Lexi Perry let out a chuckle after hearing Eliette Patterson’s makeover description.
“I looked like a celebrity!” chirped Patterson.
The entire room howled.
That’s exactly the reaction Perry hoped for when she started Trusting The Process Florida in October 2016. She wanted to help people out of a situation she knew very well.
“At 16 I was homeless,” Perry explained. “I wasn’t in a shelter. I just kind of couch-hopped between friends and I just didn’t know really where I was going to end up. A family ended up taking me in my senior year of high school.”
The experience taught her a lot. She eventually met a few people from homeless and low-income communities who didn’t take job interview opportunities because they felt like they wouldn’t look professional or appropriate.
So, she asked friends to help. Professionals trained in hair and makeup came to make over men and women in need, getting them ready for interviews.
PHOTOS: Organization proves makeovers for job interviews
“Amazing. It was life-changing to see their reactions and how much just hair and makeup can change somebody’s feeling and how they’re feeling that day and how they feel about themselves,” volunteer Megan Hargis said.
Patterson was one of the women who received a makeover during an event at the Salvation Army in Tampa. Its Red Shield Lodge houses 110 single men and women every night. Patterson was one of them.
“They did a great thing for me,” she said of Trusting The Process. “I’m starting to look a little better.”
Trusting The Process, according to its website, is “a faith-based 501(c)(3) Nonprofit that exists to empower, equip, and build confidence in the houseless, at-risk and low-income communities. We provide haircuts, makeup tutorials, clothing, & hygiene items for total transformations to help them achieve their next goals confidently whether that is preparing to find a job, getting back into school, or achieving their goals to find a more permanent housing solution”.
Trusting The Process has hosted events in conjunction with organizations like CASA, Big Brothers Big Sisters, St. Pete Free Clinic, Ready For Life Foster Care, Alpha House, the Tim Tebow Foundation, Salvation Army Residences, Daystar LifeCenter, and more.
“We’re so thankful for Trust the Process, what they’re doing,” said Salvation Army’s Captain Abby Miller. “We are excited to see what else they are able to do in the community.”
The non-profit will celebrate two years in October.
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