My family and I moved to Charlotte from northern New Jersey in the fall of 2018 in what was a whirlwind of a few months. I had my third child in July, had just stepped into a new role at a bank in New Jersey, and I was on the Board of the Junior League of Bergen County (JLBC) as the Nominating & Placement Chair. The JLBC was a big part of my life during our seven years in NJ. Most of my friendships had come from meeting women in the League, and I had served in multiple leadership roles, including two different Board positions.
My League history doesn’t start there though; I joined as a provisional in the Junior League of New Orleans (JLNO), my hometown. The League there was a force in the city and its membership was filled with women who had shaped the city’s philanthropic landscape. This was even more true in the wake of Hurricane Katrina (to borrow from the JLC, the women of the JLNO #RE-built that city). I waited until I was eligible to apply for membership, secured my sponsoring members, and was ecstatic to join my fellow provisionals on a bus tour of the city where we toured JLNO project sites and learned JLNO trivia along the way. Then we moved to New Jersey in the blink of an eye.
I wanted my transfer to go through right away, mostly because I wanted to meet people (knowing almost no one in the area before the move). I joined their provisional class and was placed on a fundraising committee. The JLBC was completely different from the JLNO. For starters, my provisional class in New Orleans was larger than the JLBC’s entire membership (including Sustainers!). The JLBC was almost 80 years old at the time and was in the midst of an identity crisis. While it was definitely different from the Junior League I had thought I was joining, I was energized to be a part of a rebuilding and rebranding. Because the JLBC was small, the members wore many hats and fulfilled multiple roles. I knew everyone at GMMs, and each member keenly felt the impact her own service was making. We each committed to one community project and one fundraiser, on top of our placement, to ensure we had the manpower needed to staff and administer everything. The organization definitely lived up to its mission and trained all of its volunteers to serve the community in almost any way you could think of. I loved it, but I was looking forward to taking a more relaxed role (going Sustainer!) and putting my energy into a new organization. I had developed a keen interest in the plight of affordable housing brought on by the extreme income inequality of our area.
The move to Charlotte was sudden but very welcome. My husband was offered the opportunity to expand his company’s footprint in the Southeast, and the more temperate climate and proximity to my family made the city extremely attractive to us. I was eager to have the transfer go through right away so the year could count, and I could become a Sustainer for the 2019-2020 year. At my first transfer meeting I mentioned my Sustainer plan and learned that the Junior League of Charlotte, Inc. (JLC) had a 10-year requirement. The differences started there and haven’t stopped. The JLC is similar to the JLNO, so I am familiar with the Council structure and the almost anonymity that such a large membership can offer. Right now I am on the Communications Council and I’ve sat back at the meetings and kind of been in awe of the professionalism of the women involved and the sheer amount of work involved in a social media campaign (and everything else they do!).
My husband and I are committed to making Charlotte our home and making an impact in the city. We’ve joined a church and a Hindu temple, attended symposia on Charlotte’s affordable housing problem, and I’ve poured through the blog posts on the JLC website to learn about who we are and what we’re doing. I’m excited to be a part of such a dynamic organization, and I look forward to learning more about Charlotte and becoming involved in its philanthropic community.
