If you had never visited Tallahassee or Detroit, which would you choose as your next ‘home’? This was the question posed to me by my husband 20 years ago. We had moved from Ohio to Florida and within a few years moved 4 more times and started a family. While Detroit would take us closer to our original ‘home’ and family, it was not the ideal place we had envisioned landing in. But why would we want to live in Tallahassee? So, before we decided on the 6th move, we visited this wonderful community. What we found was a community that was welcoming to strangers, scenery that reminded us of the North like nowhere we had lived in Florida thus far, and yes, a college sports town like no other. The beautiful scenery and proximity to the Gulf coast sold me; the college sports scene sold my husband; and the people hooked both of us into moving here, where we have now lived for over 20 years.
After working as an RN for several years in our local hospitals and then moving into administrative roles for Capital Health Plan (#BestHealthPlanEver), some of my colleagues encouraged me to apply for Leadership Tallahassee. Even though I had lived here for 15 years, I had never heard of LT. It took a few years of prompting me before I made the plunge, but as all of you reading this know, it was one of the best actions I ever took.
My class, Class XXX (“The Hottest Class Ever”), is an engaging and very diverse group of talented people. Our year together exposed me to opinions, ideas and people that I had never run across in any of my ‘circles’ thus far. The LT selection committee puts an amazing class together year after year. Shout out to anyone who has participated on this committee.
LT changed my life by opening my mind, challenging me to explore biases that had developed within myself; it gave me the opportunity to examine every aspect of my life and how my beliefs and opinions had formed. A great quote from Maya Angelou reminds us of this, “You are the sum total of everything you’ve ever seen, heard, eaten, smelled, been told, forgot – it’s all there. Everything influences each of us, and because of that I try to make sure that my experiences are positive.” The LT experience made such an impact on me I opted to become a Lifetime Member last year and to get even more involved. After some of the recent events that have occurred across our great country, I am sure you also want to get more involved. We can all do more to make our community and our world better.
As the new Membership Committee Chair for Leadership Tallahassee, this is perfect timing to tell you to:
- Renew your LT Membership! This is the best way for LT Alumni to ensure other community members get to experience the power of LT! Earlier this month, you should have received your LT dues invoice and a message from the wonderful Kim Kelling (LT28), Chair, Board of Governors.
- Challenge your LT class to ‘keep up’ with my class, LT30, by asking you to increase your financial support of LT by opting for the Lifetime Membership. Yes, LT30 already has the most classmates ever at the Lifetime Membership level! #MostSupportiveLTClassEver
- Stay attuned to communications from LT about upcoming Member events! Here is a calendar of the year’s events.
We already have a list of 25 alums who have expressed an interest in becoming more involved with the LT Membership Committee; you should have heard from me already with an invitation to join us for a discussion in a few weeks. Let me help the rest of you with your Leadership Tallahassee withdrawal by inviting you back to the club. Please reach out and I can plug you into the committee or role that best suits you – to keep the power of LT going strong!