Business coach’s event targets abuse
CHARLES TOWN – Eastern Panhandle business coach Teresa Holmes-Lindsey says last month’s first-ever Stomp Out Domestic Violence fashion show helped bring awareness to the number of women – and men – who are abused.
The “Shades of Purple” fashion show happened Oct. 27 the Charles Town Lions Club.
Teresa Holmes-Lindsey
“Although most reports of domestic violence are from women, there are many cases of abuse on men that remain unreported,” said Holmes-Lindsey, the executive director of Full ‘Steem Ahead Life Coaching & Mentoring, based in Martinsburg. “And it is not only physical abuse, but also verbal, mental, financial…” Holmes-Lindsey, who moved her business to West Virginia from Georgia in 2011, has long hosted anti-domestic violence events annually through her life coaching and speaking business, but this is the first time that a fashion show was included.
“We wanted to involve individuals of all ages and also have some fun while bringing awareness to a very serious issue,” Holmes-Lindsey said.
The fashion show was an “express yourself”-type program, where models could wear attire of their choice, from sports jerseys, biker gear, jeans and formal wear. “We wanted the participants to be confident and feel good about themselves – to realize that they never have to be a carbon copy of anyone else,” Holmes-Lindsey said. Donations of purple attire
came from as far as Los Gatos, Calif. “Huge smiles came across the faces of the models ages 13 years and under when
they were informed that they could keep the outfits that they modeled,” Holmes-Lindsey said.
Speakers during the event included Holmes-Lindsey, Tina Branson of the Shenandoah Women’s Center’s branch in Charles Town and Carolyn Zdiere of Community Alternatives to Violence.
