Business Innovators Radio - The Inspired Impact Podcast with Judy Carlson-Interview with Karen Davis, Co-Founder & Head Dress Wrangler, Clover’s Closet

Episode Date: November 11, 2025

Karen and her daughter Molly started Clover’s Closet in the Spring of 2019 to help girls who wouldn’t otherwise be able to go to prom because of the cost of a dress and accessories. Their first ��store” was in the Outlets at Castle Rock.Their mission has expanded to include homecoming in the fall.Community members donate dresses, shoes, jewelry, make-up and more. For three weekends before homecoming and prom, girls can shop for free for one complete outfit to wear to the dance.Clover’s Closet also partners with Douglas County Human Services to provide clothing needs for the whole family. They are so grateful for their dedicated team of volunteers.https://www.cloverscloset.org/https://www.facebook.com/karen.cloversclosethttps://www.instagram.com/cloversclosetkarendavis*************************************************************Judy Carlson is the CEO and Founder of the Judy Carlson Financial Group, where she helps couples create personalized, coordinated financial plans that support the life they want to live – now and in the future.As an Independent Fiduciary and Comprehensive Financial Planner, Judy specializes in retirement income and wealth decumulation strategies. She is a CPA, Investment Advisor Representative, licensed in life and health insurance, and certified in long-term care planning.Judy’s mission is to help guide clients with clarity and care, building financial plans that focus on real planning built around real lives.Learn More: https://judycarlson.com/Investment Adviser Representative of and advisory services offered through Royal Fund Management, LLC, a SEC Registered Adviser.The Inspired Impact Podcasthttps://businessinnovatorsradio.com/the-inspired-impact-podcast/Source: https://businessinnovatorsradio.com/the-inspired-impact-podcast-with-judy-carlson-interview-with-karen-davis-co-founder-head-dress-wrangler-clovers-closet

Welcome to the Inspired Impact Podcast, where dedicated female professionals share how they inspire impact every day. Authentic stories, passionate commitment, lives transformed. I'm your host, Judy Carlson. Welcome to today's episode of the Inspired Impact Podcast. my guest today, together with her daughter, Molly, started Clover's Closet. Their mission initially was to make prom dreams come true. I can't wait to hear her tell us all about it. Karen Davis, welcome to the podcast.

Thank you so much for including me. This is a real treat. I appreciate the invitation. Thank you. Yeah, you're welcome. So there's got to be some history behind the mission, the name, what you guys are doing, how it came about. So where do you want to start? Well, I guess my daughter, Molly, and I were at a goodwill looking for lampshades because we were doing a project. And I actually saw some high school girls looking at some formal dresses. And they were so. unhappy. Like, their faces were just so sad. And I thought, wow, that just really sucks, having to get your dress at Goodwill. That's awful. And I, I ended up coming home and it just

kind of stuck with me a little bit. And I knew at the time there was a group in Parker called Parker Secret closet. And they would provide. formal attire for kids going to school dances. So I contacted Molly's school, Castleview, here in Castle Rock. And I was like, hey, do we have a group like that here? Molly's got all these dresses in her closet, just like every other high school mom, right? We all got the dresses. And the next thing I know, Ryan Hollingshead, councilman, Ryan, he was an associate

assistant principal at the time, contacts me and said, hey, thanks for doing this. This is great. And I was like, whoa, wait, what? And I just was like, I got asked in an interview, not really that long ago, a question of, did you even think about saying no? And I thought about it. I was like, oh my gosh, no, I never even thought about it. Like, I just kind of took it. And we put it together in like three weeks. The outlets at Castle Rock, it donated a store. And I mean, you know, we had a very low turnout. We had mostly walk by traffic. But it was our first step out. And we were like, okay, yeah, this is great. The community stepped up, giving us stresses and, you know, it was a really positive experience.

Go forward next year, 2020, we were about three or four days out from moving into setting up the store for prom. And I work in the school, like I saw all the signs, the whole thing. COVID thing. And I just was like, listen, I'm just going to like put a pin in this. There's no sense in doing it. The kids are not going to be able to go to prom. Like, I can just see it. And so, you know, the shutdown happened. Nobody was able to go do anything anyways. And we really sat down and reflected, how can we go from the prompting into serving the community when they really need it? And we decided that we would create an online marketplace where people could go and shop

for everyday things. Actually, anything I could get my hands on. Like, I took everything and just put it on there and people could throw it into a cart and if it was within a certain radius like i'd take it out to you i'd drop it off i go drive it to your house and i think the most impactful thing uh that i learned from that experience was dropping off a bag of essentials uh to this home and parker that's you know like a mansion and i've got tampons in the bag and i thought yeah see you can't judge from the outside what's going on on the inside if they got it you know they got me bringing free stuff to them so that made a huge impact on me wow of course that's not sustainable i can't take everybody's stuff to them i would love that it just didn't work and it just shifted to a

model of we're just going to support groups that are already in the community And do events, food banks, stuff like that. But that's where my heart is, is doing those kind of events. We do an event called Strive to Thrive. It's winter and a summer, like a back-to-school thing. And it's through the Community Care Network that's kind of organized from Douglas County Human Services. And the back-to-school event, it's a two-hour event, and you could be providing clothing to 600 people. Wow.

