“Our belief is that in order to create lasting positive change, we must improve ourselves and the world around us,” says JCI Winnipeg’s president, Danelle Hueging. “The JCI mission is to provide development opportunities that empower young people to create positive change.”
These words could be taken directly from JCI’s mission statement.
The past JCI Winnipeg president Johanna Wood can attest to the authenticity of this statement. When joining JCI, she was in the process of changing careers, going from the Canadian Armed Forces as an Armoured Crewman with the Lord Strathconas Horse Regiment, to university studying business administration, majoring in marketing and entrepreneurship.
She is now director of business development & communications at Vandenbergs Fine Jewellery. This process took place in the span of just three years.
Presiding JCI Winnipeg gave her the edge over other candidates, propelling her into a new business director role. Her experience leading a team of dedicated members with JCI enabled her to quickly put into practice skills and theories acquired at Red River College and to enable JCI Winnipeg to continue to grow and honour its mission.
Clearly, her current employer saw the value of such a candidate. Quoting current experiences in her leadership role, drawing on skills to plan, organize and execute JCI events and mandates, Johanna Wood successfully demonstrated her strengths at the interview and positioned herself as the ideal candidate.
She went on to become a nominee for the Future Leaders of Manitoba awards, vice president of JCI Canada, ex officio board member with the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce and campaign contributor for the current City of Winnipeg mayoral elections.
JCI Winnipeg was able to provide an environment for this driven young professional to display her skills, to acquire new ones and to access opportunities for personal and professional growth.
Johanna Wood is a great example that demonstrates the potential that JCI can corral for its members who strive to achieve positive impact in the community.
JCI Winnipeg benefited greatly from Johanna’s leadership. Since, JCI Winnipeg helped forge effective speaking champion Natasha Fisher, who will be representing the Americas on the world stage in Leipzig, Germany in November.
There’s more: Natasha Fisher quickly transferred her knowledge and skills as an effective speaker to member Katrina Hueging, who just competed for her place at the Prairie Regionals Effective Speaking competition that took place on June 7 in Calgary.
This exemplifies how JCI’s mission, to provide development opportunities that empower young people to create positive change, can be achieved through member-to-member mentoring. Connecting with JCI’s membership, coupled with a goal to improve, yields amelioration for those who seek it out; and this mission is played out continually.
Join us at a JCI Winnipeg Month End Mixer to share your vision of a better community, engage JCI members towards betterment, and discover the avenues of potential and impact that exist in our city.
I spoke earlier about honouring our mission and I speak now on behalf of all JCI Winnipeg members: it is an honour to contribute to this mission. We are here to help and to serve our members, our mission and our community.
Simon Méthot is the JCI Winnipeg director. Visit http://www.jci.cc/local/media/Winnipeg for more information about the local chamber and its events.