Donor Spotlight: Lisa Lindstrom, JLS Director at Large
“I’m loving working with younger women. Most of the actives are 15-20 years younger than me. But every day I’m inspired by them, by their ideas and their willingness to try new things. I hope I’m a bit of a bridge between our past and our future.”
“I’m loving working with younger women. Most of the actives are 15-20 years younger than me. But every day I’m inspired by them, by their ideas and their willingness to try new things. I hope I’m a bit of a bridge between our past and our future.”
Lisa Lindstrom, Director at Large for the Junior League of Seattle (JLS), is a lifelong Seattleite who has been part of JLS for 25 years. Today, we celebrate her dedication as a member, guidance as a leader, and support as a generous donor by sharing her story with you. Get to know our resilient, passionate, and multi-faceted friend below.
What inspired you to join the Junior League of Seattle? “It’s funny, and this is a total retro story, but I was drinking my coffee and reading the morning paper (Seattle Post-Intelligencer) back in 1998, and there was an article about the League’s 75th anniversary. I was interested, went to a meeting, and signed up that night! At the time, I owned a china shop in Bellevue, and I didn’t spend a lot of time around people my own age. I made a lot of new friends in our huge provisional class!”
What accomplishments are you most proud of during your time with the organization so far? “I had the opportunity to sort through our archives while I worked on our Centennial Committee and I got so inspired and excited seeing everything the League had done: CASA program, victims’ rights, work in hospitals, immunization, you name it. We have had an amazing history, and we are just getting started.”
What legacy do you hope to leave behind as a member of the Junior League's leadership team? “I hope I can show that you can make a comeback! I was an Active for six years then became a Sustainer after my husband’s sudden death. I had cancer four times, dealt with autoimmune illness, and decided to get involved again to work on Centennial. Then, a board position opened up, and I’m back! I love the flexibility of the League.’
Can you share an initiative the Junior League has for the upcoming year that excites you? “I love that we are fully embracing Northwest Art as our signature project!”
What specific aspect of the Junior League's mission resonates with you the most? “Training! Our training is amazing, and I’ve learned so much about serving on boards. I’ve served on three other boards before being on JLS’s, and I learned everything from our trainings.”
Can you share a story that exemplifies the transformative power of the Junior League in your own life? “Right now I’m loving working with younger women. Most of the actives are 15-20 years younger than me. But every day I’m inspired by them, by their ideas and their willingness to try new things. I hope I’m a bit of a bridge between our past and our future.”
What insights do you have for prospective members of the Junior League of Seattle? “Try a bit of everything! You will learn and grow, and you will love every minute of it.”
Lisa’s vibrant presence in our community is a gift. She’s played a pivotal role in our evolution over the last few decades and continues to push JLS to be the best we can be.
Meet the President, an Interview with Jen Siems
“A huge goal of mine is to get us back to the idea of “one League, one membership.” Sometimes we create islands for Provisionals, Actives, and Sustainers and I want all members to feel welcome and included at all events.”
“A huge goal of mine is to get us back to the idea of “one League, one membership.” Sometimes we create islands for Provisionals, Actives, and Sustainers and I want all members to feel welcome and included at all events.”
The Junior League of Seattle (JLS) is celebrating a remarkable milestone – our Centennial year! This significant moment has us cherishing our rich history while also embracing the present, and looking forward with excitement to the future of JLS.
A key factor driving JLS into another century of impact is our leadership. With this in mind, we're excited to launch a blog series highlighting the inspiring women leading us into the next 100 years, starting with Jen Siems.
Introducing Jen, President of JLS 2023-2024. Originally from New York City, she grew up in Los Angeles and lived in both Reno and San Francisco before landing in Seattle when her husband got a new job.
Jen’s transplant story resonates with many of us: when she first moved, she didn’t have personal or professional connections in her new home. She was in a career transition and happened to get pregnant in that time period as well.
Jen remembers, “During my pregnancy, I started a business making perfumes on Etsy and thought it was a fun thing to tide myself over professionally while my child was young. It was very solitary and, when my daughter was 1, I decided I needed to meet like-minded people. I was in volunteer clubs in high school and college so I looked for something like that and found JLS in 2014.”
