Sherrye McBryde currently serves the Junior League of Little Rock as Sustainer Advisor to our Board of Directors. She was an active member of the League from 1985 to 1994. Get to know Sherrye a little better!

Sherrye McBryde

What is your League placement and what is your favorite aspect of it?

As a sustainer, I technically don’t have a placement! However, serving as sustainer advisor to the Board has renewed my love for and dedication to the League.  I went sustaining in 1994 after ending my tenure as JLLR President.

It has been interesting to see how much the same and yet how very different the league is.  There are still many of the same issues – balancing professional jobs and volunteer duties, accommodating working and nonworking schedules, and dealing with a constantly changing environment in which a volunteer organization must exist.   But the League of today is much more professional than we were twenty-three years ago.

We worked toward achieving diversity in the League in the nineties and it is exciting to see how far those efforts have come.  I have truly loved seeing the young women on this board work so very hard and always strive to do what is best for the League members and the League as an organization.  That is always foremost on their minds in every decision they make.  I also have to add that I have known Amanda Richardson since she was five-years-old!  I am so proud of her and her role as President of the League.

What is your profession and how do you balance it with your League duties?

While I am a Certified Public Accountant (inactive), my professional position is Executive Director of Susan G. Komen.  Many of the skills that I use to make the Arkansas Race for the Cure the second largest in the Komen series, I learned in the League.  Komen is volunteer driven, and knowing how to empower and encourage volunteers started with my League life. Balance is always interesting – I drive fast.

What other organizations are you involved in/support and why?

Through the years, I have been involved in many organization in our city – Chair of Riverfest, Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, PTA, etc. More recently, my time at Komen has become my work and volunteering all rolled in one.

What are some of your hobbies? 

Biking is my passion! I have participated in two OK Freewheels with my best friend from high school. We traveled 405 miles in seven days across Oklahoma and slept in a tent. Technically, we paid a service to set the tent up, blow up our air mattresses, put out chairs, carry our luggage and greet us with a glass of wine – but that’s camping to me!

I also love to travel and have been to India, Germany, Austria and Hungary in the last year!   I travel Arkansas with my five grandkids.

What is your favorite restaurant? 

This one’s hard because I can’t narrow it to one restaurant! Bossa Nova, Doe’s and Samantha’s.  Can’t forget Brave New Restaurant and I also go regularly to Cotham’s in Scott.

What is your favorite place to shop in Little Rock?  

The Dollar Tree. It’s the only place I can take all five grandkids and make everyone very happy for less than $20.

What’s your favorite movie/TV show? 

I belong to a movie club so I watch a lot of movies. “Sing” was one that really impressed me – though I saw it with the grands and not the movie club.  My TV stays glued to CNN.

What’s your favorite thing about JLLR? 

One thing that impresses me is its endurance.   It is hard to believe that JLLR is 95 years old.  It once seemed possible that it might not make it past the turn of the century.

An issue that we confronted in the early 90’s was the desire of AJLI to open the membership to men.  None of the leagues wanted that to happen and thankfully, we prevailed.  In some ways, the League seems more relevant and vibrant now than it did a quarter century ago.