More than 350 Junior League of Charlotte, Inc. (JLC) members gathered for the first General Membership Meeting (GMM) on Monday, September 19, at CPCC Parr Center’s new theater. The meeting was an important kick-off meeting to start the League year and allowed members to vote on two important bylaw changes proposed by the Nominating Committee. WBTV’s Molly Grantham, the meeting’s guest speaker, rounded out the evening with some inspiring messages for attendees on juggling priorities in life. Read on for a recap of the meeting.
JLC Goals for Upcoming Year
JLC President Christina Gratrix called the meeting to order and introduced members in attendance that included Provisionals, Actives and Sustainers. As the JLC enters its 97th year, Christina highlighted the goal of #OneJLC for the 2022-2023 year. This goal aligns the focus of the JLC as member-focused and unstoppable if members work together. Members were encouraged to be intentional, to rely on the JLC community and not juggle expectations in life alone, and lastly, to make a difference as an individual that will collectively impact the League. Christina stated of the League that it’s “always a place to learn, share and grow.”
JLC Important Updates
Executive Vice President of the JLC, Terri White, provided some updates on the League demographics. By most recent count, the JLC consists of 30 transfer members, 154 provisional members, 422 active members and 855 sustainers totaling 1,431 overall members. Again this League year, members can pay dues in installments. Any members that need reimbursement for expenses also have a new process for requesting payment and getting paid sooner – usually fewer than 14 days.
Bylaw Change Vote
At this meeting, there were two important bylaw changes proposed by Nominating Chair Ashley Lowery and Nominating Vice Chair Jamie Jones from the management team. Internal changes proposed were:
- The JLC Board of Directors Member at Large positions will be reduced from nine to five.
- The Assistant Council Manager positions for each of the five councils will be removed from the Management Team.
There were enough members present for a quorum, so the move was passed for voting. Results of the vote will be announced via email to the membership.
Guest Speaker Molly Grantham
Two-time Emmy award winning journalist and author Molly Grantham delighted the crowd at the GMM. Coincidentally, while doing a family photo project earlier that day, she found a photo of her grandmother at a JLC Ball in 1953, so she took it as her sign from above for the upcoming speech. Molly dispensed three tips for juggling priorities and balancing the many hats women wear in their daily lives.
Tip number one: Avoid burnout. Molly shared a hysterical personal story about having to get last-minute babysitting help for her children at a Cocomelon show so that she and her husband could see Elton John’s last live show in Charlotte happening on the same night. Let’s just say her toddler “left a stain” on the babysitter while sitting on her and they had to leave the Cocomelon show early. Despite wanting to spend time with her kids, she avoided burnout by scheduling a date night out with her husband instead that night. She also encourages any overschedulers like herself to write in time for nothing to ensure they have time to unwind and regroup from hecticness.
Tip number two: Commitment to serve. When Molly asked President Christina Gratrix to describe the JLC, what stuck with her as a descriptor used by Christina was the group being “like-minded”, despite being of different ages and having different paths and responsibilities in life. She acknowledges that women of the JLC are lucky to have each other to lean on as they juggle priorities and come together with the common commitment to serve and give back. Despite all her responsibilities, right now Molly is committed to making the second annual Pink Cupcake Walk a success to benefit GoJenGo and provide critical financial support to local breast cancer patients.
Tip number three: Progress over perfection. Being a television news anchor undoubtedly carries pressure to look good for the camera. Molly used to stress about looking perfect on camera. With age comes wisdom, however, and she believes perfection is boring. She’s gotten emails from viewers critiquing her for having a small stain on her clothes while delivering the evening news. Criticism of such minute details, she maintains, says more about the critic than her. The most important thing for her at work is that she’s consistently making progress and doesn’t distract from the stories; the tiny details that stress her out, she’s learned to let go.
