It’s interesting that the very definition of remarkable is “worthy of attention” because it’s the one thing Jennifer Foster doesn’t seek. She simply puts her head down and focuses on the important work to be done and she does so with compassion and true leadership.
Allow me to back up: I’ve been friends with Jennifer for more than a decade. Jennifer owns Foster Productions; however, she has volunteered with Florida little dog rescue, Big Brother/Big Sisters, HRC, Libby’s Legacy Breast Cancer Foundation and more over the years. We hung out in friendship while our nonprofit work would occasionally meet (our two rescue dogs were brought to us by Jennifer and her wife to ‘foster’ and Jennifer would rally with a team to fundraiser for Libby’s Legacy once a year as well). Other than that, it was porch talks and football , birthday gatherings and the occasional dinner.
Then June 12, 2016, happened. Our community was senselessly attacked and we all immediately went to work in any way possible. I was working with Pulse of Orlando to raise funds for Pulse employees, victim families and survivors triaging needs on June 14 when the call came in from Jennifer. “All LGBTQ Leaders and organizations need to come together and pool our resources and minds to start the healing so spread the word and add anyone you can think of to the list. We will have an emergency meeting this week.”
From that day forward I watched Jennifer put her heart and soul into serving others. I always knew her heart, however I was able to have a front row seat and watch her heart in action, to bear witness first-hand to her sacrifice and commitment to the continued healing and empowerment of the undeserved and wounded in our community. Jennifer went from a need to a vision in just days after the pulse tragedy, to co-founding what is now the One Orlando Alliance – a powerful coalition of 30 LGBTQ organizations that didn’t just provide help over the past 18 months but will provide resources, empowerment and unity for years to come. Jennifer is an amazing woman, a visionary, a true leader and though she’ll hate to admit it, she is at the very least, remarkable.
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