JLW’s Mission in Action

Laura Collins

The Junior League of Washington’s (JLW) mission statement has four main objectives: (1) to promote voluntarism; (2) to develop women; (3) to improve communities with effective action; and (4) to improve communities with volunteer leadership. These objectives are reflected in almost every member of the League in their professional and personal lives. Now, more than ever, our professional and personal, extracurricular and day-to-day lives have been blended together. We hold Zoom business meetings from our bedrooms, while our family members do the same or make cameos in our video calls. The different areas of our lives overlap and work together more seamlessly. Why wouldn’t that apply to our experiences in the League? Four League members share how they have applied their League experiences to the professional arenas of their lives.

PROMOTING VOLUNTARISM Kristen Soltis Anderson appreciates how it feels to be placed in new roles with new goals, whether with the League or on a nationally syndicated television show. Anderson joined the League in 2007 and has served in various positions, most notably on the Strategic Planning Committee and as the Communications & Public Relations Council Director. Professionally, Anderson is the Founding Partner of Echelon Insights, an opinion research and analytics firm. She frequently speaks on emerging public opinion trends on various news platforms. When she initially started her time with the League, she was drawn to the Strategic Planning Committee because it focused on surveys of membership, similar to her “day job.” Working in the polling and opinion research field, Anderson was comfortable with identifying a certain group of people, determining the information to collect, gathering the information from the individuals, and analyzing the results.

During the 2012-2013 League year, JLW’s Board of Directors tasked Anderson with launching a magazine for JLW, which we now know as 3039M. Admittedly, Anderson said that “it forced me outside of my comfort zone. I knew nothing about this part of communication.” But, working with another League member with a publications background, Anderson learned about the different facets of print media. She knew certain objectives of the project, like selecting a publisher or naming the magazine. But, she also knew other guidelines and guardrails would need to be implemented for the magazine’s production and publication, and she was diligent in flushing out what was necessary. Ultimately, 3039M has been a League success and is still published today.

Anderson said her experience creating 3039M stretched her in ways that she applied when she decided to establish her own polling company. Already comfortable with starting something from scratch, like she had with 3039M, Anderson was skilled at identifying what information she already knew and where she needed more guidance. For example, she was confident in polling and managing focus groups, but she had to learn various other facets about starting a small business, such as getting a tax identification number, making company hires, renting office space, and opening a business bank account. Using her volunteer experience, Anderson’s company is now in its eighth year.

DEVELOPING WOMEN Jackie Frederick- Maturo is passionate about the development of women. She has been a member of the League for eight years, and she is presently serving on the Board of Directors as Membership Development Council Director. When she started with the League, she admitted that she did not necessarily see herself in future leadership of the organization. Rather, Frederick-Maturo joined the League largely to be connected to volunteer opportunities in the DC metro area and to build relationships. After her second year, Jackie served as Vice Chair of Esprit, a committee that she chaired the following year. Eventually, Jackie served as Ways & Means Assistant Council Director, and now, she is on the Board of Directors.

When reflecting on the roles she has served, Frederick-Maturo firmly believes that the League was a safe space for her to develop leadership skills that she would not have necessarily had at the beginning of her career in a professional environment. Her League leadership experience has allowed her to problem solve with different groups of people and resolve conflict among colleagues at a basic level. She has also honed her skills at large-scale event planning.

Most profoundly, Frederick-Maturo believes that her time in leadership with the League has built her confidence in “making the ask.” She is presently an Executive

Assistant with Sands Capital in Arlington. She asked her firm to sponsor her and other employees’ membership dues to the League. Because of her, League involvement is regarded as professional development at Sands Capital. Jackie’s success in making this ask made her realize that one simple action or conversation can create a ripple effect that exponentially increases a woman’s or organization’s success in perpetuity. When the League invests in the development of women, the effect on the improvement of their personal and professional lives is endless.

IMPROVING COMMUNITIES WITH EFFECTIVE ACTION Carly Mitchell knows the importance of effective action. As JLW President in 20192020, at the time the COVID-19 pandemic began, she led the League through uncharted territory. And because of her leadership, DC communities as well as League members continue to be served today. In her fifteenth year of membership, Mitchell has held various committee chair positions, including New Member, National Book Festival, and Holiday Shops, among others. She is also a wife, a mother, and a partner in a global consulting firm, Guidehouse.

Candidly, Mitchell said that at work, home, or in the League, she gets great satisfaction from bringing order to chaos: “In the craziness, that’s where you’ll find me.” March of 2020 brought precisely that. At that time, she assembled the League’s Emergency Management Team, a team to stay in communication with the Board and League members as new information about COVID-19 and the pandemic became available. Many of the League’s members were furloughed and, as a result, largely in the dark. For many members, the League’s communications were predominantly where they got information on changes in area safety regulations or school or business closings.

Through this experience, Mitchell also learned the value in using her voice. When you are a leader of an organization, your words can carry significant weight and she felt it was important to seek input from the team before voicing her own thoughts. As president, her most valuable skill was setting the tone. Her aim was to blend empathy with decisiveness, which resulted, in part, in providing leniency with dues and other League requirements for the 2019-2020 League year.

When taking on more responsibility in each chapter or new role in her life, Mitchell focused on: how can I make this position fit in my life for me, my family and, as an example, for other women. And in each circumstance, that largely entailed putting winning teams in place. In each role, she learned the value of strength in organization. She believes that if you give individuals roles in positions where they can succeed, they will shine. She calls this “Putting aces on bases.” Setting the tone and assembling a team are the effective actions that can be used to improve communities.

IMPROVING COMMUNITIES WITH VOLUNTEER LEADERSHIP Elyse Braner loves running. But, the former high school and college track athlete did not anticipate that “running” might encompass a different meaning: planning, budgeting, and putting on citywide events, in and out of the League. Braner joined the League as a new member in 2007. She spent most of her League tenure on the Holiday Shops Committee, serving as Chair in 2016, and on the Ways & Means Council. When she chaired Holiday Shops, Braner and her Co-Chair decided to move the event’s location to Union Market. They took the risk, created a budget and plan for the multi-day event, and started the conversation with the necessary parties. The event was ultimately a success.

Professionally, Braner is a recruiter for Hunton Andrews Kurth law firm in Washington, DC. She is also the part time Community Manager for Pacers Running, a neighborhood running store and race organizer. In both of her “jobs,” she is responsible for organizing events, including networking socials, community runs, or full-scale races. At Pacers, she started working on the sales floor and eventually was asked to lead weekend community runs for the Logan Circle store location. Braner’s experience chairing Holiday Shops gave her organizing, budgeting, and planning large-scale event skills much sooner than she would have had the opportunity to do with her firm or Pacers. Additionally, it gave her the confidence and skills to go to her managers at both Pacers and her firm and ask for more responsibility. Now, at Pacers, she has a team of two associates and manages a team of community run club leaders. Presently, her focus at Pacers is to build a diverse and inclusive community of runners. She credited League Development & Training events with educating her on diversity and inclusion issues and how to be an advocate for diverse communities and populations. Currently, her team is focused on making the sport available to deaf runners, increasing racial diversity in community runs, promoting the inclusivity of wheelchair runners, and working to partner with the LGBTQ+ community. From the exposure the League has afforded her, Elyse is enriching the DC running community through leadership. * * * Each of these women’s stories is one of many ways the League has enriched their lives and, therefore, the lives of people they interact with daily – personally or professionally. They are stories each of us hold where the greater impact of the League can be seen on an individual level. •