Welcome to the Presidential blog!

I’ll be writing once per month to share about the league and perhaps offer motivational thoughts and information to help you serve Oakland and the East Bay. In this issue you’ll find out about my background, League history, and what I hope to deliver as your President.

I am happily married and celebrated 21 years in May. I have two children, a boy – 15 and a girl – 12 who are interested in running and writing respectively. My hobbies are reading historical fiction and cooking. I grew up in Lewiston, Idaho. I graduated from the University of Idaho with degrees in Marketing and Child Development and Family Relations.

In 1995, I moved to Bay Area to help my Dad get back on his feet after a heart attack and find a new job. I successfully found a job as a technical writer with Pacific Telesis’ research and development group . After 4 years, I left Pacific Telesis for a startup in residency at the UC Berkeley Haas School of Business incubator as their Marketing Director.

 But the dot.com bubble burst and we couldn’t get funding. So I moved to a mobile technology start up that was well funded. Eventually, I allowed my career path to follow my heart and switched industries. I worked for a nonprofit Foster Family Agency doing marketing and PR for them. I “retired” when my son was born. Since then I have been volunteering in my community in various ways and serving in leadership positions in nonprofit organizations earning 15 years of community leadership experience.

I am in my fifth active year with Junior League of Oakland East Bay. I joined after I met a sustainer that invited me to a summer social where I fell in love with JLOEB. I felt it was the organization with the right amount of support and community involvement. As a new member, I attended the Organizational Development Institute and focused on the Community Impact Track. This stirred my passion for understanding needs in the community and developing connections to meet those needs.

As an active member, I jumped right into leadership. I chaired the Done in A Day and the Community Partner committees, served as assistant treasurer, and then as the Executive Vice President. Now, I am thrilled and honored to be your president.

This year we will:

• Develop a strategic plan
• Engage sustainers with expertise so we don’t reinvent the wheel
• Focus on financial sustainability
• Provide volunteer opportunities that touch JLOEB’s history and move toward its future.

The Junior League of Oakland-East Bay needs renewed vision. I believe that this year we can anchor ourselves in JL values, move with vision and strategy, and produce effective results. But it’s your commitment and contribution that gives the League its power and success. Without you it is, quite literally, nothing. I am looking forward to working with you in the coming year to bring light and hope to our community.

PS: We’re working on enabling comments to these blogs so we can have a dialogue… stay tuned 🙂