The La Jolla Town Council celebrated Women’s History Month by handing out awards to local women for their contributions to the community and giving them the floor to share their stories during the Town Council’s meeting March 12.
Council President Mary Soriano gave the Women Who Inspire award to Natasha Wong, who grew up in La Jolla and became a decades-long advocate for San Diego’s Asian communities.
The Women of Impact honor went to the La Jolla Woman’s Club, whose president, Nancy Jones, accepted the award on the group’s behalf.
Wong said her Women Who Inspire recognition is “really special to me because I was born and raised here in San Diego. I also went to Muirlands Middle School, I went to La Jolla High, I met my husband here in La Jolla and now we’ve raised our family [here] as well.”
Natasha Wong (left) is given the La Jolla Town Council’s 2026 Women Who Inspire award by council President Mary Soriano. (Noah Lyons)
Though she eventually became deeply involved in her community, Wong said she didn’t always feel welcomed as a child of immigrant parents, dating to her time at a small private Christian school where she was usually the only Asian student in class and experienced bullying from her classmates over cultural differences such as what she ate for lunch.
“I felt different, I felt like I didn’t belong and I even felt like I wasn’t American,” Wong said. “But even with the complex of my identity, I witnessed my family make lots of contributions to the community here in San Diego.”
Wong co-founded San Diego’s first fully licensed Chinese bilingual preschool, worked on a student internship program through the Asian Pacific American Coalition and served as District 1 representative to the San Diego Commission on the Status of Women. She recently stepped down as president of the House of China in Balboa Park after 10 years.
“I hope young girls … will see the work through the organizations that I’m involved with to feel like they belong and they’re not made fun of because of their school lunches,” Wong said.
Nancy Jones (left), president of the La Jolla Woman’s Club, receives the La Jolla Town Council’s Women of Impact award on the group’s behalf from council President Mary Soriano. (Noah Lyons)
The La Jolla Woman’s Club at 7791 Draper Ave. hosts events including weddings, nonprofit fundraisers, receptions, lectures, concerts and dinners. Members are treated to monthly luncheons with entertainment, programs and educational speakers.
The club, formed in the 1890s as the Women’s Literacy Club of La Jolla, originally held meetings at members’ homes or local churches. In 1913, club member and La Jolla philanthropist Ellen Browning Scripps contracted architect Irving Gill to draw up plans for a permanent clubhouse, and the first meeting was held there in October 1914.
The club’s greater mission, according to its website, is to “offer a greater focus on women’s issues in health, workplace and home.”
Jones, a graduate of the UC San Diego School of Medicine, said the group consists of women from many different backgrounds and careers.
“Not everybody is going to agree with you [and] not everyone is going to be like you. But in our club, we include everybody,” Jones said.
The award certificates bear the same names as honors given by state Sen. Catherine Blakespear and Assemblywoman Tasha Boerner. Blakespear recognizes Women Who Inspire in Senate District 38, while Boerner hands out Women of Impact awards in the 77th Assembly District.
Soriano told the La Jolla Light that the Town Council awards were selected and distributed independently.
Other Town Council news
Board election: The Town Council is preparing for its annual board election and to install officers. Board candidate statements will be delivered in May, and the roster of officers will be announced in June.
Per revised bylaws, the Town Council requires a minimum of seven trustees and can go up to 12.
To be eligible, candidates must live or work in La Jolla, have attended at least three Town Council meetings in the past 12 months and be a Town Council general member.
Next meeting: The La Jolla Town Council next meets at 6 p.m. Thursday, April 9, at the La Jolla Recreation Center, 615 Prospect St. Learn more at lajollatowncouncil.org. ♦