“Area II Strong and Mighty:
40 Years of Service with Purpose and Passion”

Welcome to the 40th Annual Area II Leadership Conference!

Thank you for dedicating your time and resources to ensure we have a successful

conference as we explore this year’s theme “Area II Strong & Mighty – 40 Years of Service with Purpose and Passion”. I’m excited as this is our first in-person conference since 2019! Area II – you should be proud of the service that has been rendered in the communities that we serve as we Act, Innovate and Motivate in the hybrid landscape.

We look forward to engaging with our Top Ladies, Top Teens, Lords and community partners during our 40th Area II Leadership Conference on April 20-23, 2023 at the Westfields Marriott located in Chantilly, VA. We’re celebrating our 40th year of leadership conferences in ruby fashion! Area II is 18 chapters strong with over 840 Top Ladies and 290 Top Teens, making us the third largest area in TLOD with our focus on serving the needs within our communities. Our leadership conference journey begins on Thursday evening with workshops, line dancing, memorial service and more. The Joint Opening Session whose theme is “Area II - Who Are We” is Friday morning where we’ll celebrate with dance followed by the TLOD and TTA plenary sessions. This session paves the way for conducting important business throughout the conference.

As the weekend progresses, our Ladies and Teens will take time to recognize and celebrate excellence during the TTA Blue & Silver and TLOD luncheons with a focus on Sickle Cell Awareness and identifying who’s a bone marrow match. The theme for the Ladies luncheon is “A Road to a Sickle Cell Cure – A Change is Going to Come” and Children’s National Hospital will be onsite for a blood drive. The Top Teens “Blue & Silver” luncheon will highlight our awesome TTA Advisors and showcase our collective community service initiatives. We’ll have engaging and interactive workshop presentations. Our conference will culminate with the Area II Inspirational Moments program whose theme is “Strong in Battle, Victorious with the Lord” where we’ll worship collectively while celebrating and honoring our graduating Top Teens. You don’t want to miss this year’s in person conference!

Also, thank you to our TLOD National leadership for joining us and helping to emphasize the TLOD National theme: “Celebrating Our Legacy: TLOD Transforming Lives and Making a Difference…One Teen, One Lady and One Community at a Time (TLC)”.

I look forward to seeing all of you at the Westfields Marriott on April 20-23, 2023 as we celebrate our accomplishments and continue with Our A.I.M. is Service…Act, Innovate, Motivate because Service is What We Do in Area II! The Best is Yet to Come as we strive to serve the communities with Purpose and Passion. Thank you so much for all that you do!

My Pleasure to Serve,

Lady Hope V. Ruffin

National Area II Director