Board President of Dress for Success Indianapolis, Adrianne Slash provides strategic leadership and vision, ensuring programs create meaningful opportunities for women to gain confidence, grow professionally, and achieve economic mobility. Her guidance helps set the tone for empowerment and support throughout DFSI.
Here’s what Adrianne shared about leadership, guiding a mission-driven organization, and inspiring women to reach their full potential:
- What does women’s empowerment look like in action at DFSI?
At DFSI, women’s empowerment is built into everything the team, its supporters, donors, and volunteers do. DFSI meets the needs of the women in our community and meets them where they are with what they need in a timely, supportive and responsive way. Beyond that, I am incredibly proud of the thoughtfulness, and visioning that is done every day as the staff and volunteers think of ways to take the mission further to reduce even more barriers to access.
- What impact are you most proud of seeing in the women we serve?
I always enjoy hearing the stories about the women we serve — but attending events for the Professional Women’s Group (PWG), seeing women share their lived experiences and share their stories, connects the dots for me. That is always illuminating. To see our mission in action makes me proud to support the mission in any way I can.
How does investing in women create lasting impact in communities and workplaces?
By investing in women, we’re investing in the household as a whole. When households are invested in, children have the resources they need to do well in school. When we invest in women, they’re able to engage confidently in their communities, at home, at work, and in every environment in between. When women are invested in, gaps close, and our entire community can go further, faster. Without that investment, the gaps get wider and wider.
- What gives you hope about the future for women?
Women are investing in women and our allies are standing right there with us! We are leading in education, and we are leading in representation in business. Most importantly, women are united when the stakes are the highest. While policies are being written to hold women back, women are in position to fight but also to meet the needs by any means necessary. It’s inspiring. Women have led in most movements in history; this time women are better equipped and meeting the moment.
- What does it mean to help lead an organization focused on women’s success?
For me, it’s an opportunity to connect the dots across our community to make the threads of our safety net stronger. Leading this space is personal; we all need our net to work at one time or another. This is my opportunity to pay it forward and contribute so that it works for those who need it. There have been countless women who have done the same for me, this is just me doing my part.
