Girl Scouts present Poway, 4S Ranch women with ‘Cool’ awards

Carol Lazier of Poway and Elena Crespo of 4S Ranch have been deemed “cool” by Girl Scouts San Diego for their volunteerism and leadership.

They were among 12 honored Tuesday during a luncheon ceremony at the Del Mar Country Club. Lazier, one of 11 “Cool Women of 2015,” joins an elite set of women honored over the past 15 years. Crespo, the only teenager, was dubbed “Cool Girl of 2015.” This is the third year for the girl award.

“We’re proud to honor these exemplary women for their extraordinary leadership and community service,” said Jo Dee C. Jacob, CEO of Girl Scouts San Diego. “Our Cool Women’s personal and professional lives make them consummate role models for girls.”

Selectees are nominated by previous award recipients, the council’s board of directors and nominating committee members. Nominators consider women who are role models for girls due to their success in their personal and professional lives, “the kind of women leaders we want our girls to become,” she said.

“We have such a rich community of talent,” Jacob added.

Lazier, a Poway resident for 21 years, is a longtime philanthropist and community champion. A year ago she became president of the San Diego Opera and is credited with helping to save the 50-year-old cultural arts organization. She has also served on boards for the San Diego Museum of Art, Strensrud Family Foundation and Solutions: Exploring Success Post High School. Her volunteerism also includes the Palomar Health Foundation, UCSD Rady School of Management and UCSD Moores Cancer Center.

The former Girl Scout also was a Brownie leader for her daughter’s Poway troop almost 20 years ago. One of her favorite memories during that time was taking the troop of elementary-age girls to a San Diego Opera dress rehearsal, she said.

“They loved it. ... I was pleasantly surprised,” Lazier said, adding the troop had to enter a lottery-style contest to be selected for the “hard-to-get” opportunity.

Lazier said she is “quite honored” to have been selected considering the backgrounds of her fellow honorees and those from previous years.

Volunteerism is something Lazier said she learned from her family while growing up and she does it because of the good feeling it generates within her.

“I’ve been blessed a lot, have the financial means to do it and have the time,” she said. “It gives me a great amount of pleasure ... (and is a way) to show Christ’s love.”

She added, “I get more out of it (sometimes) than the people I work with. It’s quite satisfying to make a difference, a dent in the universe.”

As for her leadership of the San Diego Opera after it nearly closed recently, Lazier said she has been an opera supporter for many years and joined its board a few years ago. She stepped up to save the opera — a position she refers to as her “accidental presidency” — because “closing the opera was not an option. We need this fine arts form (in our community).”

Jacob referred to Lazier as an “extraordinary leader” who “personally saved the opera.”

Crespo, a 17-year-old Del Norte High junior and Ambassador Girl Scout, is the daughter of Julie Purdy and Ivan Crespo. The family has lived in 4S Ranch for 15 years.

She founded the nonprofit organization Let Children Learn to help youths in Latin America. Her efforts have included developing a school computer lab in Panama and collecting wheelchairs for children without access to them in Mexico and other countries.

Crespo is one of the San Diego council’s national delegates and serves on the CEO’s Girls Advisory Board. Her Girl Scout travels have taken her to the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts World Centre in London. Crespo is in final stages of her Gold Award project so she can earn Girl Scouts’ highest honor.

“Elena is the best of our 30,000 girls,” Jacob said, adding this is the first time a Girl Scout has been selected for the council’s “Cool Girl” award.

“I’m so shocked and so honored,” Crespo said, adding that being a role model for younger girls is one of the reasons she has stayed in the organization. She said her experiences and overseas travels through Girl Scouts have helped her be globally aware and future focused.

Crespo said she joined as a Daisy in kindergarten because her mother said it would be a great way to make friends “and I loved the Daisy smocks,” she added. But she stayed in for the past 12 years because “it’s a lot of fun, I’ve gotten to travel the world and be a mentor. The best thing about Girl Scouts is that I can bring change to the world.”