paving pathways:
Maria Pardo Huete by Stephanie Rogers | Photos by Jessica Bachmann
T
he Junior League of New Orleans (JLNO) would like to recognize Maria Pardo Huete, who became the first woman of color to serve as President when she assumed the role on the 2016-2017 Board of Directors. Described as a trailblazer by her peers, Maria is credited with initiating impactful community programs such as the Diaper Bank and the Huete Scholarship. She has served in many capacities throughout her tenure as an active member and continues to lend support and guidance as Nominating Sustaining Advisor. In addition to her endless generosity and voluntarism with JLNO, Maria is the Director of Institutional Advancement at Catholic Charities. Today, she candidly shares with us her JLNO experience. Tell us about your early career and how you became involved in JLNO. My early career was in college recruitment and then high school education. I took time off to devote to my triplets, and when Katrina happened, I was looking for ways to help my community in meaningful ways. JLNO fit what I was looking for, and I took to it like a duck to water. Is there anything about your experience joining JLNO that you would like to share? When I first told someone I was going to join the League in 2006, her first question to me was, “Do they know you’re Hispanic?” Which did cause me to pause, but since my sponsor was Hispanic and seemed happy, I figured there wasn’t going to be an issue. And there wasn’t. I wish we had more Hispanic members.
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Lagniappe | Fall 2020
