Staff and Board Biographies

Under her leadership, The Career Wardrobe’s has grown from being an agency with minimal staff and a budget under $150,000 to one that employs 8 women and has a budget of over $800,000. Among The Career Wardrobe’s expanded programming are the “Professional Women’s Network,” a networking group for former participants to keep them motivated and moving forward in their careers and a “Client Help Desk” to assist with resume review and interviewing skills. She has also provided the leadership necessary to open The Wardrobe Boutique, an upscale recycled clothing store to benefit The Career Wardrobe located at 19^th and Spring Garden Streets in Philadelphia (opening September 2009).

Ms. Cole has served as Board President of The Women’s Alliance, a national nonprofit The Career Wardrobe co-founded in 1997 to provide best practices advice to community based organizations that assist women transitioning from poverty to independence by providing clothing and educational programs. In 2009 she was selected to join Leadership Philadelphia, an organization whose mission is to mobilize and connect the talent of the private sector to serve the community.

Ms. Cole holds a certificate in Nonprofit Leadership from the Bryn Mawr School of Social Work and Social Research’s Nonprofit Executive Leadership Institute as well as a Master of Arts in Women’s Studies from the University of Cincinnati and a Bachelor of Philosophy from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.  In 2003, Ms. Cole was honored by The Philadelphia Business Journal as one Philadelphia’s “40 Under Forty,” for her leadership and community involvement.

Prior to working at The Career Wardrobe, Ms. Cole worked at Fairmount Ventures, Inc. as a development consultant and in development and program management with WOMENS WAY and the Women’s Alliance for Job Equity (WAJE). Originally from Ohio, she has been in Philadelphia since 1994 and lives in Center City.

The Career Wardrobe is proud to be a founding member of: