AIFD Southern Chapter
- Jul 23, 2020
- 5 min read

President's Letter

Hello to my Southern Chapter colleagues –

I can hardly believe the year is already over. It has been an honor and a privilege serving as your president for the past year. Southern is a wonderful chapter, filled with amazingly talented designers with generous hearts & souls. I have learned so much from so many of you over the years – I hope to send those blessings back out into the community as I move on.

This year, in place of our annual membership meeting normally held at National Symposium, we will be recording a webinar for viewing at your leisure. I encourage you to take a look to get to know your incoming board members, to welcome our newly inducted AIFD members and to congratulate our students. We have accomplished some remarkable things and look forward to the next year under our new president, Michael Whaley AIFD. Please look for that link via our blog and social media outlets toward the end of July.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the folks that have worked so hard over the past year to make Southern stand out as leader in our industry. The efforts this year have focused not just on education, but also in communications – working toward opening a better dialogue with each other in our region.

Do you know we give away a free symposium registration every year?

Many thanks to our secretary – Marcela López-Vallejo AIFD who has diligently worked to increase our social media presence. If you are not already following us on Facebook and Instagram, please do. This is the format on which we give away a free symposium registration every year (only open to Southern Chapter AIFD and CFD members). Keep an eye out in the spring for that contest.

We also ask that you post information to let us know what is going on in your area – are you hosting workshops or programs, are folks getting recognized for the wonderful designers and people that we are here in Southern, what other interesting tidbits can you share with the Southern community? We would love to hear about it. We are on FB & IG as AIFD Southern Chapter. Marcela has also changed our newsletter into a blog format so that we can get information out to you in a timely manner.

Have you received your birthday card in the mail?

Please check your profile on the AIFD website to make sure the date is listed. Sylvia Bird AIFD is the generous soul behind the effort to greet each of our members a “Happy Birthday.” This is no small feat, there are nearly 250 of us in the chapter, and we keep growing! A huge thank you to Sylvia for her efforts with sending cards of greeting, sympathy and good cheer to those in our region. If you know of any of our members that we should reach out to, please let any on the board know – our contact information is listed at the end of this message.

Do you belong to a state association? This year we have started making a more concerted effort to reach out the state associations in our region. Many thanks to our chapter Treasurer, Jackie Smith Johns AIFD for her work contacting each of the associations and setting up a communications link to the chapter. We know that many associations are struggling, so we have set up a program to provide assistance to bring in a designer to their state convention or other event. We have initiated a“Sponsor-A-Designer” award available by lottery to state associations that want to bring in a Southern Chapter AIFD designer to present at their event. Please let Jackie know if you would like to setup a liaison to the chapter board.

2 Phenomenal Educational Events:

We had a wonderful SAIFD Student Weekend at Western Kentucky University thanks to leadership by Vice-President Aisha Crivens AIFD, Donny Johnson AIFD and Past-President Roger Dennis AIFD who is the Student Advisor and Instructor at WKU. The weekend included an induction ceremony, workshops with Aisha, President-Elect Michael Whaley AIFD and me, an education program on armatures and a student competition with prize money to attend the competition at National Symposium. Thanks to incoming director Linda K Speer AIFD who participated in the planning but was not able to attend at the last minute and past National/Southern Chapter President, John Kittinger AIFD, Brenda Blackburn AIFD and Jamie Hayre CFD for judging and additional help with the student competition.

The other major event we hosted this year was a Certification Practice Exam we hosted in conjunction with Florida State Florists Association. Many thanks to Bob Tucker AIFD for helping me bring this idea to fruition. This project was an example of how the chapter can partner with state associations to create to unique educational programs beneficial to both organizations. This project could not have been possible without the dedication of Angelyn Tipton AIFD, Sue Bain AIFD and Michael Whaley AIFD. Thanks to FSFA members Ashley Brant CFD, Brian Wirtz, Bill Bobulinski for all the help with setup and breakdown for this event. We were fortunate to have the support of National President Jackie Lacey AIFD who gave incredible feedback to participants on how their designs could be strengthened.

Rescheduled for 2021:

If it weren’t for the pandemic lockdowns, we would have again participated with the annual Art in Bloom festival at the NC Museum of Art. Sue Bain AIFD put together an amazing structure that she and Robin Weir AIFD were going to flower up for Southern Chapter’s large focal installation at the museum. As always, this display is great public awareness campaign to the 20,000 attendees that attend that event annually. This display, as well as the workshop that Jody McLeod AIFD was going to lead has been rescheduled for next year’s festival.

Thanks also to Lori Himes AIFD and Angela Darrah AIFD for all their hard work putting together the FlowerWood event and for Randy Wooten AIFD for his guidance on working with event contractors. This event will be rescheduled for 2021.

I want to send my heartfelt thanks to the entire Southern Chapter Board for all their hard work, thoughtful counsel and dedication to work toward the betterment of our region. I’m grateful for your participation and support for all the activities we have taken on.

Sincerely,

Terry Godfrey AIFD, EMC

Southern Chapter AIFD 2020-2021 Board of Directors President: Michael Whaley AIFD

mymike65@gmail.com

(919) 810-1241

Past-President: Teresa (Terry) Godfrey AIFD

TerryGodfreyAIFD@gmail.com

(301) 332-9338

President-Elect: Aisha Crivens AIFD

amcrivens@gmail.com

(901) 896-9158

Vice-President: Jody McLeod AIFD