Vishvajeet Rathore smiled for a picture in his new suit, courtesy of the Comet Closet. After about five volunteers assisted Rathore, a business analytics graduate student, he had found a suit for his competition from the Closet.
The Comet Closet is a student-led organization that takes gently used business attire and gives it to students who would not otherwise be able to find or afford a suit for a career-related event.
“It was really difficult to find something, but they took the inventory and they looked for a suit and finally got the best one for me,” Rathore said.
Rathore received one of the approximately 1,200 clothing items the Comet Closet has, which is currently hosting Launch Week until Feb. 24 to advertise these resources.
Jiana Khazma, the director of marketing for the Comet Closet and an interdisciplinary studies senior, said the idea for the Closet originally came from Marilyn Kaplan, the associate dean of undergraduate programs in JSOM around the end of 2014.
“So originally I think she had students coming up to her expressing a need for business professional clothing items that they couldn’t afford or get access to,” Khazma said. “And so the Comet Closet is finally has been brought to life and now is functioning and operating, ready to take its students. So we are happy to be at that point and can’t wait to see how it’s going to impact the students who are in need of our services,” Khazma said.
Rathore completed the requirements to be able to use the Comet Closet — which involve receiving a Comet Closet card and then attending three Career Center or Career Management Center events.
Rathore partly attributes his success in a data analytics competition to his new suit.
“That is my lucky suit,” Rathore said.
Khazma said that students like Rathore are the reason the Comet Closet exists.
“Just to see the different impact that it has on students, it’s really motivating and it’s kind of why we started this in the first place. So it really goes back to the students, we really want them to know that they can come in and see us and hopefully they can find something that works for them,” Khazma said.
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