Ten Lessons from the Junior League


"We can do more than we think we are capable of..."

"You are the leader..."

"Public speaking won’t kill you..."


We enjoyed these lessons, and more, from Lela Davidson. Lela is a Junior League member from Bentonville, Arkansas. Below is an excerpt from her blog post entitled, "Ten Lessons from the Junior League." Read her entire post here.



All I need to know I learned in the Junior League. Okay, so maybe I picked up a few things elsewhere, but the Junior League has been the source for so many good things in my life. I’m talking about Junior League here because that’s my group, but there are other organizations of women. While they all have challenges, there are particular things that I could not have learned anywhere else. Whatever you think about the Junior League in particular, and women’s organizations in general, I offer here my experience.

10 things I’ve learned so far:

1. Best friends help you hide the body.

Nothing builds team faster than getting a job done. Take your ropes courses and your weird corporate ice-breakers. Give me a room full of women–the shy ones, the bossy ones, the ones that make you spit Chardonnay out your nose–and let’s get to work on something for someone else. We might complain a little, but we’ll get the job done and we’ll love each other more in the end. (Or not, and that’s okay too.)

2. When in doubt, serve something salty, something sweet, and a soda.

Oh, to be a real Southerner and know these things. Alas, I am not. While I often feel like a stranger in the strange land of hospitality, I have also learned to adopt the ways of these creatures who seem to have been imbued at birth with the ability to make guests feel at home. I keep trying. What I’ve learned so far is that it doesn’t have to be fancy. A salty, a sweet, and something to wash it all down goes a long way toward making life a little more pleasant.

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Lela is the award-winning author of Blacklisted from the PTA and Who Peed on My Yoga Mat? and Faking Balance: Adventures in Work and Life. She has been a freelance journalist and commentator for NBC News/TODAY Moms, iVillage and The Huffington Post.

Editors note: Thank you Lela for allowing us to share your work with our audience.