Winter 2025 SOAR Magazine

1 What inspired you to become involved with GSEM? My involvement began with a childhood wish. Growing up in the 1960s, I so wanted to be a Girl Scout Brownie, but couldn’t because it was the days of troop meetings immediately after school with moms as leaders. The moms in my neighborhood worked and their schedules did not allow them to serve as troop leaders. Fast forward 17 years and an appeal is made over several Sundays at my church for a new Junior troop leader. After hoping someone would heed the call, I remembered my childhood wish. Not wanting any girl to not have the ability to be in a troop, I raised my hand, got trained and served as a leader for over 20 years. 2 Can you share a memorable experience as Board Chair that reinforced your commitment to the organization? There are many, but the honor of presiding over Representative Assembly where the volunteers— also known as the heart and soul of Girl Scouts—came together to move our organization forward, tackle tough issues with humility and commitment to mission, and celebrate one another was always a highlight. A very close second would be attending Gold Award Ceremonies. I was so inspired by the young women, their projects, and their focus on community betterment. 3 What do you believe are the most important skills or values that GSEM helps young women develop? The knowledge that they have the power to make a positive difference, individually and collectively. And that working together and understanding that there are several ways to approach an issue are skills that will help them navigate many aspects of life. I also think the foundational

value of teamwork is too often glossed over, but I have found that valuing teamwork and the team will get you further faster. 4

As a trailblazer in the St. Louis community, what challenges did you face in your career or volunteer work, and how were you empowered to keep striving for your goals? I think like anyone who juggles family, career and volunteer work there never seemed to be enough hours in the day. I realized pretty early that the concept of work-life balance was a misnomer. For me, it has been more of a work life-volunteer venn diagram. Each has influenced the other and sometimes a reset for each was necessary. For example, while I may have wanted to cook dinner every night, I realized that ‘want’ was setting me up for failure and required that I set more reasonable expectations—thus Thursday pizza nights were born. Fortunately, I married someone who is as committed to working to make the community better as I am and we tried to instill the same in our now very adult children. There has been much joy in the journey as we worked to achieve our goals.

5 What words would you share with someone to motivate them to get involved as a volunteer to support the purpose and mission of GSEM? I actually owe my career trajectory to volunteering that has its deepest roots in Girl Scouting. I looked for my first job right out of graduate school, but the other two came from serving in volunteer roles. I am forever thankful to former Board Chair Sue Clancy, who asked me to join a Girl Scout strategic planning committee. I said yes because I so believed in the values of our organization. However, serving led to exposure to civic and corporate leaders that might not have otherwise happened.

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