So they're very big attended events, and those are very impactful. Like, you want to see people that need stuff, resources, like food, services, clothing, the very basic things that you need to keep going. Those are the people that you come in contact with. But especially in the winter one, because then, you know, you're seeing unhoused people, at-risk families, just desperation. And that's here in Castle Rock. You know, that stuff is out there. And so it's important. It's important stuff to get out there and do that. Where do you host these strive to thrive events? Well, so I don't host them. The Community Care Network, they do all of it. We just attend. Okay. That back to school one bounces between

church in Highlands Ranch and Parker. And then the winter one is usually always here in Castle Rock. but yeah we'll see what happens the one this year was not attended as well because a large group of our community didn't show up and that's probably mostly our Hispanic community just is not feeling safe and didn't come out oh wow so that's an issue right how to get services to people that are unable to get to you. So do you still have a storefront in the outlets? No. We let me see.

We've been in the old mercantile building in downtown Castle Rock that's been generously donated to us for. three years by the owner of the Emporium. Just delightful. I don't know how much further into the future are going to be there, but it's been nice to have a steady place. Anybody has starfront they want to be doing. We're looking. Wow. So inside that building men are all of the clothing items that have been donated? So it's empty. We bring everything in.

You do. Yeah. All the inventory, all the racks, all the decorations, all of it. We bring it in. We set it up. And kids come in and they shop. And, you know, it's great because keeping in mind, you know, that vision of kids shopping at Goodwill that was huge in the forming of an idea of how to do this.

So we knew it's really super important that we maintain the familiarity and preserve those interactions because they're so vital to that social development and forging relationships that, you know, you're going to take into adulthood. Yeah. So the kids, do you set these up around school dance times of the year? So we'll do homecoming in the fall and prom is in the spring. Okay. We usually will run for three consecutive weekends.

Okay. So just to give you an idea, we just wrapped up homecoming. And we served. And this data is just strictly a suit or a dress as not all the other stuff that we have, the jewelry, the makeup, the shoes, all the things. Because we have boys and girls stuff, 476 students served in three weekends. Oh, my gosh. And so they're at different high schools and mostly in. Castle Rock, would you say? Well, they come from all over, Doug Co. And then we have people that'll

drive in from other areas, too. It just depends. Like, they'll come up from Colorado Springs. They'll be out in the mountains. They'll be out in the prairie. They come in from everywhere. But primarily, we're looking at the Denver metro area. Okay. So a student comes in and tries on some dresses. finds the dress they're going to wear to homecoming, and then there's no charge for them to... We do not place any financial or geographical restrictions or any kind of we have, you cannot sit there and say, okay, you can get a dress, but you can't. because the kid that can go to Macy's and get a dress is just as enriched by the experience as a kid who doesn't.

And what we're trying to do is we're trying to bring that leveling of the playing field so that the kids are all on the same level. That equality is what we really strive for. And so having everybody come in, I think really just hits home, that mission of just no one's better than anybody else. And I think it gives some control to the kids, too. They don't necessarily have to come in with a parent. They don't need someone's wallet. They don't. For better or for worse.

Right. but yeah so they can come in we just have the rule of one okay you want you to go get as close to head to as possible okay but only take one of each item right one dress one pair of shoes one necklace one mascara whatever it is that you need you can take it but just take one so then after three weekends, there must still be inventory left, and then you take that and store it until prom? Yep. And then after they wear the outfit, if they did this for every dance, then their closet would be full of these dresses. So do they turn around and bring them back then?

Some do. some don't you know again it's not something you can control right you have to like let it go but we do we have a lot of dresses that come back I had a I had two dresses that came back I had two dresses that came back to me and then went back out the same weekend that they came back in and they were on their third time. And they were big, girly ball gowns, beautiful dresses. And that's that perfect synergy like. Keep it going.

