have a
8:53
Speaker 1: vision and after a while, it can change, It can change,
8:57
Speaker 1: it can change. Like you have two locations. I believe
9:00
Speaker 1: you say you have seven people at each location. You
9:03
Speaker 1: have programs that are put in place. When people look
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Speaker 1: at you, is it pressure to do more? Are you?
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Speaker 1: Are you just trying to sustain what you do?
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Speaker 3: You know, I'm going to go as far as God
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Speaker 3: leads me. You know, no matter what I do, I
9:18
Speaker 3: give God credits. So whatever he says or however he leads,
9:22
Speaker 3: continues to leave this organization, That's what I'll do. I
9:25
Speaker 3: always say that God is the founder and he's my boss,
9:28
Speaker 3: and I just work for God. And so when I
9:30
Speaker 3: have my meetings, I consult with God and then I
9:33
Speaker 3: take it to my board and I take it to
9:34
Speaker 3: my employees. So I would love to do you know,
9:39
Speaker 3: like Michelle Obama and Barack they had a show on
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Speaker 3: Netflix and it was kind of about jobs and people.
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Speaker 2: Getting jobs and showing their journey.
9:45
Speaker 3: And I would love to do something like that because
9:48
Speaker 3: there's so much Everyone is a walking book and everyone
9:50
Speaker 3: has a story. And I have a young lady that
9:53
Speaker 3: was a victim of sex trafficking and I was wrapping
9:57
Speaker 3: up her clothes because I really am hands on and
10:00
Speaker 3: I get involved with the company, not just have my
10:01
Speaker 3: employees do it. And I was wrapping up her things
10:04
Speaker 3: and I said, would you like me to keep your
10:05
Speaker 3: clothes on a hangar? And she says no, I don't
10:08
Speaker 3: have a closet to put them on. And I say
10:10
Speaker 3: you don't have a closet, She says no, I just
10:12
Speaker 3: live in a room. I've been a victim of sex
10:14
Speaker 3: trafficking and so there's no closet where I am and
10:17
Speaker 3: so these clothes will really help me. So I have
10:19
Speaker 3: to put them on it so if you can follow
10:20
Speaker 3: them and put them in a bag. So I get
10:23
Speaker 3: so many stories like that, and so I know that
10:25
Speaker 3: I'm on the right track because so many people need help.
10:28
Speaker 3: And I used to have a location in Botswana, and
10:31
Speaker 3: I realized the reason that Jackets for Jobs has been
10:34
Speaker 3: sustainable is because no matter if you're black, white, rich, poor,
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Speaker 3: Republican Democrat. Everyone understands the need for a job. Everyone
10:42
Speaker 3: understands that you need to look professional when you go
10:44
Speaker 3: for a job interview. Everyone knows that you have to
10:46
Speaker 3: build up self confidence. So my mission is relevant to
10:50
Speaker 3: no matter who's I'm talking to.
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Speaker 1: Now, when you look at the growing in your location,
10:57
Speaker 1: I would mention this urry Detroit. Now, now are you
11:02
Speaker 1: are you sharing some of this royalty nation? Why can
11:05
Speaker 1: somebody go on your website say hey, I'm a size
11:08
Speaker 1: twelve a large. Can it give me an extra large coat?
11:12
Speaker 1: Is this our only Detroit based opportunity to update their
11:17
Speaker 1: ap presentation?
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Speaker 3: Yes, I've just been staying in the Detroit area. That's
11:22
Speaker 3: you know, that's my home base. Born and raised in Detroit.
11:24
Speaker 3: But I lived, you know, in Los Angeles when I
11:26
Speaker 3: worked for the United Airlines, and then I lived in
11:29
Speaker 3: Chicago for.
11:30
Speaker 2: A while at the headquarters.
11:31
Speaker 3: And it's so interesting that I do this job because
11:35
Speaker 3: all of my life I wore a uniform.
