One Week In

It's hard to believe but I have already been at training for one week! It seems like so long ago all 20 TLCs arrived back in Indiana to spend the next 2.5 weeks with one another. This week has been filled with so much knowledge. Not only knowledge about the wonderful organization that we are all working for but knowledge that I hope has and will continue to better me as a leader. It has been a time of learning and a time of growing together has a team. We started our week out with a tour of International Office (IO) and it was so amazing to learn about all the history that is housed in one building. 

So lucky to work here!

International Office 

With the original picture of our founders! 

2013-2014 ZTA Traveling Leadership Consultants

After a wonderful first week of training, we got the afternoon and night off to go enjoy the sights of Indiana. We went to a small suburb of Indianapolis called Broad Ripple. It was such a cute little "town" and sort of reminded me of a combination of King Street (for all you App friends) and Franklin Street (for all you UNC friends). We ate on the canal at this yummy restaurant and then enjoyed local bands and ice cream. 

Fire station

Canal

Guilford St. 

To close, I can say that I do indeed know where I will be going for my first stop next week on August 8th. While I cannot post on here the exact location I will drop a hint: I get to travel with the wonderful Abbey Baxter and we are headed to the Midwest! 

Abbey and I :-)

One Moment Can Change Everything

Have you ever thought back on your life and discovered one single moment, whether it be a minute or an hour, that completely changed the course of your life? A moment that at that particular time you had no clue how much it would affect your future? Last night I was reminded of the one single moment that began my journey of being here in Indianapolis, Indiana at TLC training...and that moment started with the flipping of a coin!

Flashback to a Saturday night in September 2009. I had just come out of my last, of two, preference ceremonies to decide which sorority I wanted to join. All week long my heart had been set on Zeta Tau Alpha. There was something about that group of women that gave me goosebumps and butterflies every time I walked into their room. But something on preference night got into my head and was trying to make me not follow my heart. Words spoken that made me question if I should go with the other sorority I had attended that night and risk not being as happy. When I came out of my two parties, I immediately found my recruitment counselor, Caitlin, and began crying. I was confused because my heart said to go ZTA but my brain was trying to say other wise. Caitlin preceded to talk to me and encourage to go with my heart but I was being stubborn and kept letting outside words get into my head. She told me she was going to flip a coin for me. If it landed on heads I was going to walk into the computer room and put ZTA as my first choice, but if it landed on tails I would select the other sorority. Well...the coin landed on heads and Caitlin asked me how did the outcome make me feel?" I started smiling and told her really good. Her response was "you know what you need to do then." So I walked into the computer lab, placed ZTA number 1 and I have never looked back. 

Saturday morning I headed to the airport for my first of many flights as an TLC. Saying goodbye to my family and Josh was strange because I won't really see them all together again till October. I made it through TSA with no problems and then conquered all the weather and delays till I finally landed in Indianapolis around 6:00pm. Another TLC and I caught a taxi together and rode to Carmel, Indiana to meet all the other TLC's and our supervisor for dinner. We ate at the cutest pizza place in Carmel and then got to tour around the town. Fun fact: Carmel, Indiana was just voted the #1 city to live in in America! Here are a few pictures from our walk:

Yesterday (Sunday) was our first day of training. It's a weird feeling to think I have 3 weeks ahead of me till I go to my first chapter but the first day of training was not bad at all. I love getting to know my fellow TLC sisters and enjoyed learning about our job for the next year. It's amazing to learn about everything I never knew about ZTA and to build on the knowledge I already had. Many of you have asked if I know where I will be going first. To answer that question, no and we may not know for another week. However, be on the lookout for me to start dropping hints on what college I'll be visiting first once I do know! Till then, I'll keep on learning what there is to learn :-)

So fast forward from that night in September 2009 and it would be hard to imagine my life now without ZTA. After all, this organization has been one of the biggest influences on my life and it's now provided me with my first job out of college. Last night Caitlin, my recruitment counselor, texted me with the above quote picture asking me if I remembered that night of flipping a coin. Little did I know at that time of flipping a coin, but Caitlin was a ZTA and we became sisters. She got to watch me grow up in the chapter as a leader, and I got to watch her advance on to higher positions on Panhellenic Council. Without the flip of that special quarter on that September night, I might not be sitting here fixing to travel the country. 

So to Caitlin and her coin...thank you for making me follow my heart! 

Saying "Goodbye" to all I've ever known...

Around this time last year I was browsing on my favorite website, Pinterest, when I found the above quote. Just last night when I was packing, I ran across this quote again. How perfect is it? I do not think any other quote could sum up the next ten months of my life in a better way. Being given this opportunity to travel across the country (for a job none the less) at just the young age of 22 excites me more every day! When I leave home tomorrow morning to head off to the airport I won't be home for my first break till, at the earliest, October. Many people have asked if I'm scared or nervous of the unknown and honestly I'm not...well not too much! A little bit of nerves have hit me this morning but it's because I am a planner and now my planning is in the hands of others. For the past four years while I was away at college, I have literally planned every week out on Sunday night. If you flipped through my planner you would see everything from what I was doing each day to what I wanted to eat to what class assignments I needed to work on laid out for every day. But now I'm having to say "goodbye" to planning my daily life and turn that over into the hands of the wonderful ZTA office staff who will make my travel arrangements and to the chapters who will make my daily schedule for me before I even arrive. However, I'm excited to learn about myself through the chapters I work with while also learning about them. I'm excited to see how I will live from one chapter to the next and to see what each new college/city holds. 

