One-on-One with Junior League Member Subha Lembach

This month, Lierac was lucky to chat with Subha Lembach, member of the Junior League of Columbus, Ohio. Passionate about social justice issues, building better communities, and promoting women as leaders, Subha is an inspiring figure we feel privileged to have met.

When did you join Junior League, and why?
I joined the Junior League just before my daughter’s second birthday. The Junior League mission aligned very closely with my personal values of giving back, promoting women as leaders, and creating long lasting change in the community in a deliberate and strategic way. My parents and I came to this country as immigrants and it took a lot of help and hard work to establish ourselves here in the States and I wanted to be able to give back. I also had been fortunate enough to meet women in several Junior Leagues through my professional career and other volunteer experiences and was very impressed by the community impact these women made as well as the skills they learned through the organization.

What past Junior League member do you wish you could have worked with, and why?
Mary Harriman, of course! Lately, I have been fascinated by the history of The Junior League, and I feel I have gotten to learn a bit more about Mary Harriman, the founder of the Junior Leagues, through The Junior League: 100 Years of Volunteer Service. She was truly an amazing woman. Her insights in recognizing the need, not only for The Junior League to engage in community impact work, but that the women involved needed to develop leadership skills as well as an in-depth knowledge of the social issues they were working on is truly inspiring. Mary was so far ahead of her time and a really innovative visionary.

Which woman in history would you have liked to meet, and why?
Elizabeth I has always inspired me. In fact, my daughter was named for Elizabeth I. She highlights several characteristics of leadership, including her remarkable tenacity, the ability to continuously learn and to apply that learning to her leadership, and her diplomacy. Her words to her people on the brink of the battle against the Spanish Armada truly exemplify the principles of servant leadership. Her leadership style was one that still serves as an example for today’s woman. She was able to maximize the expertise around her, build coalitions, and maintain her integrity while being strategic and politic.

Which chapter are you in & what initiatives are you working on now?
I am a member of the Junior League of Columbus, Ohio. While our League has several great community impact programs, my passion has centered on the Kelton House Museum and Garden. The Kelton House Museum, www.keltonhouse.com, is the only house museum in the City of Columbus. Visitors are guided through the House by docents dressed in period costume and treated to a snapshot of life in the Midwest during the Victorian era. The Kelton House was also a stop on the Underground Railroad. Each year, thousands of Ohio schoolchildren visit the Kelton House to learn about Ohio’s history, the Underground Railroad, and the life in the Victorian era. The specialized programming for our schoolchildren was created by Junior League volunteers and Junior League volunteers remain a primary source of volunteer support for the educational programming. Each year the Kelton House also features remarkable adult programs as well.

The Kelton House itself is also a testament to visionary women and leadership. Grace Kelton, the last Kelton to live in the House, was concerned about historic preservation, the industrialization and urbanization of her community, as well as the promotion of culture. Grace was an interior designer with an international reputation, who even did some work for Jacqueline Kennedy for the White House. When Grace died, she left her home to the local community foundation with the charge to find an entity to assume responsibility for the Kelton House and to use operate it as a museum. Thankfully the Junior League of Columbus conducted a capital campaign and has been operating the House as a Museum since the mid-1970s.

Who or what has most influenced and inspired you during your time with The Junior League?
I am consistently inspired by all the Junior League women I meet. On a local level, I have been tremendously inspired by the wonderful Junior League of Columbus (JLC) Sustainers, many of whom have become lasting catalysts for community change. JLC Sustainers are so active as community leaders, serving in leadership in their companies, running organizations, serving on nonprofit boards, creating civic change, etc., that I am inspired on a daily basis. I am also tremendously inspired by the Junior League women working on critical issues throughout the country and the world. I have been fortunate enough to be part of the work of The Association of Junior Leagues International, Inc.’s Collaborative League Engagement Task Force and gotten to know the work of Leagues on so many important social justice issues that affect families. It’s amazing because, regardless of what community need exists, it seems like there is a Junior League out there addressing and addressing it in a strategic and impactful way.

What event in history do you wish you could have been present for/fought for?
I would have loved to have been part of the civil rights movement in the 1960s. I am extremely passionate about social justice issues, particularly racial disparities. While there is so much work to be done in a variety of social justice areas from environmental justice to gender equality to LGBTQ rights to continued work on racial justice, it would have been really exciting, invigorating, and educational to have been part of the original civil rights movement. I still find so much inspiration in the ability of people to come together, identify an inequality or discrimination, and create change peacefully.

What areas do you see the most impact from the Junior League’s work in?
The biggest impact the Junior League has made internationally throughout the years is the development of women as civic and community leaders. Leadership can be defined in many different ways and all women who are part of the Junior League are leaders. Some Junior League women may serve in more obvious ways, as elected officials, corporate or nonprofit CEOs, or volunteer leaders, but there are thousands of Junior League women creating change every day by offering new perspectives, discussing and advancing social issues, sparking innovative community projects, and organizing to create lasting community change.

What words of wisdom do you wish you could impart to all girls & women?
"Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma, which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of other's opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary." - Steve Jobs

"It is our choices...that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities." - Harry Potter

“The future which we hold in trust for our own children will be shaped by our fairness to other people's children.” - Marian Wright Edelman

“If you don't like the way the world is, you change it. You have an obligation to change it. You just do it one step at a time.” - Marian Wright Edelman

What makes a woman beautiful?
Her willingness to leave the lives she touches better for having known her.


Thank you for your inspiring words today, Subha!

Interested in learning more about Junior League? Please visit www.ajli.org
Follow them on Twitter: @juniorleague