It was a warm August evening when I visited with the Louisville, Kentucky Alumnae Club. We shared sisterhood stories over our Comfy Cow ice creams. After two years away, a location transfer brought Kentucky Alpha Josephine Lee back to Louisville and this was her first-ever event with the club. I was interested in learning about Josephine’s job in Human Resources with Target Brands, Inc., more commonly known by me as Target – my favorite place to shop! She credits her career, in large part, to Pi Phi.

While in college, a Pi Phi sister’s friend felt that Josephine would be a good fit for the Target Internship Program; Josephine applied and accepted a position, which led to her current professional role. Not only did Pi Phi help her get a foot in the door, but Josephine believes her time serving as Vice President of Philanthropy (VPP) taught her transferrable skills, like delegation and organization, that she uses in her position today.

Additionally, the Pi Phi value of Philanthropic Service to Others runs similarly with Target’s value of Community Support and Engagement – it was definitely one of the things that drew Josephine to working for the company. Target puts an emphasis on giving back to the communities that give their continued patronage to the retail stores. In her role as Executive Team Leader (ETL) Human Resources, one of Josephine’s responsibilities is to provide monthly service opportunities for her team. But for Josephine, it is not only about finding an opportunity and sharing it with her team. She also likes to ask her team what they are passionate about and where they want to spend their time, and they then work together on how they can help those causes. It is rewarding for Josephine to see one of her teammates take the lead on a service opportunity to engage the rest of their team.

One great memory Josephine has is an event that drew team members from the Louisville and Lexington areas, about one and a half hours from each other. A tenured manager from a local store had unfortunately been diagnosed with colon cancer. Since this individual had recruited so many of the assistant managers and managers, he garnered the love and respect of his peers in this area. In a show of support, at least 30 team members from various stores participated in a Colon Cancer Awareness Walk and participated in his honor.

For Josephine, her professional work reminds her of the times she spent as a leader for the Kentucky Alpha Chapter. When she first started at Target, a lot of the team members came to her with issues and questions, which is something she continues to encounter in her newer role as an ETL Human Resources. Similar to serving on Executive Council for a Pi Phi chapter, Josephine is expected to lead the vision of Target – think of vision and mission statement of the organization and how you’re displaying it to everyone else. I don’t think Josephine thought her professional life could parallel her collegiate experiences so greatly. Both help in the growth and development of individuals, and she is fortunate to play a big role in that development, just as she did when she was in the chapter.