“The world is a hard place. Is, was, and will always be. But armed with that knowledge, you can still find a million ways to make people feel good about what we're all out here doing together… I don't need what you hate. Give me what you love.”
–Wynton Marsalis
Since joining the Junior League of New Orleans in 2009, Elizabeth Ogden Janke has cultivated an understanding of organizational opportunities that make her well-suited for the Community Council Director of the Junior League of New Orleans. She will coordinate, develop, and maintain JLNO programs that further the mission and focus area of Advancing the Wellbeing of Women. Her time on the Planning and Development Council provided a deeper understanding of the community's needs and how JLNO can address them. While serving on the Board, she hopes to cultivate the leadership skills of her Council team and help them achieve their goals. Her project leaders are a dynamic group of go-getters and kind-hearted women who want to see their role in affecting change in the community.
Like anything in life, the more you make something a focus, the more rewarding the outcome will be. Going into her third year as a member, Elizabeth realized that she needed to focus on the best opportunity for her to make a difference in the community and with the most effective use of her time. For Elizabeth, that was more than just checking off membership obligations. Elizabeth spent three years on JLNO's Community Assistance Fund committee learning about the needs of the community and how other nonprofits accomplishing their missions. She most recently chaired JLNO's inaugural Scholarship Opportunity helping establish the program from the eligibility requirements through the application and selection process. These experiences taught her that JLNO is a solid foundation for local women who are seeking the personal development they want in life. It provides empowerment, career advice, training, volunteering in the community outside of daily obligations and the opportunity to meet new people. Elizabeth believes that has definitely been true of her time in JLNO.
Working as the Project Specialist at The Historic New Orleans Collection, Elizabeth focusses on administrative special projects for this museum, research center, and publishing center dedicated to preserving the history and culture of New Orleans and the Gulf South. Most recently, she was the project manager for Making New Orleans Home: A Tricentennial Symposium. Elizabeth also maintained control operations of the Visitor Center for the inaugural show of Prospect New Orleans, which at the time of operating was the largest International Contemporary Art Biennial in the United States.
As a student of the University of Mississippi, she received a Bachelor of Arts in Southern Cultural Studies and Art History. She received her Master of Arts in Art Business from Sotheby's Institute of Art. Elizabeth is interested in cultural anthropology, photography and composition, geography and travelling. She enjoys bike riding through various New Orleans neighborhoods with her husband Ben, keeping up with the New Orleans restaurant scene, and festing with the family. She and Ben live in the Irish Channel with their three boys, Henry (8) a rising third grader at Ecole Bilingue, Hayden (2), and Jack (1).
