Member Spotlight: Joelle Leder-Rule
Joelle Leder-Rule joined Soroptimist in 2013 and recently helped charter SI/Central California Online, CA, an online club in Sierra Pacific Region.
My introduction to Soroptimist started many years ago with SI/Manhattan Beach, CA (Sierra Pacific Region). I had the opportunity to meet some of the members and young S-Club ladies. I really enjoyed hearing about the Soroptimist mission and seeing how it has made an impact on young lives. Living in Manhattan Beach (Los Angeles area), I was involved with a few other clubs/organizations that helped young ladies reach their goals and I was a mentor for many years. Then fast forward, I moved to Central California and was looking for something to get involved with and I remembered the Soroptimist mission and connected with the local club, SI/ The Sierras, CA (Sierra Pacific Region).
As we celebrate 100 years of Soroptimist, we should be proud of all that we have become and all of our traditions. But we must adapt to new ways of doing things and build new traditions to keep Soroptimist growing and strong for another 100 years.
My dream came true when we chartered a brand new online club in December 2021, SI/Central California Online, CA (Sierra Pacific Region). This is the first online club in California, second on the west coast and third in the United States. Initially, it was hard to get buy-in from other members on the idea of chartering an online club. Our work began prior to the pandemic when people were not as comfortable meeting online. But as my favorite quote says:
“Nothing is impossible as the word itself says I’m possible! ”
We chartered with 15 members! With an online club, the members are able to join from the entire region and 25% of members may come from outside the region. Check out our website at SoroptimistCenCalOnline.org.
In February 2022, two months after we chartered our new club, we gave a Live Your Dream Award to a wonderful young lady who is working so hard in life and in college, for herself and her family. What a great way to be able to connect with her with the $1000 award SIA provides to newly chartered clubs in their first year. We continue to keep in touch with her and she knows that we have her back and believe in her. From my experience, that feeling is priceless to most of the Live Your Dream Awards recipients.
Connecting with SIA has been also important to me. Thanks to social media, I am able to connect with members all over the world, be a part of the friendship links and also was a sponsor for the 100th year anniversary celebration!
The year 2023 will mark my 10th year as a Soroptimist. I am hoping to inspire, create and assist the best I can with the Soroptimist mission for future years to come.
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