Columbus Jack and Jill past president tapped for regional leadership

Kornisha Brown moved to Columbus in 2002, with a strong desire to serve the community.

Her husband, Dr. Darius Brown, had just been hired as a local physician. Soon the couple started a family, and Brown began searching for volunteer opportunities.

She found her niche while accompanying another mother to a local Jack and Jill meeting, where mothers focused on social, cultural and educational opportunities for their children.

“I immediately joined and got involved and made sure that my children attended activities,” said Brown, a Thomaston, Ga., native. “... As a mother, I wanted to make sure I set the example of how we should have all participants and all hands in when it came to the programming and the community service work that we wanted to do for our children.”

Now, Brown and her children are not only dedicated members of the local Jack and Jill chapter, but she’s also the organization’s newly elected director of the southeastern region. In that position, she will oversee 44 chapters located in Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and Tennessee. The region consists of about 1,900 families and about 3,100 youths.

Brown was elected to the position at the 30th Biennial Mothers Regional Conference held in Palm Beach, Fla., in July. Deidre Williams, another local mother, was elected to serve on the Regional Nominating Committee. Both women will serve two-year terms.

“I welcome the opportunity and I’m so grateful,” Brown said. “But it’s definitely one that I take seriously, and I have hit the ground running. I’m starting to make sure that I implement — with the assistance of the leadership team — the vision that we have in place to make a difference in the lives of our children.”

In addition to success at the Mothers Regional Conference, the chapter is celebrating outstanding performances at the region’s 61st Annual Teen Leadership Conference in Orlando, Fla., held June 29 to July 2.

Under the leadership of immediate past Southeastern Region Teen President Wesley Tillman, the chapter had three teens serve on regional committees. John-Andrew Sims served on the Teen Advisory Board, Jourdan Watson served on the Teen Communication Board and Barbara Joy (BJ) Tillman served on the Theme Committee.

For voting purposes, Columbus Teen President Robbie Tillman served as a delegate, and Vice President Brandon Mahone served as the alternate.

The teens won the 2017 Southeastern Region Step Show Championship, bringing the historic trophy back to Columbus for the second consecutive year, according to a news release. They also won first place for Chapter T-Shirt Design; first place for Portfolio Outstanding Teen; third place for Foundations/Philanthropic Giving; third place for Sports Day; and third place for Chapter Scrapbook.

Brown said she is thankful for the local leadership of Aflac executive Audrey Boone Tillman, who is the current Columbus chapter president, and for all the teens who participated. She also appreciates the support of all the moms.

“I am very proud of our local teens and how well they represented the Columbus GA Chapter at the Southeastern Regional Teen Leadership Conference that was led by our very own Wesley Tillman and the regional teen officers,” she said. “They worked hard and the hard work paid off.”

She said the Columbus teens are just one example of how youths are thriving in the Jack and Jill southeastern region. And she looks forward to working with chapters in all five states.

“I’m blessed to serve with a great regional leadership team,” she said. “... We are just committed to leadership and service in our communities. Our region has a strong history and legacy of giving back, and that is what we want to do.”

Brown was elected Southeastern Regional Director after serving two years as regional secretary. Prior to that, it had been nearly 40 years since a mother from the local chapter held an elected regional position.

The last Columbus resident to serve in such a role was Veronis Hall, a local educator who worked as a local educator for about 45 years, according to Brown.

Before her election to regional positions, Brown also served in the Columbus chapter as recording secretary, vice president and chapter president. After serving locally, Brown said she decided to run for regional positions so Columbus mothers could have more of an impact regionally.

“We had been doing leadership development with our children who had gone on to serve in the teen roles, but I also wanted our mothers to have roles on the regional and national levels,” she said. “... We definitely have a great history in the Columbus GA Chapter, having been recognized through the years for our leadership. But we had somehow fallen off just a little bit, and I wanted to make sure that we could regain that involvement.”

This story was originally published August 12, 2017 at 11:36 PM with the headline "Columbus Jack and Jill past president tapped for regional leadership."