11:37
Speaker 2: It's about all my life, you know.
11:38
Speaker 3: I went to a Catholic school, so from first to
11:40
Speaker 3: twelfth grade I had the little plaid uniform. I went
11:42
Speaker 3: off to college Michigan State. I wore jeans and a sweatshirt.
11:46
Speaker 3: Then after that I went to United Airlines. I was
11:48
Speaker 3: a flight attendant. I wore that uniform and then hiring
11:52
Speaker 3: flight attendants. So it's so interesting that God kind of
11:54
Speaker 3: shifted me that I got into clothing and fashion and
11:57
Speaker 3: an image consultant because growing up that just was my
12:00
Speaker 3: thing because it's a uniform.
12:02
Speaker 1: Where you live the life appreciation and you understood how
12:05
Speaker 1: people react to you when you look a certain way,
12:08
Speaker 1: when you dress a certain way, and I think that consistency.
12:11
Speaker 1: That's what you're talking about now, consistency, and you try
12:14
Speaker 1: and give people the opportunity to have the understand that
12:16
Speaker 1: value of consistency. When you walk in the room, how
12:19
Speaker 1: people will react to you. Whether you got the best
12:21
Speaker 1: suit on or you got an average suit on. People
12:24
Speaker 1: will look at you differently now and they will have
12:26
Speaker 1: certain financial expectations when they see you dressed a certain
12:30
Speaker 1: way or walk in a certain way, because you know, Allison,
12:33
Speaker 1: when you got the right look, you're gonna walk differently
12:36
Speaker 1: when you don't have the right look. Correct.
12:38
Speaker 2: That is so true, and.
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Speaker 3: That's how our clients they come in, they're like, oh,
12:41
Speaker 3: I don't know if I want to be here. You know,
12:43
Speaker 3: I'm either embarrassed or I don't think I'm gonna find anything,
12:46
Speaker 3: or they're not used to shopping and they kind of
12:48
Speaker 3: slunched over, you know, they're slouchy when they walk out.
12:51
Speaker 3: Their posture is different. They have a pep in their step.
12:55
Speaker 3: And that's what I talk about when I say confidence
12:57
Speaker 3: is currency, because they feel better about themselves and they
13:00
Speaker 3: can turn that confidence when they go on a job
13:02
Speaker 3: interview into some money. They're not just going applying for
13:06
Speaker 3: a job knowing that there's so many other applicants. But
13:08
Speaker 3: their step and their posture, their smile, their handshake is
13:12
Speaker 3: a lot firmer, and that's why they're going to get
13:14
Speaker 3: that job. So we help them not only to get
13:16
Speaker 3: a job, but to keep a job.
13:18
Speaker 1: Please don't go anywhere. We'll be right back with more
13:21
Speaker 1: Money Making Conversations masterclass. No, I need for you to
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13:46
Speaker 1: Conversations master class with me Rashaun McDonald. Well, I want
13:50
Speaker 1: to make sure I get to another step of your career.
13:52
Speaker 1: She is widely recognized from Alis and Vaughn widely recognized
13:56
Speaker 1: for her leadership and workforce development. Let's talk about what
13:59
Speaker 1: is exactly is workforce development.
14:02
Speaker 3: Sure, workforce development is getting people employed. And so in
14:06
Speaker 3: the city of Detroit, you know, we have a high
14:08
Speaker 3: unemployment rate, but it's coming down. We just have a
14:11
Speaker 3: new administration. We have the first female mayor and its
14:14
Speaker 3: history of the city of Detroit. So I'm excited about
14:16
Speaker 3: that the new leadership. And so workforce development is all
14:20
Speaker 3: about working and making sure that people in your community
14:23
Speaker 3: are working and doing something viable to doing something to
14:26
Speaker 3: sustain themselves.
14:28
Speaker 1: Cool. My next question women's empowerment. How is your brand
14:33
Speaker 1: tied to women's empowerment in the city of Detroit.
