By Alicia Morris Rudd
The Junior League cultivates women into thoughtful and seasoned leaders and teaches them how to take on the most challenging problems of the day. They work collaboratively to arrive at pragmatic and sustainable solutions that enhance the quality of life in their communities. We would like to highlight some of our own Junior League of Charlotte, Inc. (JLC) Change Agents who have impacted all areas of Charlotte and beyond.
Becky Carney – In 1996, Becky Carney was elected to the Mecklenburg Board of County Commissioners, where she served three consecutive terms. In 2002, Carney was elected to the State House of Representatives and has served District 102 in the N.C. House for the last 18 years. “Politics is about leadership, but it’s also about organizing and knowing your community,” Carney explained. “And I already had all that training prior to ever stepping out there, saying ‘yeah, I’ll run for office.’”
Carrie Cook – EmpowHERment is a local nonprofit committed to empowering girls and women to be leaders through mentorship, talent development, and advocacy. Founder Carrie Cook was drawn to the JLC for some of the same reasons she started EmpowHERment. “Building and connecting women to realize their full potential in Charlotte attracted me to membership, but I also wanted to get connected to other women leaders who are passionate about being a force for good in the Charlotte community.” As an established JLC member, Cook founded the Charlotte branch of the GreenLight Fund, a national fund network. She launched the $3.5 million fund at the end of 2017 as Executive Director. In 2016, the United Negro College Fund awarded Cook the inaugural Maya Angelou Young Leader Award and in 2018, she received the Woman of the Year Award from the Mecklenburg Times.
Kristi Cruise – During the recession of 2008, Kristina “Kristi” Cruise conceived the idea for what became one of the largest and most efficient book up-cycling organizations in the country – Promising Pages. Under her leadership, Promising Pages upcycled more than 600,000 books to thousands of the estimated 60,000 underserved children across the Charlotte area growing up with few, if any, books of their own. Cruise left Promising Pages in 2018 to start another literacy-based nonprofit Living Libraries. The mission of Living Libraries is to utilize educational, emotional and social capital to creatively and collaboratively unlock the unlimited potential of 21st century superhuman learners and leaders.
Trish Hobson – Trish Hobson is a past JLC president and current Executive Director of The Relatives, a Charlotte-based organization that provides shelter and safety for homeless and runaway children ages 7-17. In addition, The Relatives offers itself as both a resource center and housing program for older adolescents and young adults ages 16-24. Trish firmly believes her current professional success is a direct result of what she learned through the various training opportunities provided by the JLC. “I credit pretty much all my training to the Junior League. I still to this day have not experienced anything as worthwhile as JLC trainings.”
Catherine Horne – Current President and CEO of Discovery Place, Catherine Horne has worked in the museum, nonprofit and higher education sectors for over 30 years. Horne credits her League experiences in helping develop her leadership skills, “The ability to lead, the ability to move people to an idea and a direction for a future, a lot that came from the work that I did in the Junior League.” Prior to Discovery Place, Horne was founding CEO of EdVenture, a nationally recognized children’s museum in Columbia, S.C., a position she has held for nearly 17 years.
Mayor Vi Lyles – Nearly 30 years ago, Vi Lyles joined the JLC. In 2017, she became the 59th and first black woman mayor in Charlotte. Before she was elected Mayor, she served two terms on the City Council as an at-large representative from 2013 to 2017 and was voted mayor pro tem by her peers for two of those years.
Cynthia Marshall – Longtime member (46 years to be exact) of the JLC, Cynthia Marshall is an undeniable asset to the larger Charlotte community. Cynthia is best known as the Founding Executive Director of Charlotte Communities In Schools. In 2006, after 21 years, Cynthia retired. However, even in retirement, her investment in the Charlotte community is ongoing and evident through her service work. Serving on several nonprofit boards locally and at the state and national levels, Cynthia supports: Communities in Schools of North Carolina as a member of the Executive Committee and Program Support Chair; Washington D.C.’s International Leadership Foundation Advisory Council, which brokers resources and aligns partnerships and communities of faith to transform neighborhoods in large cities; the WINGS Scholarship Board of Women Executives, assisting women 25 and older who are upperclassmen in five local universities with scholarships and a personal mentor; the Myers Park High School Interact Club as a liaison from Charlotte Rotary; and as a founding board member of 100 Gardens, Charlotte – promoting aquaponic agriculture and STEM education by helping students think differently about food production and environmental sustainability.
Dr. Jonnie McLeod –In September of 1971, Dr. McLeod started the Charlotte Drug Education Center, a revolutionary organization that sought to employ science-based research, education and community outreach in proactive – rather than reactive approaches to the substance abuse epidemic. The Charlotte Drug Education Center was renamed the Center for Prevention Services in 2011 and still carries on Dr. McLeod’s remarkable legacy today.
Sally Robinson – One of Sally’s most well-known accomplishments is the instrumental role she played in founding The Levine Museum of the New South. In 1988 she was named Charlotte Woman of the Year, is an inductee into the N.C. Women’s Conference Hall of Fame and has received the UNC–Charlotte Distinguished Service Award and the Arts and Science Council’s Lifetime Commitment Award. Yet it all comes back to the JLC. Sally herself said she owes it all to the League and that her time in the League was a “plus, plus positive!”
Dolly Tate – Dolly Tate, along with the JLC, the United Way and the League of Women Voters, founded the Council for Children in 1979. In 2006, the Council for Children merged with Children’s Law Center, creating one of the most comprehensive child advocacy and child legal services agencies in North Carolina. Now the Council for Children’s Rights, the organization works in seven core competency areas: delinquency defense, mental health representation, custody advocacy, guardian ad litem, special education representation, research and policy and community engagement and awareness. Tate, who died in 1991, was a nationally known child advocate who organized TAPS (Teenage Parent Services) which still provides Charlotte-Mecklenburg Public Schools programming to assist young mothers with completing their high school educations and beyond.
