THE VOLUNTEER | Nicole Hobbs

As president of the Junior League of Tallahassee, Nicole Hobbs has found her niche in Tallahassee.

The 35-year-old Ohio native moved here in 1991 to go to Florida State University, studying elementary education. She met her husband, Brian, and decided to make Tallahassee her home. In 1999, she was a new mom and was looking for a place to volunteer and to meet new people, so she decided to join the Junior League of Tallahassee.

Hitting the ground running, Hobbs served on several committees, eventually becoming community vice president, funding vice president, representative for the Brehon Institute, a place that offers help with at-risk families, and, last year, president-elect. She took over as president in May 2006.

“My main focus and my theme for the year is ‘Girls Just Want To Have Fun,’” Hobbs said. “I want to promote volunteerism (and show) that we can have fun while we do it.”

The Junior League of Tallahassee is a nonprofit organization of women, typically between the ages of 23 and 45, who are committed to improving the lives of children in the community. Since 1960, the Junior League has logged more than 5,000 volunteer hours and contributed more than $80,000 annually to the community.

To continue helping the community, Hobbs wants to improve on membership satisfaction and retention.

“I’m trying to find new ways of volunteering in the community, doing new projects, finding innovative ways, and also addressing the changing membership,” she said. “It’s not just stay-at-home moms now . . . Our membership is all young, new professionals. It’s evolving and changing.”

For Hobbs, being active in the community has allowed her to really get to know Tallahassee.

“When you’re in the League and you see the difference we can make and what a wonderful community we have, it’s amazing,” Hobbs said.

Outside of her duties as president, she is the mother of three boys, ages 9, 5 and 2, and is actively involved at Maclay School. She hopes to remain active in the Junior League and eventually would like to get involved in teaching.

Her Junior League work has introduced her to parts of Tallahassee she otherwise wouldn’t have known about.

“It’s opened a lot of doors for me and enlightened me to lots of places in the community that definitely I could be of assistance with,” she said. – Erica Bailey