14:38
Speaker 2: So great questions.
14:39
Speaker 3: So I was noticing when the clients were coming in
14:42
Speaker 3: they had low self esteem. I was talking about confidence
14:45
Speaker 3: and then I said, you know what, and some of
14:47
Speaker 3: the girls, you know, most of them were government assistant
14:51
Speaker 3: back then they said welfare. Now I want to use
14:53
Speaker 3: a politically correct word to say government assistant. And so
14:57
Speaker 3: they were just looking for handouts and however they can
14:59
Speaker 3: get money. And I said, you know what, young ladies,
15:01
Speaker 3: there's more to this than just generational welfare, more to
15:05
Speaker 3: this than just getting money from somebody.
15:07
Speaker 2: So I wrote a book.
15:08
Speaker 3: Called Miss gold Digger Ga L Digger because I didn't
15:11
Speaker 3: want these girls to be gold diggers, because many of
15:14
Speaker 3: them were gold diggers just getting money how they can.
15:17
Speaker 3: I said, no, I want you to change your mindset.
15:20
Speaker 3: And so that's what I'm talking about when I say
15:22
Speaker 3: women's empowerment and the nice thing about it. I'll even
15:25
Speaker 3: show you, you know, because if you have something, you
15:27
Speaker 3: want to promote it right here and you can get
15:29
Speaker 3: my book on Amazon.
15:30
Speaker 2: So it's Miss gold Digger GA L.
15:33
Speaker 1: Not gold Digger, but gold like aspirations, setting the playout,
15:38
Speaker 1: lining out your dreams, setting goals, Miss gold Digger. Now
15:43
Speaker 1: let's slide over there and talk about that book, because
15:46
Speaker 1: you know, when you sit down there and you're preparing something,
15:48
Speaker 1: you putting, you doing a play on words as well.
15:52
Speaker 1: And why did you write the book?
15:54
Speaker 2: I wrote the.
15:55
Speaker 3: Book because it's a CEO's guide to having it all.
15:58
Speaker 3: It's a CEO's guide to dressing the parts, looking the
16:01
Speaker 3: part and having a different mindset. And so that's what
16:05
Speaker 3: I'm trying to do when I talk to these young girls.
16:07
Speaker 3: Have a different mindset about what you're doing. And right
16:10
Speaker 3: after I wrote the books, I had the opportunity to
16:13
Speaker 3: do a book signing at the Essence Festival.
16:15
Speaker 2: So you can imagine how.
16:17
Speaker 3: I was on cloud nine because Essence is the largest
16:20
Speaker 3: platform for women's empowerment when people go down to New Orleans,
16:23
Speaker 3: all those thousands and women that gather down there for
16:26
Speaker 3: the different seminars and the functions that they have uplifting women.
16:30
Speaker 3: And to go there and do a book signing for
16:32
Speaker 3: my book, Miss gold Digger, you can imagine I was
16:35
Speaker 3: on cloud nine to be able to take part in.
16:37
Speaker 1: That well, definitely, because people are not aware of that
16:40
Speaker 1: most day festival is usually around the July fourth weekend,
16:44
Speaker 1: and the attendance could be anywhere from five hundred thousand
16:48
Speaker 1: to six hundred thousand. I've been there many many times.
16:52
Speaker 1: It's more of an empowerment festival. I know music drives it,
16:56
Speaker 1: comedy and entertainment drives it, but that empowerment sector is
17:01
Speaker 1: really powerful and that's where the number really grows there.
17:04
Speaker 1: Even though it's attached to the super Dome, Mercedes super Dome. Now,
17:07
Speaker 1: let's talk about you when you talk about entrepreneurship, and
17:12
Speaker 1: then you talk about you know, everyday employees in people
17:17
Speaker 1: who work everyday lives forty hour weeks. Let's talk about
17:20
Speaker 1: how you work with entrepreneurs and then talk about how
17:24
Speaker 1: you work with people who have a daily eight to
17:26
Speaker 1: five Monday through Friday job.