The rest is history, but it might be a history you haven’t heard before. We recently sat down with Jen to talk about how JLS has impacted her life and her dreams for this organization going forward.
As the Junior League of Seattle celebrates its 100th year, what accomplishments or milestones are you most proud of during your time with the organization so far? “When I was chair of Done in a Day (DIAD) I wanted us to have a huge Impact Day. We organized a day of service at two Mary’s Place locations simultaneously. At the location where I volunteered, we built a community garden for residents complete with an irrigation system. Afterward, we all went to a local restaurant for drinks and food, and the proceeds were donated to JLS. I loved that because it was a chance to think outside the box of what the community committees normally do (we included fundraising in this case), and I love the lasting power of a community garden.”
What legacy do you hope to leave behind as a member of the Junior League's leadership team? “I hope to be remembered as someone who is welcoming to all members and models that it is okay to be open and vulnerable.”
Can you share some specific goals or initiatives the Junior League has for the upcoming year that excite you? “Our organization has changed a lot since I joined in 2014 but we haven’t really adapted our programs and structure along with those changes. I’m really excited to work with members and the Board of Directors on getting clear about what impact means to us so that we can adjust our programming and streamline the League. That would help us more effectively use resources and ensure members have a good experience without getting burned out. Another huge goal of mine is to get us back to the idea of “one League, one membership.” Sometimes we create islands for Provisionals, Actives, and Sustainers and I want all members to feel welcome and included at all events.”
What aspect of the Junior League's mission resonates with you the most? “When I joined, it was all about the voluntarism aspect of our mission. But what I’ve learned in my time in the League is that I can volunteer anywhere at any time. The secret sauce of the JLS is the training. I held positions on PTA boards and have put together business projects that felt easy to me because of all the outstanding training I’ve had in the League — as well as all the experiences of event planning and public speaking (which I still hate, but I do it!). ”
Can you share a personal story that exemplifies the transformative power of the Junior League in your own life? “This story starts as a downer but has a happy ending, so come with me on this journey. When I was in treatment for breast cancer in 2020, I was convinced that I was going to be asked to resign from my position on the Management Council and that I would be a burden on the League. Not only did that not happen, but within 2 hours of getting my diagnosis, my JLS friend Tiffany Clark brought me treats and a card. Kim French, the President at the time, sent me a cozy blanket for chemo. Then, Jordan Louie (who was President-Elect at the time) asked if I would consider applying for EVP. She believed not only in my leadership ability, but she also believed I would live. That sounds melodramatic but I really needed that. I needed to know that someone else thought I was going to live and that I could do it, and I felt seen and valued. I finished cancer treatment about two months before my term as EVP began, and honestly, those were some of the happiest, most peaceful, joyful moments of my life. Moving into the EVP position at that time really helped me focus on something else and move on from cancer.
Another example is my career. My perfume business has also grown in the time I’ve been in JLS. A lot of that I credit to JLS friends taking it seriously. I had a chip on my shoulder that it was just a twee little side hustle, but my JLS friends have always pushed me to think toward expansion and the business has grown more than 700% since 2020!”
What insights do you have for prospective members about the significance of their impact as part of the Junior League of Seattle? “Junior League is an organization where you don’t have to have the answers about what you might want to do in the future when you come to us. We provide opportunities to volunteer at a variety of places in the community so you can find one that speaks to you. I fell in love with Westside Baby thanks to DIAD shifts and was a lead volunteer there for 5 years. I’ve always been a worker bee and thrived as a chair and a manager. I never saw myself as President or even a board member - and I’m definitely not perfect at either of those roles. But what I value most is the leadership and training opportunities I’ve received because I can take those with me wherever I go in life. I have now been at the helm of a nonprofit and can transfer those skills to any nonprofit I want to get involved with in the future. I think new members should keep in mind that they will be both serving the community on short-term projects and being trained specifically to take those skills with them when they become Sustainers or transfer to other Leagues. It’s truly a ‘help yourself to help others’ situation.”