Founder and CEO - Dress for Success Luzerne County and Certified Recovery Specialist

Witnessing first-hand the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in 2001 made Linda Looprealize there was more to life than chasing a dollar. She left her 30-year career in the financial services industry in New York City and entered a new phase of her life. She returned to her home in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania and sought to use her skills and talents to help lift people out of poverty.

Linda recalled her volunteer experience with Dress for Success in NYC where she saw that her shoes could help a woman get a job and end her reliance on the public welfare system. Her used clothing could help change not only a woman’s life, but the life of her children as well. Thatinteraction left an impact on Linda. 

In 2010, Linda opened Dress for Success Luzerne County using her savings to establish the operation - the mission of which is to empower women to achieve financial independence by providing a network of support, career development tools and professional attire. Dress for Success Luzerne County does not just provide clothing – they help to change lives.

Not long after opening Dress for Success Luzerne County, Linda noticed that all too often addiction played a role in the lives of the women she served. Being a woman in long-term recovery herself, Linda obtained her Certification as a Recovery Specialist. She served as a CRS at New Roots Inc and has a special interest in helping women coming out of incarceration – about 98% of whom are mothers.

Knowing that it takes more than a great wardrobe to sustain a family, Linda developed the Set for Success! program that not only teaches a woman how to work effectively but helps her discover a career that she really loves – a career that meets her potential and empowers her to take her place in the community no matter what her background may be.

Since Dress for Success Luzerne County opened in 2010, the agency served over 1500 women, 580 of which ended their dependence on the welfare system by gaining employment and building sustaining careers. Dress for Success does not charge for their services.

Linda serves as Vice Chair of the Luzerne/Wyoming Counties Mental Health and Developmental Services Advisory Board and is the Public Relations Officer of the Wyoming Valley Motorcycle Club.

She lives with her husband Steve in Pittston, Pennsylvania and is the proud mother

of Sara, step-mother of Cierra and grandmother of Angela and Michael.