17:30
Speaker 2: Wow.
17:31
Speaker 3: Yeah, So entrepreneurship, if you're an entrepreneur, there's no nine
17:35
Speaker 3: to five, it's twenty four second.
17:36
Speaker 1: Yes, that's why I separated. As that's why I separated
17:40
Speaker 1: because people need to understand you can walk out of
17:43
Speaker 1: that forty hour week, it will be eighty hour weeks.
17:46
Speaker 1: As soon as you walk out of there, you are
17:48
Speaker 1: not kidding.
17:49
Speaker 3: And so I always want to stress that one because
17:51
Speaker 3: people come up to me all the time, Oh, I'm
17:53
Speaker 3: interested in starting a nonprofit.
17:54
Speaker 2: So two things.
17:55
Speaker 3: If you want to start a nonprofit, be prepared for
17:58
Speaker 3: twenty four to seven, and be prepared there for a
18:00
Speaker 3: lot of paperwork because you have to cross your t's
18:03
Speaker 3: and dot your eyes when you have a nonprofit, because
18:05
Speaker 3: when people are giving money to you, you have to
18:07
Speaker 3: have an accountability it's not like just you know, selling,
18:10
Speaker 3: you know, a set of dishes and you get the
18:12
Speaker 3: money and then that's it. But you have to account
18:14
Speaker 3: for all the all the dollars that come to you.
18:17
Speaker 3: So there's a lot of paperwork if you're interested in
18:19
Speaker 3: being an entrepreneur, and so it takes time because you
18:22
Speaker 3: have to build a relationship with people before they give
18:25
Speaker 3: you money.
18:25
Speaker 2: And that's what I learned. They're not so much give.
18:27
Speaker 3: They give to the costs, but they're really giving to
18:29
Speaker 3: you and to see that you're able to sustain, you're
18:32
Speaker 3: able to manage that money, and so people look at
18:35
Speaker 3: you different when you have a nonprofit because of the
18:37
Speaker 3: management that you have to do with the money.
18:39
Speaker 1: It's important. Now let's slide over there to the everyday
18:42
Speaker 1: eight to five person because really as a as the
18:46
Speaker 1: head of a business, sometimes you're a tire can be
18:49
Speaker 1: tied to the type of work you do. Okay, if
18:51
Speaker 1: you you know, if you're a baker, you gonna dress
18:54
Speaker 1: like a baker. If you're a person out there, a consultant,
18:56
Speaker 1: you're gonna dress like a consultant. If you're doing an
18:58
Speaker 1: outdoor labor its duties, you're gonna dress like that, but
19:02
Speaker 1: a person who's going to an eight to five, they
19:05
Speaker 1: have to understand where they are in the job hierarchy
19:10
Speaker 1: and how they should address accordingly. Because some people, you know,
19:14
Speaker 1: they want to they want to still have It's gonna
19:16
Speaker 1: be honest. Maybe the nightclub looking clothes to work because
19:21
Speaker 1: I'm a dressed the way I feel like dressing. So
19:23
Speaker 1: let's talk about your views on let's talk about women.
19:27
Speaker 1: I got a daughter, so we can talk about that
19:30
Speaker 1: and how women should understand dressing makes plays the right
19:37
Speaker 1: part for the opportunity you try to get.
19:40
Speaker 3: That is so true. And you know what I stress
19:42
Speaker 3: is there's a difference between daywear, day daywear and datewear.
19:47
Speaker 3: And some of these young ladies are dressing for the date.
19:50
Speaker 3: They're like, Okay, after work, I'm going to the club,
19:52
Speaker 3: and I say no, there's a difference between daywear and datewear.
