Happy 30th Anniversary! This month marks the beginning of our yearlong celebration of NATJA’s inception. You will all be receiving a new membership pin with your renewal commemorating this milestone. Dan Schlossberg, a NATJA founder and president emeritus, will begin with a first installment of our history to be followed by Bob Nesoff. Our plan is to have a segment in each NATJA Notes to reflect on how far we have come. We will ask you to share your most memorable NATJA experiences. You can post on our Facebook group page or send to Laura by email to laura@natja.org to share on our social media.
Please send your condolences to Bob Nesoff on the passing of his dear wife Sandy, NATJA’s first treasurer. Both Bob and Sandy continued to be active NATJA members all of these years.
This month we celebrate Black History Month in the United States. Appropriately, we recently held our Town Hall on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Access (DEIA). This presentation was facilitated by our member, Ian Fitzpatrick with speakers, Dr. Maria Rosario Jackson and Paula Froke, editor of The Associated Press Stylebook. The feedback on the session was overwhelmingly positive with emphasis on it being informative and educational. If you missed it, you can view it online here. We will be working with our DEIA committee to create additional sessions. NATJA’s focus has always been on diversity, equity and inclusion and this is reflected in its management, leadership and Advisory Board.
Recently we met virtually with the Discover Puerto Rico’s team regarding the annual NATJA Conference and decided that we will hold our conference in March 2022. This is pending confirmation from the host hotel, but at the very least, we wanted to let you know the status. Since NATJA’s in-person conference will be postponed until 2022, we will be planning a virtual conference in late spring. We are asking for member volunteers to help with the theme, workshops, and recommendations for speakers. Please email Yani at yani@natja.org if you are interested in volunteering.
We are finally seeing a light at the end of the tunnel with the distribution of vaccines. Hopefully, this time next year, we will be back on track to discover new adventures and experiences.
Kind regards,
Helen Hernandez
Chief Executive Officer
