BY ROBIN HEFFLER
UCLA Today
Leslie Orticke can remember being an organizer
when she was only 11.
What began for the precocious preteen with
dances and bake sales now encompasses a much larger arena: the
Democratic Party, women who are battered or at-risk, and adopted
and foster-care children. On top of that, add planning special
events for six UCLA alumni groups.
“I carry my gavel and Robert’s Rules
of Order in the back of my car,” said Orticke, a UCLA
Alumni Association project manager, between peals of laughter.
“If something needs to be coordinated, I’ll jump
in, including a friend’s wedding when I have a free moment.”
A former coordinator of fund-raising and special
events for the United Negro College Fund, Orticke has, since
1998, produced events for UCLA’s American-Indian, Asian-Pacific,
Black, Latino, Pilipino and Lambda alumni groups. A 1983 alumna,
she is also the immediate past president of the Black Faculty
Staff Association.
In the community, Orticke is especially passionate
about her work on the City of Los Angeles Commission on the
Status of Women. First appointed in 1999 by then-Mayor Richard
Riordan, she chairs the Young Women At Risk Program.
“I want to make sure that more and more
women realize they don’t have to be a victim of abuse,
that their lives are not defined by whether they have a man
in it. But if they do, they should make sure to pick a man who
is going to treat them well,” said Orticke, her usually
fast-talking, lighthearted manner turning measured and serious.
She is also president of the Lullaby Guild,
which raises money for the Children’s Home Society, a
multicultural adoption and foster-care agency. She holds office
in the Inglewood chapter of Links, Inc., an international group
that provides assistance to women and children. Orticke is also
a 14-year member of the Junior League of Los Angeles, holds
a range of positions in her church and participates in the New
Frontier Democratic Club.
“I would like to run for the [Los Angeles]
City Council, maybe in eight years, because I’m a people
person and I’m good at organizing,” said Orticke,
who continues to live in her childhood home on the border of
Culver City.
While her hectic schedule leaves room for only
three or four hours of sleep a night, it doesn’t drain
her energy or enthusiasm.
“If you’re organized, you can do
anything you want,” said Orticke, who makes time for hobbies
such as sewing, desktop publishing and doll collecting. “There’s
plenty of time to rest when you’re dead.”
She credits her drive and self-confidence to
her mother, who became a widow with three children when Orticke
was 5. “She gave me my foundation of how to live my life
— you have a gift, you should share it.”
