A Century of Women Who Built This City: Katie Crowe, President, The Junior League of Tampa

In 1926, 22 women sat down together in Tampa and decided to do something about the unmet needs of women and children in their community. They did not have cell phones, fax machines, or the internet. They had a mission statement that was, by any measure, ahead of its time: to foster interest in the social, economic, educational, and civic conditions of the community and to make volunteer service efficient. One hundred years later, The Junior League of Tampa has 1,900 members logging 50,000 volunteer hours a year, has launched permanent nonprofit institutions into the Tampa Bay community, and is still asking the same question those 22 women asked in 1926 - where is the gap, and how do we fill it?In this episode, Tracie Domino sits down with Katie Crowe, President of The Junior League of Tampa, during the organization's centennial year. Katie pulls back the curtain on how a volunteer-led organization sustains a coherent long-term strategy through rotating leadership, what it actually takes to spin a project out into a self-sustaining nonprofit, and why a third of what has been built in Tampa Bay traces back to women who never collected a paycheck for the work. She also talks about the stereotype the League has spent decades dismantling, the hiring of the organization's first ever Chief Operating Officer, and what keeps leadership up at night as they look toward the next 100 years.This is a conversation about legacy, leadership, and what it looks like when women decide to build something that outlasts them.00:00 League Strengths00:53 Century Legacy02:51 Founding Vision05:36 How It Works07:10 Diaper Bank Impact10:00 Centennial Projects13:53 Learning From Leagues15:37 Projects That Last17:09 Strategy With Turnover19:28 Breaking Stereotypes22:05 Recruiting Next Gen24:08 Evolving The Model25:44 Next 100 Years28:37 Tampa Storytelling32:14 Gala Highlights34:10 Bicentennial Hopes35:24 Lightning Round37:20 Closing Call To Action