Kirsten Stephenson at the Junior League office.
Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star
For Kirsten Stephenson, being a Junior League member has been about life lessons — learning the needs of her community while at the same time learning about herself and what she can achieve.
“I am a different person after having been in the Junior League,” she says. “As a member of the league you’re trained to see the world differently, to be sensitive to the needs of your community and to how you can make things better.”
Active in the Junior League of Boca Raton, having served on the board of directors and as chair of several committees, Stephenson, 47, has found herself continuously taking on new challenges.
“As a member of the league I have done things I never dreamed I could do,” she says.
Now, Stephenson is in the home stretch of what may be the most massive challenge of her 15 years as a league member. With her longtime friend Yvette Drucker, Stephenson is co-chairing the Junior League of Boca Raton’s 27th annual Woman Volunteer of the Year Luncheon and Fashion Show, set for Friday, Nov. 7, at the Boca West Country Club.
“Yvette and I wanted to do something together that we’d never done before,” Stephenson said. “We thought taking on something like this would be a wonderful opportunity.”
It’s also turned out to be tremendous amount of work, especially in the last few months as the event gets closer and the committee responsible for making it happen adds the finishing touches to its plans.
“It’s been a full-time job and then some,” says Stephenson, who, along with her husband, Sam, juggles raising four children, ages 6 to 15, with her league responsibilities. “What’s been amazing is that everyone who has done this before has come to help.”
To understand just how big an undertaking serving as co-chairs for the event is, you just have to look at the numbers. This year’s Woman Volunteer of the Year luncheon is expected to draw between 650 and 700 guests, and while the main goal is to honor women who are nominated, the event is also the major fundraiser of the year for the Junior League of Boca Raton. For Stephenson, the return on her investment of time and energy has been well worth the effort.
“I truly feel that what this organization has done in the community is incredible and what it’s done for me is powerful,” she said. “I recruit people all the time for the league and I tell them ‘You will do more than you ever thought you could.’ ”
— Rich Pollack
Q. Where did you grow up?
A. I’m a bit of a hybrid. I grew up in Miami, attended university in Alabama, was in Berlin for the wall coming down, and then lived for the first part of my young adult life (five years) in Europe before returning to the States. I lived many years in Texas, and then moved to Boca Raton. I feel just as comfortable in cowboy boots wading through rattlesnakes and swampland on our family property in Alabama as I do ordering dinner in French in Paris.
Q. What professions have you worked in? What professional accomplishments are you most proud of?
A. I was fortunate enough to work for a major international company in Europe in the project management field. But every time I visited the States, I was so impressed with the amount of options available. Upon returning to the U.S., I settled in Boca Raton and worked for Pepsi’s international division. I finished my career at Enron in project management and management. Enron was a fabulous company and it was a pleasure to work with people who lived to think ‘outside the box.’
Q. As co-chair of the Woman Volunteer of the Year luncheon, what do you see as your greatest challenges for this year’s event?
A. Challenges? We (my co-chair Yvette Drucker and I) prefer to think of them as opportunities, such as our fantastic partnerships with the Boca Raton Regional Hospital Foundation and Saks Fifth Avenue Boca Raton. We’ve also been blessed to work with Marta Batmasian, our honorary chairwoman, who has been invaluable in her assistance to us. I do want to mention that we have wonderful partners in the community. The Boca Raton Regional Hospital Foundation has been a wonderful friend to us for many years and serves as our awards sponsor for this event. Also, Heather Shaw and Stacy Atwater at Saks Fifth Avenue Boca Raton are a wonderful team to work with, as Saks is serving as our fashion partner and putting on an incredible fashion show for the event featuring their alice + olivia clothing line.
Q. How did you choose to make your home in Boca Raton ?
A. Easy. My husband literally grew up on the same street we currently live on. Everything about his life here in Boca was ideal, and he wanted to re-create it for our children.
Q. What is your favorite part about living in Boca Raton?
A. Simply, we are a community of generosity. I am oftentimes overwhelmed by how generous we are. There are constant breakfasts, lunches, dinners and fundraisers to honor nonprofits throughout our community. These are well-attended and well-funded. It’s a beautiful thing to see us helping those that need it the most. It’s a warm and comfortable feeling to be living among so many people who give so much to help others.
Q. What book are you reading now?
A. Well, I am a voracious reader. I usually have several books going at once. I am rereading Isabel Allende’s Islands Beneath the Sea, a historical fiction about Haiti; I am halfway through Sarum, by Edward Rutherford; just finishing Grain Brain, by Dr. David Perlmutter, and just finished Breakfast With Buddha, by Roland Merullo, a book my mother wanted me to read.
Q. What music do you listen to when you need inspiration?
A. I adore jazz. I play Symphony Hall on Sirius XM in my home many evenings to keep my kids relaxed enough to complete homework.
Q. Do you have a favorite quote that inspires your decisions?
A. Yes, since I was young, this from Theodore Roosevelt has had such an impact for me: “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”
Q. Have you had mentors in your life, individuals who have inspired your life decisions?
A. In my league career, Debbie Abrams has been a constant. I have literally showed up on her doorstep when she could hardly remember me, and she has always come through for me. She is the epitome of graciousness, and I am forever grateful for the person she is, the generosity of heart that she exhibits, the quiet strength she exudes. Dorothy MacDiarmid has been an enormous mentor to me in terms of my advocacy efforts and an unfailing friend. In my family, my grandfather was a rock of morality, my daughter exhibits a quiet grace that I find incredible, and my husband has been everything that I could ever dream for and much more.
Q. Who/what makes you laugh?
A. My beautiful family, particularly my 6-year-old who lives for this privilege.
If You Go
What: 27th Annual Woman Volunteer of the Year Luncheon and Fashion Show
When: Friday, Nov. 7
Time: 10:30 a.m. for silent auction/raffle and noon for luncheon
Where: Boca West Country Club, 20583 Boca West Dr., Boca Raton
Tickets: Platinum Runway seating, $200; Gold Seating, $150, Silver seating, $95
Highlights: Fashion show featuring Stacey Bendet, CEO of alice + olivia, showcasing the company’s spring 2015 line.
Info & Tickets: www.jlbr.org/wvoy
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