As I enter my first year as chapter President, I am excited and humbled to lead our chapter. A chapter that provides abundant opportunities to learn, teach, mentor, and share top quality public relations professionals. A chapter that enables us to advocate, brainstorm, give back to our communities, meet, network and socialize with friends and colleagues all over Citrus and Marion Counties and across the state.
I am honored to follow the lineup of people who have provided guidance for our chapter in the past; each of our past Presidents has brought a different vision with them and all have proven to have different strengths. I suppose I am no different in that I have some ideas for changes I would like to see, and I hope that you will support me as you’ve supported those Presidents who have come before me. I hope when you lookback on 2023-2024, we have a year full of laughter, fellowship and making better friendships, while continuing along our path of giving within the Citrus and Marion Counties and our local communities.
As PR Practitioners, we have a lot to be proud of; we have made this possible and this reality started by one person saying “We need to do something to make a difference in our profession” and then convincing other people to believe in their vision….this is what communicators do, we have changed what our profession looks like today. Our chapter doesn’t have to be large to make an impact on people’s lives, but we do have to start somewhere and that somewhere is you, it’s me, it’s all of us together.
For any new leader, there are always, I’m sure, the usual questions you have out there.
Questions about: What do you have to offer to us to make a difference? How will you advance the mission of the chapter? And what’s your vision?
Well, today, I hope to share a little bit with you, but again, there’s a lot more to come in the weeks and months ahead. What I can tell you is that each day, I will be part of this chapter – striving to have a positive impact on the leadership team, chapter members, prospective members, and our community. And I will work tirelessly to advance the mission of the Florida Public Relations Association, and to ensure that our members and student members have every opportunity to succeed.
We have a strong chapter with a lot of heart and I’d like to start my year by challenging us to commit to at least 6 projects over the next 12 months. Greg and I have amazing ideas and we will definitely be going forward with some of them, but I’d like for each of us to have a chance to contribute. They don’t have to be huge projects; they can be as simple as collecting donations for the Education Foundation, to as big as a public awareness campaign that will go statewide. To learn more about this, you’ll have to join us at our September Meeting, where I will kick-off our inaugural “State of the Chapter” presentation. I know we will be able to rise to this challenge and it’s my hope that we will exceed this goal.
I see a very bright future ahead for our chapter because we are building on strength—strength and excellence in our professional development programs, our history, our outstanding leadership team, and our chapter members; but it’s going to take each and every one of us working as a team together, doing what we can to make us stronger together. And I want you to know that I fully embrace shared governance for our future success—that all-important bedrock of continuing education and the work that lies ahead for us as leaders in the public relations field.
And so, this is where we begin, Ocala Chapter. I ask that you join me, and let’s race forward to the future because I do see a bright future. And notice, I didn’t say, “Let’s walk to the future.” I said that intentionally. Let’s race to the future because it is bright. There are a great many opportunities that lie ahead. And I don’t believe in just sauntering along. I want to race forward because I see a bright future ahead for us all.
I’m looking forward to being a part of one team and one combined community, focused on the goal of success and our commitment to public relations – public relations for the public good.
And I want to thank you again for welcoming this Citrus girl to the Ocala Chapter.
I’d like to leave you with these words – We have one year to build moments that will endure forever, not carved in granite or marble, but in the lives and hearts of all of us. This is our time. Let us grasp it… All of you have been given so many gifts. And you have now been given this great gift: one year to take all your talents, all your gifts, everything that you are and can become — and use your PERSPECTIVE to help guide our chapter towards the future.