On Thursday, June 6th, CREW Boston hosted our 42nd annual meeting and luncheon at the Boston Harbor Hotel, with CREW Boston President Maureen McCaffrey of MIT Investment Management Company presiding over the meeting, and keynote speaker Jill Donovan, creator of Rustic Cuff, joining us with humility and motivational encouragement to keep moving forward when it seems all but impossible.
Maureen kicked off the event by thanking our sponsors and welcoming our new CREW Boston Board members for a three-year term – Emily Paparella of Elkus Manfredi Architects and Amy Prange of WS Development. She also bid farewell to our outgoing Board members – Tricia Pinto and Elizabeth von Goeler, noting how instrumental each woman has been in her own journey as CREW Boston president, Tricia as a mentor, having been the immediate past president and Elizabeth, having been so dedicated to furthering the leadership academy. Maureen also took the time to say thank you to Kerry Hawkins for the encouragement to just say yes, and to Laura Domenico and Sarah Davies for being instrumental in pulling together all that CREW Boston has to offer throughout the year. Maureen concluded with a special thanks to her longtime employer, MITIMCo for all the support through the years. She reflected on her speech from one year prior, and how she is still taken aback by all the talent gathered in one room. It has been an incredible journey with Maureen at the helm of CREW Boston and the chapter has taken giant leaps towards our strategic goals over the past year. Her parting words as she welcomed Shelly Gouin of TA Realty Partners as incoming CREW Boston President for 2024-2025, was to continue to ‘dare to do mighty things together’, as each person in the room is an individual ingredient in the special sauce that makes this chapter so successful.
Next, Shelly took the stage to talk about the year ahead and her experience with CREW Boston over the last 13 years, noting that she realized the more she gave to CREW, the more she got back over the years, encouraging members to get involved, join committees, and make meaningful connections, and noting that when you start to lean in, the possibilities become endless. She thanked Maureen for her guidance and welcomed Kate Moran Carter of Dain Torpy as the president-elect for the 2025-2026 presidency. Shelly looked forward optimistically at the year ahead and stressed how important it will be to lead with kindness, seek out others’ perspectives, and lean on the amazing CREW Boston network to continue pushing the envelope to achieve great things. Without further ado, Shelly introduced the keynote speaker for the event, Jill Donovan, as a passionate and purposeful author who believes in the motto of changing your world one act of kindness at a time.
Jill Donovan took the stage and candidly spoke about her upbringing in Baltimore, MD, wanting to be an Olympic gymnast, but having her dreams crushed at only nine years old when she was told, it probably wasn’t in the cards for her. From that point on, Jill’s tenacity took her down a path of self-discovery, and her dedication to finding something she loved led her to try a new hobby every year, consistently every day of that year until she found something she was passionate about. Unfortunately for her, she struggled to identify one specific talent, and ended up down a career path that she wasn’t happy with, albeit, a very successful family divorce lawyer, but was sick of ‘having to work’ and wanted to join the people that ‘get to work’. As she continued her search for own passion, she was drawn to Oprah Winfrey as a light of inspiration and was trying desperately to attend her show in hopes that she would receive the sign she needed, to put her on the right path. After four daunting years of trying to call for tickets, she started looking at alternate ways to get into the show and happened to notice that she could apply to be featured on the show for different special segment features they were looking to run – specifically, Jill identified closely with the segment they were looking to film on regifting, as she was an avid re-gifter herself and was excited to share her story with the world! With cautious optimism, Jill emailed the show and within two hours got a call from the production team! Inevitably, they not only filmed the segment with her, but they flew her out to LA, and at the last minute even asked her to be on stage, next to Oprah on the show – Jill’s wildest dreams were coming true! On top of the World, Jill sat through the segment and unfortunately was blindsided when got torn apart for being a re-gifter, her dreams crushed in a moment. After five years of public humiliation, resentment, and self-torture, she finally realized, she had to get un-stuck, memorialized the humiliation and stopped mourning it.
At this time, Jill found her drive again and started a small business out of her home making leather cuffs with words of inspiration on them, calling them Rustic Cuff’s, and decided she was going to give them out to others offering hope for people going through hard times. Her business of giving blossomed beyond her wildest dreams and once again she found herself at the top of a mountain, people coming from all over, wanting to buy Rustic Cuff’s and give them away. The most ironic event of all, three years later she got a call from the Oprah show – Oprah was going to feature Rustic Cuff on the cover of Oprah magazine that month, a bracelet that was re-gifted from her friend Gail months prior! Proof of what happens when you give generously to others, pursue your passions, and never give up. Jill wrapped up her motivational speech, by offering the room tools for forgiveness, even when you don’t receive an apology, reminding the audience not to get stuck in the quicksand of life, and noting that sometimes, we have to say no to good, so that you can say yes to great and wrapping up the 2024 CREW Boston annual meeting.