Living on the road for the next 10 months also comes with the challenging fact that my closet will be a 50 pound suitcase, a 30-40 pound carry on, and a heavy duty tote bag. I stayed up till 2am this morning packing and repacking my carry on to make it all fit. Lucky for me, all my clothes, makeup, and toiletries fit in my checked luggage without exceeding the weight limit the very first time! The packing of the carry on became a bit of a challenge just because I could not convince myself that I needed to narrow down my shoe selection. So currently shoe's are taking up one complete side of my carry on, with everything else fitting snug into my front section. I've already told myself that I'm way over packed but I'm not taking anything out at the moment because I know I'll be given the chance to ship stuff home once training is coming to an end. 

So as I end this last blog post before departing to Indiana tomorrow morning, I'm reminded that the life I've always known is about to change for the next 10 months. Saying "goodbye" to my family, friends, and lifestyle won't be easy but it's a challenge I'm ready to accept. To go around to my ZTA sisters across the country and (hopefully) inspire them to become the best they can be is something I cannot stop smiling about. I'm ready for the journey to begin and I'm so excited to arrive back in Indianapolis tomorrow afternoon to see my 19 TLC sisters! We will be in Indianapolis for the next 2.5 weeks before flying to our first chapter (which is still to be determined)! I know the days to come will be busy and full of late nights/early mornings, but I promise to update you every few days with lots of pictures and stories of my journey!

2013 National Leadership Conference

July 9-14 proved to be a very wonderful opportunity as I was able to attend the 2013 ZTA National Leadership Conference (NLC) in Indianapolis, Indiana! NLC is a wonderful program that ZTA puts on which promotes leadership development in current and rising leaders in all ZTA chapters across the country. Each chapter sends a select number of delegates to attend the conference, which is held every two years (the off years of NLC is when convention is held). 

I was so excited to attend NLC as a TLC this year for several reasons. 1) it was going to provide the first opportunity for me to meet the other 19 traveling leadership consultants who I would share the next year with. 2) When I was Vice President 1 of my chapter it was an NLC year but I could not attend because I was working at mission camp and NLC is something I have always wished I could have attended. 3) I would walk away with new ideas and information to begin my year of traveling!

The theme of NLC this year was "Take Charge" and taught us all how to change the way we operated our chapters while not settling for the excuse of "but we've always done it that way!" The speakers that presented were wonderful and it was exciting to hear updates of our fraternity at each meal. I underestimated the connections I would form at NLC with certain alumnae and I am so excited to get on the road and possibly be sent to the chapters that these leaders advise. It was great to see old TLC's who had once visited our chapter and to see the other officers from North Carolina who I have come to know over the past few years. 

Our 6 days at NLC flew by incredibly fast and it was a little sad leaving the other 19 TLC's on Sunday because I already love each of them as my sisters. Flying home alone I was able to reflect on not only all that I had learned about being a leader at NLC but all that I have learned over the past four years while in my own chapter at UNC Charlotte. It's hard for me to grasp that in 48 hours I'll be boarding another set of planes to head off for good and this time saying good bye to the ones I love for three or so months. While I am a little nervous of the unknown, I am so excited to experience the opportunity that has been laid out before me. Now to just get packing... :-)

TLC's before NLC delegates arrived

Sitting at the head table for lunch one day

2013-2014 TLC's with our wonderful group leader 

UNC Charlotte Girls 

Beautiful view on the way home!

Spreading Some Panhellenic Love

It is hard for me to believe that in one short week I will head to Indiana for ZTA's National Leadership Conference before embarking on July 20th for my job as a TLC. Today I have been reflecting a lot on the process of not only becoming a TLC but also on going Greek. So many times during the school year Greek's are "battling" each other to win Greek Week or win a certain Greek award. While I fully believe a little competition is healthy to us all because I feel it challenges us to become the best we can be, I also often wonder "Where is the GREEK UNITY?" 

Now I will be the first to admit that I am a very competitive person. During my three terms on my chapter's Executive Council, I made sure that our chapter worked hard and did deserve everything we were awarded; that our hard work actually paid off. While it is more difficult to admit, when it came to the times that we didn't earn what we were working towards, I was upset but I understood that too. I remember my freshman year when my chapter won no awards at our NC Zeta Day and then turned around to win nothing at Greek Awards on campus. It was very hard for me to be excited for the sorority that won Sorority of the Year but it was so motivating to hear one of our advisors get up at chapter that night to tell us not to sink our heads but to rise to the challenge of setting goals for the next year. 

I love Zeta Tau Alpha. I've been told that I eat, breath, and bleed ZTA. Am I proud of how hard our chapter worked the past four years? Absolutely. Do I go to bed smiling every night knowing we won Sorority of the Year the past two years? Of course. Could I have ever been a recruitment counselor and be disaffiliated from my sorority for a summer? No way because I love ZTA that much. But while I could never imagine being anything other than a Zeta Tau Alpha, I have also learned (over the past two years really) the importance of supporting the Greek community. 

We are all advocates for Greek Life, no matter our letters, and the support for one another is crucial for the success of all our amazing organizations.

Being Greek has changed my life and in the upcoming recruitment season, I can only hope to be the biggest advocate for GOING GREEK! Something I loved about being Greek at UNC Charlotte was our Director of Fraternity and Sorority Life truly promoted supporting not only one another but supporting the community. Having friends in other sororities is one of the neatest things and opens so many doors to support one another at events. So in traveling, I hope that not only I can be a representative of Zeta Tau Alpha, but I also hope to be a representative of Panhellenic and spread some Panhellenic Love! To all the UNC Charlotte sororities: Alpha Delta Pi, Chi Omega, Delta Zeta, Kappa Delta, Sigma Kappa, and Zeta Tau Alpha...always remember that it take all of us to make a difference and we need each other to grow! Be an advocate for making a difference in the world :-)