These dresses want to be worn. They do. you know so um so at some point you continue to need new dresses if not all of the dresses that have gone out come back so how does that process work i collect all through the year um people i routinely go out and there'll be stuff on my porch really but i also solicit from companies too. There's a dress store in Chicago called Peaches Boutique, and they send me beautiful dresses. They're so wonderful and generous. I'm constantly, you know, what I call papering with emails. Like, I just send them out. I'm constantly on the lookout. There's nothing

I won't ask for. And if you don't say yes one time, I'll hit you up again. So hopefully at some point. I would think that the early empty nesters would have a closet full of their daughter's dresses if they had a daughter. And so I don't know how you reach the early empty nesters or how you get the word out. because, I mean, they're in every, they're everywhere. Yeah, for sure.

And those dresses are lovely. And I love mixing in the brand new stuff that I get donated because that always is like, you know, the kids are always like, wow. Mm-hmm. A brand-new tucks or whatever. And that's fun. I enjoy that. Mm-hmm. Yeah.

you find the dresses that are hanging in the closet like your daughter Molly's were when she graduated from high school? Well, you know, through social media, through podcasts, sometimes we'll have interviews on news channels. We get the word out. And I think from doing it since 2019, I think we're kind of a little bit. We're kind of a little bit of a known entity, at least here locally. Sure. So at least I hope so. I mean, it's interesting because I get these weird little encounters, you know,

like going to pick up stuff at Office Depot, you know, printed material. And the girl helping me is like, oh, I've gotten dresses from Clover's closet. And then she pulled out her phone and she shows me, you know. Or we had DoorDash and the delivery girl was like, are you Karen Davis from Clover's closet? I have a dress for you. Oh, wow. Little things like that. It's just so I know it's out there.

Yeah, it is out there. Have you gotten wedding dresses? Shh, we don't talk about that. We don't. We don't. Okay. Our wedding dresses. No wedding dresses.

Okay. I'm just caring. We did a bridal event last spring. And yeah, no more. No any dresses. Tell me about the name of your mission, Clover's Closet. So we have a dog named Clover. She's a rescue.

We don't talk about her age right now, but she's getting up there. When we first got her, she was about two years old, and she had been picked up as a stray off the streets of Houston, which I did live just north of Houston for about six years. And she had just given birth to about five puppies when they got her, which is probably the only reason why they got her. because I'm going to tell you, she's slinky. She can get around. But she was so sad and she was withdrawn and she was scared. Turned out she had heartworms. When they took x-rays of her heart and lungs prior to treatment,

they saw she had a shotgun pellet in her back. So we figured that she spent, most of the two years of her young life, probably on the streets, just surviving. And she would have moments of PTSD where she would just curl into herself. And that went on for years. And so when we started putting Clover's closet together and we were kind of thinking about the name, we came up with Clover's closet because Clover really showed us that, even when things are at their darkest, there's still room for hope.

And if you saw her today, you would never know that she ever had a traumatic past. I mean, she's happy, she jumps around, she barks at you. But that took her 10 years to get there. Yeah, bless her heart. It's a very touching story of her life and your care for her and the room for hope. Yeah. So I believe it. I believe it with all my soul.

I'm sure there are kids who've been through a lot of trauma in 10 years and when they come and get a dress. You, you've been through trauma? You want to tell us? Yeah. You know, just growing up in a violent household. and the scars those leave. And I know that she, my dog, Clover, was just surviving in a violent world.

And that just alters your perception of life. Wow. Right? Yeah. How did you know or when did you know that things weren't right in your home and what transpired? Um, the first time I was told I couldn't go to school because of the marks on my body.

Oh, man. Yeah. So we just, we survive and we hope it doesn't make us, oh, angry. Yeah. right well you can really relate probably to some of the kids i'm not sure how much you get to have conversations with them or get to know them but just your your manner with them and in your mission there emulates the underlying feelings that you know that they may have because you've lived it yeah for sure you know i work in a health room i see kids

coming in, doing things that no kids should be doing. And it's, you know, in reaction to having trauma in their lives. And, you know, no 12 or 13 year old kid deserves to have to live like that. So, yeah, it's found. You're in a middle school, right? In the health room. And you've got um um um is it cn a yep so when did you go ahead when did you decide to pursue that path well i um i worked in the significance needs room uh for over a decade so those are the kids that have lower cognitive abilities, learning disabilities, down syndrome, highly affected by autism, things of that nature. And I tended to work with kids that were the higher medical needs, terrible palsy,

or what have you. Yeah. So I got the CNA because I worked with a kiddo that was just challenging. Yeah. So and then I moved into the health room because I just getting older. Hands can't really be trusted as much to do some of those transfers. Right. Yeah.

Wow. Well, good for you. You're changing lives in many ways even. even in your full-time career, right? It's fun. I think it's a privilege to be working with kids because, and especially with the SSN kids, because I, you know, I got my things. I got my things going on.