19:55
Speaker 3: Just because you're going to the club after work does
19:57
Speaker 3: not mean you wear that to work. You have to
19:59
Speaker 3: go home and change clothes or do something because you
20:02
Speaker 3: cannot come with your cleavage hanging out, you can't go
20:04
Speaker 3: with your pants hanging down, and all of this revealing,
20:08
Speaker 3: you know, leave something to the imagination when you're on
20:10
Speaker 3: a date, but when you're on in the daytime at
20:13
Speaker 3: a job, you represent that company, and so you want
20:16
Speaker 3: to caution on the side of being more conservative. And
20:19
Speaker 3: so I definitely stress that that you can because you're
20:22
Speaker 3: representing a company and you want to look professional. And
20:25
Speaker 3: so we have a big conversation on that.
20:27
Speaker 1: Awesome, awesome if you if this for sounds familiar, it's
20:31
Speaker 1: Alison Bond. She is the CEO and founder of Jackets
20:35
Speaker 1: for Job. I brought on the show because she going
20:38
Speaker 1: into a twenty six year quarter century. That's a long time.
20:42
Speaker 1: That's a big commitment. When you talk about a commitment,
20:45
Speaker 1: that loan, What does success look like Alison after twenty
20:50
Speaker 1: five years? Because I teached you about how you started,
20:52
Speaker 1: you know, probably hanging clothes up in your close and
20:55
Speaker 1: they had a little U haul. Now you just should
20:58
Speaker 1: I got two locations. I don't know what you talking about. Now,
21:01
Speaker 1: what does the sense look like after twenty five years
21:04
Speaker 1: going into year twenty six in Detroit and Detroit?
21:07
Speaker 3: You know, I've had so many successes and which has
21:10
Speaker 3: been wonderful, But I have to say one of my
21:12
Speaker 3: favorite success and it actually happened twice for me, and
21:15
Speaker 3: that was ringing the closing bell on NASDK.
21:18
Speaker 1: Wow, congratulations.
21:19
Speaker 3: I rang the closing bell on nas deck twice. The
21:22
Speaker 3: first time the market was down, the second time the
21:24
Speaker 3: market was the up.
21:25
Speaker 2: You know, closing bell you know was up.
21:27
Speaker 3: So to me, that was a wonderful thing because to
21:30
Speaker 3: be in touch and tap into the world market. I
21:32
Speaker 3: just think, you know, thank you Lord for that opportunity.
21:35
Speaker 3: But to me, a success is seeing someone that's unemployed
21:39
Speaker 3: and then they call me and tell me that they
21:40
Speaker 3: have a job. And that's the measure of Those are
21:43
Speaker 3: the metrics that I use, And that's the measure of success.
21:46
Speaker 3: When you can help someone get a job and they
21:48
Speaker 3: can change their whole household. They can change their household
21:50
Speaker 3: to becoming stable and having income come in and then
21:54
Speaker 3: changing the whole direction of their household because now there's
21:58
Speaker 3: money coming in, they're self sufficient. And that's success to
22:01
Speaker 3: me to helping someone else.
22:03
Speaker 1: At this point, let's give out that website again. You
22:05
Speaker 1: have two of them, so people can reach out find
22:08
Speaker 1: out more about you and what you're doing in Detroit
22:11
Speaker 1: saving lives. Over forty thousand of them so far. Forty
22:14
Speaker 1: thousand of them so far, that's.
22:16
Speaker 2: Right, that's right.
22:17
Speaker 3: So anyone interested you can go to Jackets for Jobs
22:21
Speaker 3: dot o RG, or you can go to Alison Vaughn
22:25
Speaker 3: dot com or find me on social media, like on LinkedIn.
22:28
Speaker 3: I'm not on Instagram as much because I'm so busy working.
22:31
Speaker 2: It's so hard social.
22:32
Speaker 1: Media as it is is. Really, I stopped. I couldn't
22:36
Speaker 1: do X anymore, I couldn't do exit. I just told
22:38
Speaker 1: my stuff gotta stop, got to pull up on something.
