Dress For Success can be the start of something big
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- Published on Friday, 25 April 2014 15:15
- Written by Paul Gordon
When Diane Cullinan Oberhelman decided to start her own business and applied for a commercial loan, she was rejected. It was the mid-1980s and banks just did not offer commercial loans to women.
Obviously Oberhelman, who founded the Peoria real estate development firm Cullinan Properties Ltd., did not let that rejection stop her. Instead, she assembled a team that would help get the company started and the rest, as they say, is history. Cullinan Properties has developed some of the largest and key commercial developments in this region and beyond.
Hearing no “can be one of the defining moments in our life. How you turn it into a positive is the real key to success,” Oberhelman told an audience of about 250 during the Dress For Success annual luncheon Friday at the Par-A-Dice Hotel in East Peoria.
During the organization’s third annual “The Purse and Suit of Happiness” luncheon, WalMart Corp. made a big presentation of its own. The retail giant awarded Dress for Success Peoria a $35,000 grant to enable expansion of the program, including the hiring of a program coordinator.
As keynote speaker for the luncheon, Oberhelman used the opportunity to discuss how support groups can help in many aspects of one’s life, including one’s career. But as a career moves forward, she said, one must be willing to ask for help.
“There are no careers without challenges. Just showing up is half the battle. Success comes from working hard,” she said.
But as her company was growing, she faced personal struggles in balancing career with a young and growing family that included four children. “I learned to ask for support. And that support doesn’t always come from where you most expect it. You have to find your support team, the ones who will lift you up and celebrate your successes,” she said. “Don’t be afraid to lean on them for support.”
She also cautioned those in burgeoning careers to avoid those people in their lives who only bring them down.
The kind of help one might need can very, but she said people cannot expect their support team to know what is needed without being told. “Be very specific about what you ask for. That is very important,” she said.
Oberhelman told the women in the audience that if they are already part of Dress For Success, “You have already learned what you can do and have gained the strength to ask for help. Your support team can help you get past surviving and into thriving,” she said.
Oberhelman praised Dress For Success for helping give women the confidence they need when they use the clothes given them through the program to do well in job interviews. “It is hope on a hanger and it truly can produce life-changing experiences. It is true you cannot judge a book by its cover but it is important to start by looking polished and professional,” she said.
From there, it takes perseverance and passion, she said. While Dress for Success can be a great start, “Dream big and think big. Have confidence, trust your instincts and push ahead,” she said.
Among the projects Cullinan Properties, founded in 1988, has developed in the Peoria area are the Shoppes at Grand Prairie of much of its surrounding development, the Levee District in East Peoria, Glen Place, One Technology Plaza and various other office, retail, mixed-use and residential developments. That includes WeaverRidge.
In central Illinois and other parts of the country the company has developed nearly $1 billion in projects, most recently completing the country’s largest Veteran Administration hospital in Austin, Texas.
Oberhelman, who is married to Caterpillar Inc. Chairman Doug Oberhelman, serves or has served the boards of directors of many organizations, including the Federal Reserve Advisory Council of Chicago, Ducks Unlimited Inc. and Easter Seals Foundation.