And sometimes it's a lot. Yeah. But I worked with some kids. And it was like, if they can get to school, I can get to school. Like they were like so inspiring to me, you know? Isn't that amazing? It goes full circle, doesn't it? Absolutely.

Like I can sit in here and be, you know, feeling sorry for myself. Or I can man up and go to school because they're going to school. Right. So, yeah. So tell us how we can get involved in Clover's Clover's. closet? We have lots of ways to get involved. There's, of course, donations, whether physical merchandise, clothing, jewelry, makeup, all the things, or financial backing so we can buy the things and pay for the storage and all the things. There's also a volunteer.

which is a big thing. If we can't, this nonprofit is very small and there's a very tight group of volunteers that show up every time we have an event and they're there and they're doing the heavy lifting and I love them. I don't know what I would do without them.

But that's not growing. The need and the participants keeps growing exponentially. I see. Interesting. But the core of Clover's closet is still maintaining that same group of people. So getting more people involved in different ways, whether it's helping set up the shop or packing up the shop or running the shop or you know, there's a million and one different things to do. Doing marketing or, you know, because I do all of that stuff.

If someone wanted to step in and say, I can run the social media or I can, you know, do this or that, that's amazing. It's just hard to find people that have time to do it. I mean, we all have busy lives. You mentioned that it's three weekends before homecoming and three weekends before. prom. So when you say weekends, the shop is open both Saturday and Sunday for those three weekends? Or what's the timing of the shop open? Well, so I take the Douglas County High School dance schedule. Yeah. And this takes some doing sometimes. Doesn't work well. But I try to find as much

of a centralized group of weekends that will serve the most people. Got it. And it's a lot of acrobats. Like he got some balls throwing them up in the air. It sometimes is difficult. But so we'll pick our three weekends. And so there's usually like one or two weeks prior to that where we're setting up the shop. And then there's usually one to two weeks after what we're closing down

and moving stuff back into storage. So it's really more like a month and a half, two months that we're actually kind of moving around stuff. Yeah. And twice a year. Twice a year. Yeah. And are you open both Saturday and Sunday on those three weekends? It would open Friday, 330 to 6, and then Saturday and Sunday will be 10 to 6 on Saturday, 11 to 6 on Sunday. Okay. It's what we've been doing. Yeah. Trying to be open enough to, like, have people be able to make it.

But I ran into a situation, our second weekend for homecoming. We were going into a weekend. And I had two volunteers on the schedule for the entire weekend. And I was on Facebook, we need volunteers, we need volunteers, we need volunteers. I wasn't really getting anything back. And then by Friday, I was like, I can't open. We just, we can't. We had 260 kids flow through the weekend prior.

We can't. Yeah. I don't know what to do. many do you need in the store during your open hours approximately? Well, especially with the first and second weekends where the lowest, the heaviest, we probably need five people working on each shift and I'll have two shifts. Okay. Saturday and Sunday. Yeah. So. Oh. Yeah. That's good. I mean, everybody like, what I made a pose of like, I can't open if I don't have volunteers and of course everybody you know i think i can be there i can be there and that was great

and we were able to open but that volume 470 you know that's just that's just tracking right with a dress and a suit that's over a thousand pieces of jewelry it's you know it's all kinds of other little incidental things that go along with it so there's all these pieces they're moving Now, think about that volume in a dress store. Wow, that's crazy. You've got a lot of little pieces going on. And you do, believe it or not, have to do with people wanting to steal things. Oh, my gosh.

I'm like, I mean, yeah. So I still don't know how that works. I don't know why. It's free. I take infant point. Just bring it to me so I can mark my little mark. and know what I have going out the door, and it's yours. Yeah.

Wow. All right. Well, thank you so much. This has just been inspiring to listen to all that you've. You've got a backstory I didn't hear much of, but I know that that's in your heart, and that's probably a lot of what's gotten you to where you are today with helping all these kids. So thank you so much for your service to the kids. So it's been joyful.

I appreciate the time. Yeah, good. Well, looking for you as volunteer. Yeah, I'm sure you will. I'm starting to think about the jewelry that's up in my drawer that I have no idea what to do with it, but it's time to purge. So there you go. I think all of us, all of us have that. I mean, I even think about a neighborhood drive just in the 35 houses in my circle.

here to see if there's things that, you know, people can freely give. Oh, that's, that's lovely. That would be lovely. Thank you. You bet. Well, thank you, my dear. I guess we'll sign off for now. I appreciate you being here. Well, it was my pleasure, Judy. Thank you so much. Thanks so much for joining us for the Inspired Impact Podcast. To listen to past episodes, please visit theinspiredimpactpodcast.com.