meet kara grieco milskyKara Grieco Milsky joined JLOSH five years ago during the 2016-2017 League year. She was relatively new to the area and saw JLOSH as an opportunity to meet friends and build community. JLOSH was particularly appealing to her to make friends who were passionate about helping others. She is currently serving on the Membership Council as the New Member Chair and her favorite part of her JLOSH experience has been the amazing women she's met.
Tell us about where you're from and your life outside of JLOSH. I am a Jersey SHORE girl born and raised. I grew up in Brick, New Jersey and went to college at Rutgers. After undergrad I moved to Astoria, Queens (my soul-mate neighborhood). I lived there until I finished my graduate work at NYU - Wagner. Then I crossed the river back to the Jersey side (obligatory Bruce Springsteen reference). I am currently staying home with my son, but spent my career working in public service organizations. I most recently served as the Vice President of People & Culture at Pencils of Promise and prior to that was the Executive Director for Education Pioneers’ Eastern Region, which included our operations from Boston down through Pennsylvania. Both are mission driven organizations doing really wonderful work in the education space. What is your favorite local restaurant? Ooh! I can go on and on. I really love Lorena’s (in Maplewood) for a special night out. What is your favorite movie of all time? Annie What are your hobbies / what do you like to do for fun? I love pilates, my Peloton, and ballroom dancing with my husband. I also really love throwing parties. There’s nothing better than spending time with people you love! Tell us a little bit about your home life (family, pets, kids, etc) My husband Eliot and I live in Springfield. We have a 14 month old baby, Andre James, and two adorable goldendoodles, Bogart and Lola. meet sara thomSara Thom is one of JLOSH's Sustainer members that has been part of the league since 2004. She was invited to JLOSH by another member (Sara D'Andrea) who at the time both had preschool aged children. She had been volunteering on a domestic violence hotline. It wasn’t close by, and she was paying a babysitter every week in order to volunteer. When she learned that JLOSH had domestic violence programming and family friendly events, she said "I want to hear more!"
Tell us about where you're from and what led you here. I grew up in a small town in Wisconsin called Beaver Dam, not far from Madison. I went to college at Brown, and then got my Master’s in Public Health Policy at UNC-Chapel Hill. After grad school, I moved to the DC area, where I worked on health reform first at the Department of Health and Human Services, then spent a few years working on social policy issues on Capitol Hill, and later moved to a think tank. I took about 8 years off from paid work to raise my kids, and during that time we moved to Park Slope, Brooklyn. Once my second child was born, we were bursting out of our apartment, and moved to Maplewood. What do you do outside of JLOSH? I work for a nonprofit called Bedtime Math Foundation, which was founded by former JLOSH president Laura Overdeck (who was in my provisional class). We’re working to change our culture and help kids love math, and we do that by creating high-energy, kid-appealing activities, games, books, apps and more. We’ve got several other amazing former JLOSH members and sustainers on our team, including Sandy LoPiccolo, Joy Kalfus, and Maura Bigelow. Junior Leaguers know how to get the job done! In terms of volunteering, I’m the Chair of the Board of Trustees of Advocates for Children of New Jersey. ACNJ advocates for policies and legislation that help kids in our state grow up safe, healthy, and educated. During the pandemic, they’ve been instrumental in securing funding to keep child care centers operating, and they helped get New Jersey’s new home visitation law passed. I also co-facilitate a support group for parents in the Maplewood-South Orange community who have teen or young adult children with mental health challenges. It’s a chapter of a larger organization, and we bring in speakers and provide opportunities for parents to share their experiences and resources with one another. What's your favorite thing you've done/learned/experienced with JLOSH? I’m very proud of the work Karen Hilton and I did to spearhead the resource fair for Essex County teens aging out of foster care, which was a partnership with the Junior League of Montclair-Newark. The program became a model for similar resource fairs in every county in New Jersey, and our leagues received an AJLI Vision Award for it in 2013. The partnership came about because I’d gotten to know women in other leagues through my placement on SPAC (State & Public Affairs Committee). The Junior League network is powerful, and serving on SPAC is a great way to get to know some dynamic, smart, interesting women from other NJ Leagues. What is your favorite local restaurant? Begum Palace in Madison has really delicious, authentic Indian food. My friend and former JLOSH member Sumukah Ravishankar introduced me to it before she moved VA a few years ago. What is your favorite movie of all time? Before Sunrise. Or pretty much any movie by Wes Anderson. What are your hobbies / what do you like to do for fun? Read, cook, drink good wine, hang out with friends, watch movies with my husband. Tell us a little bit about your home life (family, pets, kids, etc). My son Peter is a senior at Rutgers and my daughter Ellie is a freshman at West Chester University, so my husband Marc and I are new empty nesters. We’ve got 2 cats to keep us company. |
Get to know our members!Each month we interview an active and sustaining member to spotlight them. Each of their stories are unique and what makes JLOSH an incredible place to volunteer! Archives
April 2022
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