“Greatness lies not in being strong, but in the right using of strength. He is the greatest whose strength carries up the most hearts by the attraction of his own.”
–Henry Ward Beecher
Melissa Eversmeyer is ensuring meaningful volunteer experiences for over 2,100 women as the Membership Council Director for the Junior League of New Orleans Board of Directors. This role enables Melissa to utilize her cultivated relationship building and communications skills to develop members to their greatest potential. In addition to supporting membership morale and recognition, she oversees the committees that design leadership and training opportunities, which often entails providing a forum for discussion and brainstorming of initiatives and policies related to member satisfaction. She relays information and makes strategic planning suggestions to the Board in the areas of Provisional education, Active placement, Sustainer engagement, volunteer opportunities, retention, standards and training. She hopes to increase membership satisfaction in the League experience in all stages of membership and wants each member to reach her greatest potential as a leader and volunteer. One of her priorities is advancing diversity and inclusion in all aspects of the League's operations and for JLNO to become more reflective of our community as a whole.
Having transferred from the Nashville League in 2010, Melissa has served in several Membership Council positions including those on the Transfers, Sustainer Connections, Events and Esprit committees. She has learned that JLNO women are inspiriting. Throughout her years as an Active member of JLNO, she's learned such great skills as a leader and a volunteer from some amazing women. She loves that JLNO has something for everyone to be passionate about. One of the things that inspired her to return to her hometown of New Orleans was the Edible Schoolyard. She learned about ESY from Alice Waters at a Southern Foodways Alliance Symposium and just knew that she wanted to be involved. It was through her placement on the ESY-NOLA committee that she made connections to eventually find a Speech-Language Pathology position at one of their affiliated schools, Dibert Community School and later Phyllis Wheatley Community School. This gave her great fulfillment as an SLP, knowing she was helping high needs students succeed in the classroom and in life beyond school. Although she is no longer working at these schools, she continues to be connected with several families and always attends at least one ESY-NOLA Open Garden Day for a JLNO community shift.
Melissa is from New Orleans and received her Bachelor of Arts from the University of Mississippi in Communication Disorders with a Minor in French and her Master of Communication Disorders from Louisiana Health Sciences Center. She is a Learning Specialist at Louise S. McGehee School, where she supports students with a variety of learning styles by providing intervention and remediation, supports teachers in their efforts to advance students with a variety of learning needs within the classroom, and works with parents, students and outside professionals in order to better support each student. Her volunteer experience outside of JLNO includes serving in several positions with the New Orleans Ole Miss Alumni Board, Munholland United Methodist Church, chaired Preservation Resource Center's Julia Jump and is a New Orleans Opera Association Ex-Officio Board Member.
Along with her chosen career and volunteer endeavors, Melissa enjoys yoga, culinary arts and culture, travel and the performing arts. She recently started taking Argentine Tango lessons. Audrey Hepburn was the first person who really inspired her to serve her community. Although she also loves her for her style and grace in some of Melissa's favorite movies, she first discovered Audrey on the cover of magazines while waiting in line at the grocery store as a child, featured not for her beauty, but for her work with UNICEF.
