Pamela Crawley Story By: Karin Phillips The mission of The Career Wardrobe is something very close to Pamela Crawley's heart. Pamela was putting herself through school at Pepperdine University in California. In her junior year, she interviewed for an internship at IBM. She didn't own an interview suit and didn't have enough money to buy one. So like any other inventive young woman, Pamela put together what she could. She even cut down a dress to create a blouse. Unfortunately, the interviewer was not impressed. Pamela says the experience left her determined never to go through anything like that again: the memory still leaves a lump in her throat. "I had my education, I had my experience, I had internships, I had the raw talent, I had the ability, but he couldn't get past my little ensemble. So I decided that I would never let a hairstyle or clothing, or lack thereof, ever stand in my way of getting to the next place in my career or life." Pamela actually got her first job when she was 14, working for a woman who owned a Bucks county boutique; a woman she says knew how to run a business based on the skills she picked up during her life. Pamela has had quite a range of work experiences: from waiting tables, to runway modeling in Europe, and has spent more than 20 years in media, community and government affairs and public relations. Pamela says the biggest lessons she has learned are the importance of relationships, mutual respect, and enthusiasm, which she still has in abundance. What she passes on to others is how important that first impression is because what you present is determined within the first 30 seconds of the meeting. But like The Career Wardrobe, Pamela believes that dressing the part is about more than superficial judgments – a woman's working wardrobe presents to the business world her image of the place she can fill within it. Photographed By: Jeffrey Holder, Jeffrey Holder Photography |
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