by Jacquelyn (Jacq) Hontalas
International Officer Sister Friends!
We are in the final countdown to our weekend together in Dallas… we may never actually leave the airport or breathe fresh air, but for three glorious days, we’ll be surrounded by lions and violets and diamonds, oh my!
Quick background on me for those of you I don’t know… yet.
- Name: Jacquelyn Hontalas but everyone calls me Jacq
- Home City: San Francisco
- ADPi Role: Collegiate Province Director for our chapters in Arizona and Nevada (previous Recruitment and Marketing director and advisor… you can take the girl out of recruitment but you can’t take recruitment out of the girl!)
- Day Job: Executive at Accenture focused on change management, training, communications and process re-engineering
- Obsessed with: travel, sports, sparkling water, Bravo, hosting parties, music, cooking, mentoring, my family and friends
Okay, enough about me… this post if meant for us and getting ready for our weekend together.
For those of you who are new to your roles, welcome to the IO fam! For those of you who have been around for a year or two… or ten or thirty, I can’t wait to see you all!
My family, friends and work colleagues lovingly call our weekend at the end of June each year, my “sorority bubble thing” and know that I’ll be unreachable twenty-four hours a day and will likely come home with some serious swag and half a voice from talking and laughing so much. We have a lot to look forward to…
Here is a Top Ten list for living my best life at LS… hoping some of these may help you too:
- No matter how much more room it takes, pack and rock those statement necklaces or earrings or bracelets… no better time to break out that cuff encrusted in jewels or hoops you can fit an arm through.
- Give at least one violet, and give it to the sister who inspired you the most this year (ADPi-lebrity, peer volunteer, staff, advisor, anyone)… warm & fuzzies all around, and it’s the gift that keeps on giving through the Foundation.
- Drink and try not to “spill” ALL the tea, try the desserts, and remind the collegians that bread is on the left and drinks are on the right… #lifeskills
- Absorb all you can from our meetings and presenters. Take notes, write down new quotes, and bring your learnings back to life outside “the bubble.”
- Say hi to someone “new.” Even if you’ve been around for awhile, there are names you’ve heard and faces you’ve seen, but people you don’t really know. I’m not saying you need to be besties with everyone, but I’d also bet you’ll find more spirit animals hiding in other roles and other districts than you’d expect.
- Stay up late… you can sleep next weekend… most of your best memories have been made after the bell rings at the end of the day.
- Get ready for some exciting changes. I know you’re waiting on details, and there are nerves and maybe even some frustration or fear BUT the only thing constant in life is change. If we don’t disrupt ourselves, someone else will do it for us. “First.Finest.Forever.” does not imply stagnation, so call me Pollyanna, but I know we’ll get through this next period of growth ALL together.
- Have fun! Take pictures – you didn’t take enough last year.
- Mentor a new advisor or say thank you to an “old” one. It will be amazing to have so many advsiors joining us. When you were an advisor, the IOs were like the seniors in high school—always cooler, always a bit untouchable… remember that, and bring them into the fold. You do a lot of work with our chapter women, they live with them and often their nonsense, every day… teach them the ways, make them feel comfortable to learn and encourage them to work you out of a role.
- Reflect on the original squad. Take a pause every now and again to think about our Founders… those young women who exhibited confidence, resilience, and vision in a time where they struggled to access things we take for granted today. We GET to do this thing called sorority with and for Eugenia and the girls. I personally think they’d be proud and push us with a gentle… “you’re not done yet.”
So, here’s to us and an amazing Leadership Seminar weekend!!!