22:41
Speaker 1: Can't do it all because you you know, just so
22:44
Speaker 1: many platforms that benefit the engagement or reaction that you
22:47
Speaker 1: need for your particular brands. It's all right to be
22:50
Speaker 1: on one or two. You don't have to be across
22:52
Speaker 1: the board. I'm on TikTok, I'm on Instagram, I'm on Facebook,
22:55
Speaker 1: I'm on LinkedIn. It's a lot now. I know you're
22:58
Speaker 1: very popular on LinkedIn, Dollison. Yeah, how do you use
23:02
Speaker 1: LinkedIn for your brand?
23:04
Speaker 2: Basically?
23:05
Speaker 3: I use LinkedIn because I want to be able to
23:07
Speaker 3: connect with donors and our sponsors and our contributors and foundations.
23:11
Speaker 3: So I like to stay engaged so they can see
23:13
Speaker 3: what I'm doing to further the business, and then I
23:16
Speaker 3: want them to see things about jackets for jobs. So
23:18
Speaker 3: that's my business platform. But then I have my Facebook platform,
23:22
Speaker 3: which is a little different. This is what I did
23:24
Speaker 3: for the weekend. I went to the Lions game. But
23:26
Speaker 3: then I might post something different when I'm when I'm
23:29
Speaker 3: on LinkedIn, So it's two different two different personalities, but
23:32
Speaker 3: the same person.
23:34
Speaker 1: Well, let's talk about you've been investing in people, because
23:38
Speaker 1: you know, you said Rashine, we don't use the word
23:40
Speaker 1: welfare anymore, so we right there, tells me the level
23:43
Speaker 1: of people that you're committed to uplifting. Yes, what happens
23:48
Speaker 1: when we don't invest in people? What happens when we
23:52
Speaker 1: start stereotyping people, Because that's what you're trying to do
23:55
Speaker 1: with your your nonprofit is to break stereotype at least
24:00
Speaker 1: by our parents exactly. So talk about it.
24:03
Speaker 2: It's hard.
24:04
Speaker 3: It's really hard because the population and people that I
24:08
Speaker 3: deal with, our government assistant most of them. I do
24:11
Speaker 3: have some that are doing a you know job, you know,
24:14
Speaker 3: transformation or they're transferring into a different career, but for
24:17
Speaker 3: the most part their government assistant clients that I'm dealing with.
24:21
Speaker 3: So I'm dealing with you know, the quote unquote pookies
24:24
Speaker 3: and ray rays and shaniquos, you know if you want to.
24:26
Speaker 3: You're talking about.
24:27
Speaker 2: Stereotypes those quote unquote that type, and we all know
24:31
Speaker 2: what that means.
24:32
Speaker 3: But I just try to change it, you know, That's
24:34
Speaker 3: that's my goal, and I've been doing it, you know
24:36
Speaker 3: pretty well, like you mentioned, twenty.
24:37
Speaker 2: Six years, forty four over forty.
24:39
Speaker 3: Thousand, you know people, so we're doing something right to
24:42
Speaker 3: get to them, and you know, just send them love.
24:44
Speaker 3: And see my sister that I didn't have a relationship with,
24:47
Speaker 3: she died of cancer and she was on welfare and
24:51
Speaker 3: that's one of the reasons why I started this organization.
24:54
Speaker 3: And so everyone that comes in, I'm reminded of my
24:56
Speaker 3: sister and I want to be able to help them
24:57
Speaker 3: because my sister had three kids. She was a welfare
25:00
Speaker 3: recipient and different the children had different fathers. And I said,
25:04
Speaker 3: you know what, I want to be able to help
25:06
Speaker 3: each lady that comes through. I want to be able
25:08
Speaker 3: to help each guy that comes through. And so that's
25:11
Speaker 3: that's my mission. So it is hard to change that stereotype,
25:14
Speaker 3: but you know, once through at a time is all
25:16
Speaker 3: that I can do.
