AWNY President’s Message from Jacquelyn Drozdoff

I hope this finds you well and in good spirits to finish up the year and kick off 2023 on a high.  While our “new normal” continues to be unpredictable, we can thankfully rely upon our fabulous team of dedicated AWNY volunteers, who bring so much light to our community no matter what. 

We’ve had another terrific year of in-person and virtual gatherings led by our Events and Community teams, along with an excellent mix of informative articles and content delivered via our newsletter and social channels by our Communications team. 

Notable 2022 event highlights include: Spring tea at the Australian Consulate, Easter egg family hunt and park playdates, annual MET rooftop drinks, fall fling AGM, a paint & sip evening, coffee strolls across NYC and Brooklyn, virtual Chinwags, holiday drinks in partnership with America Josh, and our signature emotional transition events. 

We have a number of exciting events to kick off the year in the works that we’ll be sharing shortly. I’m also delighted to welcome an exciting group of new AWNY leaders to our executive team for 2023. 

In the meantime, I’d like to express deep gratitude to our departing leads, who have made such a meaningful contribution over the past year and beyond: Emma Cillekens, Nakia Gordon, and Hayley Whitfield, and rockstar volunteer Angela Cierpicki Tohl. 

A huge thank you as well to our stellar VP Belinda Jackson, who has worked tirelessly in support of AWNY for more than 20 years and is a treasure to our organization. 

Lastly, we wholeheartedly thank the outgoing Australian Consul General to New York, the Hon. Nick Greiner, AC and his partner, AWNY Patron Carolyn Fletcher, AM, for their tremendous support of AWNY over the past two years.

I wish you and your families joy-filled, restorative holidays and a healthy, bright start to 2023.

Best wishes,

Jacquelyn Drozdoff (and daughter Olivia, AWNY next-gen)
AWNY President

PS – We are always looking for new volunteers, so please feel free to contact us at awny@aaanyc.org  if you’d like to get further involved with AWNY this year!