Dear Friends,

Spring is here and with it comes a lot of exciting news! As I write this, it is 75 degrees and sunny outside.

Speaking of 75 degrees and sunny, I hope to see you all at the LMA Annual Conference in sunny San Diego, California! Come join us for a regional meet-and-greet before the start of the conference on April 3. It’s not too late to register. Check out this amazing lineup of speakers! Recognize anyone?

Later that month, on Thursday, April 18, our region along with the Capital chapter will hold an educational and social program double-header. By popular request, we will be bringing back our public speaking workshop led by Dr. Jean Miller of Spoken with Authority at the DC office of White & Case. We’ll then head over to SPIN for some table tennis and great company.

Meanwhile, our local chapters have been busy and I hope you have been taking advantage of all the great programs they have been putting on. Our Baltimore chapter held a virtual meet-and-greet to connect members with each other and will be following that up with an educational program in the Spring. Our Virginias chapter held a “Fall In Love with LMA” networking lunch and will be following that up with a joint-event with ALA on Tuesday, April 16 about what to know when redesigning your website.

As we all start to come out of hibernation and embrace the Spring, I would like to encourage you to bet on yourself. I recently watched the documentary, 42 to 1, about the greatest upset in boxing history, Buster Douglas over Mike Tyson. At the time, Tyson was being called the best fighter ever. He was 37-0, had never even been knocked down, and most of his fights ended quickly by devastating knockout. People were scared to fight him. Douglas on the other hand was a mild-mannered guy from Columbus, Ohio. His career had had some ups-and-downs and he came into his fight with Tyson a 42-1 underdog. Everyone was predicting the fight would last shorter than the commercial break. But, when the fight came around Douglas refused to be bullied and took the fight to Tyson. In the tenth round, Douglas not only beat Tyson, he knocked him out. When Tyson came to, he asked his trainer where he was. His trainer responded, “man, you got knocked out!” Tyson couldn’t believe it… but, Buster Douglas did. Bet on yourself like Buster Douglas did and you can do truly amazing things.

We have a wonderful series of articles in our newsletter written by LMA members on how to bet on yourself. Whether it’s personal branding, building your network, or finding your next career move we have you covered!

As always, feel free to connect with to me if you’d like to become more involved in LMA and get the most out of your membership.

All the best,

Arthur Uratani
LMA Mid-Atlantic Region President
Director of Marketing & Outreach
Bookoff McAndrews PLLC