25:17
Speaker 1: Wow, that's outstanding advice. And also sharings are known as
25:21
Speaker 1: part of your past, you know, because we all live
25:24
Speaker 1: setbacks and in your business, you looking at them, you
25:30
Speaker 1: see a setback coming to do it. Like you've already
25:32
Speaker 1: told us that level of people you work out, how
25:35
Speaker 1: do you emotionally, Allison, get up going there? Know some
25:41
Speaker 1: people you can help you trying though you can see
25:44
Speaker 1: a person go, I'm still going to give one hundred
25:48
Speaker 1: percent because they need about one hundred percent. How do
25:50
Speaker 1: you as a leader, as a motivator, a person inspires
25:55
Speaker 1: who has tremendous faith. Because you've mentioned it several times
25:58
Speaker 1: during this interview, yes, make it happen every day for you.
26:01
Speaker 1: Because this is a seven it's a seven day a
26:03
Speaker 1: week job. You might go in that money through Friday.
26:05
Speaker 1: Was this a seven day a week job?
26:07
Speaker 2: Talk to us it is.
26:08
Speaker 3: And you know, that's interesting that you mentioned that it's
26:11
Speaker 3: a seven day a week because a couple of weeks
26:13
Speaker 3: ago it was super super cold here in Detroit and
26:17
Speaker 3: we had a lot of extra clothes in one of
26:19
Speaker 3: our warehouses and I said, you know what, in the
26:21
Speaker 3: winter time, you need to layer up. So we're going
26:23
Speaker 3: to open it up. And Fox two News came and
26:26
Speaker 3: did a story that jackets for jobs is giving out
26:28
Speaker 3: clothes so people can layer up. And a young girl
26:30
Speaker 3: had a baby on her back and she was taking
26:33
Speaker 3: the bus. And I thought about that girl all weekend,
26:36
Speaker 3: and it hurt me so bad because I should have
26:38
Speaker 3: told her, if you can just wait till we're done,
26:41
Speaker 3: I can give you a ride home, because she had
26:43
Speaker 3: to get on the bus when it was that day
26:44
Speaker 3: it was one degree and the wind show factor was
26:47
Speaker 3: like minus five. And I thought about that young lady
26:50
Speaker 3: the entire weekend, like gosh, I did not do enough
26:53
Speaker 3: for her, even though we gave her a bag full
26:55
Speaker 3: of clothes, I did not do enough for her. And
26:57
Speaker 3: I think about her all And this just happened a
26:59
Speaker 3: couple you know, like a week and a half ago,
27:02
Speaker 3: but it's just really hard emotional. We keep a box
27:05
Speaker 3: of tisshiel at her desk because we know everyone that
27:08
Speaker 3: walks through has a story. Somebody walked through that was
27:11
Speaker 3: sleeping in their car last night. Somebody walked through just
27:13
Speaker 3: found out that they're pregnant and this is their sixth
27:16
Speaker 3: child and they barely can take care of the five
27:18
Speaker 3: that they have. So if everyone has a story, and
27:21
Speaker 3: so you have to be compassionate. And everyone that I hire,
27:24
Speaker 3: I tell them, in order to have this job, you
27:26
Speaker 3: have to have compassion with each person and not judge.
27:29
Speaker 2: And that's the thing you cannot judge.
27:31
Speaker 1: Wow. She's Alis Vaughn, founder and CEO of Jackets for Jobs,
27:36
Speaker 1: Detroit based nonprofit and that'sensmpowered over forty thousand jobs seecret
27:42
Speaker 1: with professional attire and career training. Thank you Alison for
27:45
Speaker 1: coming on Money Making Conversation Masterclass and sharing your story
27:48
Speaker 1: and Detroit is blessed to have you, my friend. Thank
27:52
Speaker 1: you for listening to this episode. No, I need for
27:54
Speaker 1: you to do me a favor right now to follow
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