JLC President Christina Gratrix

By: Hayden Pigott

#OneJLC From Our President’s View

Our current Junior League of Charlotte, Inc. (JLC) President’s mission for this year is #OneJLC. The CRIER had the opportunity to go more in-depth with her on how the JLC inspires her, what she sees for the JLC’s future and some of her favorite things — she loves Pitch Perfect, so ask her about the Barden Bellas next time you see her.

Christina and I had our interview over the phone as she got outside, her selfcare ritual of choice, while in between her daughter’s swim practice and dinner. Before we started, she immediately asked me about myself, and we discussed how she needs to move Colorado up on her must-visit list, what Charlotte’s fall looks like and dream jobs. You’ll learn through this interview, and if you stop and chat with Christina, that she embodies her mission for the League year.

What do you love most about the Queen City?

I’ve described it as an English muffin because it has all these nooks and crannies, right? Like Plaza Midwood has its own personality, which is different from Ballantyne, different from Uptown. I love that it’s two hours from the beach, two hours from the mountains. I did not grow up with professional sports or really good concerts because, a lot of times, shows would go from D.C. to Charlotte. And so it’s nice that we have so much that our city attracts.

What is your job when you aren’t President of the JLC?

I work in product management in corporate real estate, and what that means right now is my team and I are focused on building products to support people in hybrid work. So we’re making sure that you have a fun, vibrant work environment with everything you need if you go into the office. And then figuring out ways to support people who work from home, or in coffee shops or other — what we call — third spaces.

How long have you been a member of the Junior League?

I joined via the Junior League of Richmond. I grew up in Richmond, went to Washington and Lee University, moved back and was working 4 a.m. to 12 p.m., Friday through Tuesday. So, I didn’t have a huge opportunity to meet people. So, I did a Google search for volunteer + women + leadership, and that’s how I learned about the Junior League.

And so I joined and I had an amazing connecting person in my provisional small group. If we had a General Membership meeting, she would ask to get dinner before or drinks after. She helped me find my people and they were like-minded, which makes sense because when I think about those first Junior League friends I made, we were all very different. I don’t think I ever would’ve met them had it not been for the Junior League, but we all wanted to do something to give back to our community, and that was what brought us together.

What made you want to take on the role of President of JLC?

In 2020, my son was going to be doing his last year of preschool, and my daughter was in elementary school. I thought if I do this, they’ll both be in school full time, so I’ll have more time.

Part of it as well, was the fact that my daughter had been sent home in March 2020 and had to finish her year at a virtual school. And it was so hard. Both my husband and I work full time, so we were like, ‘we cannot do this, and this is not sustainable,’ but at the same time, we work from home and thinking about the fact that our daughter has reliable internet, parents at home, supervision, food — all these things that I take for granted and thinking about what a challenge it was for especially children, and our focus area tied directly to that. So, I really wanted to get more involved again because it felt like we made it through the rough parts of our challenges, and I wanted to try to do something because I think about all the statistics and data about educational divides due to socioeconomic reasons and how much worse it was getting with COVID-19.

As the world has changed with the pandemic and Gen Z entering the workforce and now joining the Junior League, what do you think are some of the struggles that will come our way, and how can we work to embrace them?

Some of the struggles that I’m seeing, we talked at our September General Membership Meeting. We have so many leadership roles and there’s been a lot of leadership turnover in those roles. When I think about some of the people I know who’ve stepped down from leadership roles, it wasn’t because they didn’t want them or they didn’t think they could do it; it was because they moved or had a job change.

I think that is a challenge that we’re going to have to face. While there are a ton of people moving into Charlotte every day; there are also people moving out. How do we give people the opportunity to lead and own their placement and their leadership role but also recognize that the Junior League is one facet of your life? You’re not going to make a decision to stay in a city if your company wants to move you, or you can work permanently remotely and go work in the Cayman Islands. You’re not necessarily going to stay because of a volunteer organization, so I think that’s one of our challenges.

I was so encouraged and excited and inspired at the September General Membership Meeting because it was the first time I was around so many members in one place in a while. Seeing how many new members we have, it eliminated a lot of thoughts I had on struggles and challenges because the energy and enthusiasm to get stuff done was all over the place.

Your mission for this year is #OneJLC. Can you tell us more about that?

We are strongest when we’re all aligned toward our mission and working as one. While we bring together a wide variety of perspectives and talents, and we support the JLC in different ways, working towards our strategic plan together is my biggest goal for this league year.

So, I think the important thing to me is to have a connection across all membership categories so we can determine if, for example, TikTok needs to be part of our communication strategy and we can figure out what shouldn’t be part of our communication strategy.

There’s a lot to learn across all generations and so I don’t want us to stay categorized or siloed by membership categories when we can do so much when we’re really collaborating. It’s helpful to have a different perspective because we all bring our own bias to things, and it’s just nice to hear about some of the interesting things that the Junior League and our members have done over the years.

You’ve mentioned that JLC is a diverse group of like-minded people. How does that help the organization grow and thrive?

We’re a bunch of women who aren’t afraid to get our hands dirty. We see the need, we figure out what we can do and we do it. And I think it’s that can-do attitude that has helped us grow and thrive. It is women who want to make an impact.

We’re four years into the strategic plan and only one year away from developing a new one. What do you think the JLC has done well during this time?

I think we’ve done a remarkable job in narrowing our focus with our community partners in order to make more of an impact. I think that resonates really well with everybody.

What are you most excited about this year as President of the JLC?

So this sounds cheesy, but one of the things I love about work is helping people figure out what they’re really good at and helping people grow and figure out how they fit into things.

So I’m excited to see people grow into their roles and take on new challenges. I’m excited to see what we come up with next. I think that we are looking really strategically at how we flex as an organization and make sure that we maintain sustainable operations to hit years 100 and 150. I’m excited to see how we all come together and define what the JLC means coming out of a pandemic.

What inspires you most about JLC’s members?

When I get a super excited JLC email at a random time of day, it makes my day. When I see how excited other people are, that makes me excited because it’s not just me.

I think as we talked about in September, our like-minded women are doing a lot, and the fact that we make these commitments to each other, to our community, and we do all of this awesome work. I really want people to feel valued, I want people to feel good, and I want people to feel like it’s a safe space to learn leadership skills. There are definitely a lot of lessons I learned, and I’m grateful I was able to do it with the League in a place where I could take that forward to my career and my family and not have to make some of those mistakes on a professional stage.

Rapid Fire:

Favorite restaurant in CLT: JINYA Ramen Bar

Go-to coffee order: Regular coffee with cream

Favorite queen: Paula Abdul

The thing you collect: Magazine articles

Favorite JLC volunteer event: Love/hate relationship with The Warehouse Spring or fall? Spring

Self-care ritual: Get outside

Social media of choice: Instagram Stories

Favorite movie: Pitch Perfect series

Current read: The Beautiful Little Things by Melissa Hill