Helping Students Dress for Career Success

^{Pictured from left: Dean Felipe Henao, Associate Director Lynn Hart, and Tech Threads Consultant Chigozie Henry Umeaku at the Long Island ribbon-cutting event.}

On October 9, the New York Tech community celebrated the official grand opening of Tech Threads at ribbon-cutting events on the Long Island and New York City campuses.

Tech Threads is an inclusive on-campus “professional closet” that provides students with no-cost access to new and gently used career clothing and accessories for interviews, career fairs, networking events, the workplace, and other related experiences. The Tech Threads inventory may include suits, dresses, skirts, button-down shirts, dress pants, ties, shoes, belts, scarves, jewelry, and other accessories.

While professional closets at many universities require students to return items, Tech Threads allows New York Tech students to keep clothing and accessories. The initiative helps to remove financial barriers that may prevent students from looking and feeling their best during professional encounters. Clothing and accessories are primarily donated through the generosity of New York Tech staff, students, faculty, alumni, and external community members.

At the New York City campus, remarks were delivered by New York Tech President Henry C. Foley, Ph.D., Associate Provost for Student Engagement and Development Tiffani Hinds, M.S., M.Ed., Senior Director of Career Success and Experiential Education Amy Bravo, M.A., and Computer Science, B.S. student Mukhammedali Zhadiger.

“Aligned with our mission to offer access to opportunity to all New York Tech students, we are committed to ensuring that there is a place for every student to learn and grow,” said President Foley, who led the cutting of the ribbon at the New York City campus. “We are grateful for the generosity of our community members who, through their donations, have empowered these future doers, makers, healers, and innovators to pursue opportunities that will prepare them to solve 21st-century challenges.”

Tech Threads was spearheaded by the Office of Student Engagement and Development and is managed by Career Success and Experiential Education, which began accepting donations from the New York Tech community in the spring 2024 semester. The team has also recently started building relationships with local employers and members of the outside community, ideally to receive donations from them as well.  

“The need to purchase costly professional attire can strain students’ already-limited budgets. However, regardless of their financial situation, all students should have the opportunity to confidently seek internships and employment opportunities that will further their career ambitions. Now, Tech Threads will ensure that is possible,” said Hinds.

The closet’s day-to-day operations are run by New York Tech students who serve as “Tech Threads consultants,” gaining valuable on-the-job skills that will benefit them when they enter the workforce.

^{Pictured from left to right: Associate Provost Tiffani Hinds; Management, M.B.A. student and Tech Threads Consultant Bhakti Babariya; Senior Director Amy Bravo; State Senator Brad Hoylman-Sigal; Senior Tech Threads Consultant Mukhammedali Zhadiger; President Foley; and Electrical and Computer Engineering, B.S. Student and Tech Threads Consultant Richard Gill at the New York City campus grand opening.}

Zhadiger was instrumental in launching Tech Threads. As the Senior Tech Threads Consultant, he interviewed, hired, trained, and managed the student consulting teams on each campus. While some consultants help to manage and track clothing supplies, others promote the closet via campus outreach, the closet’s social media channels, and other related duties. In addition, the teams have held clothing drives, built donation registries with Target and Amazon, and developed inventory and donor tracking processes for monthly reporting.

“In helping their peers dress for success, consultants also prepare for their own future careers,” said Chigozie Henry Umeaku, an undergraduate mechanical engineering student who oversees Tech Threads consultants on the Long Island campus. “Whether they are handling inventory or helping to spread the word to students and donors, they gain valuable résumé experience, hone time management and organizational skills, and build relationships with mentors from the Office of Career Success and Experiential Education.” 

Umeaku was among the speakers at the Long Island ceremony, where he also assisted Dean of Students Felipe Henao, Ed.D., Associate Provost Francesca Fiore, Ph.D., and Associate Director of Employer Relations Lynn Hart, M.S.Ed., in cutting the ribbon.

Students can make an appointment via Handshake to shop the career closet, which is located on the Long Island campus in the Student Activity Center, room 132, and in New York City at 26 W. 61st St., room 021. Donations can be dropped off at the Office of Career Success and Experiential Education on each campus.

Tech Threads is one of multiple support resources that New York Tech has launched in recent years to help address barriers and financial constraints that can stand in the way of students’ success. This includes the Grizzly Cupboard, which offers students access to free, nonperishable food items and toiletries, initiatives providing grants and financial assistance, and a variety of resources aimed at fostering the success of first-generation students.