Some of Mitzi Choate’s first memories of her parents are of them exercising and being conscious of their diets and weights.
“As a matter of fact,” she said, “when I was 3 or 4, my mother worked in a ‘health studio’ selling memberships. Keep in mind this was the late 1950s, and gym memberships were much more a novelty at that time.”
A native of Illinois, Choate says she’s certain that her interest in nutrition and health was born out of that early exposure.
“That interest has solidified into a desire to do what I can to have a healthy mind and body, which includes healthy eating and exercise,” she said. “I consider my health a gift to be treasured and cared for. Heart disease touches almost every family and can limit the way we are able to live our lives. The good news is that we can control many of the factors that contribute to heart disease and stroke. Not to sound melodramatic, but if we as a nation focused on healthy eating, moderate exercise and eliminated proven risk factors like smoking from our lives, health care costs would be dramatically decreased for our nation.”
Heart Ball Leader
As anyone can ascertain, Choate is quite the spokesperson for preventing and prevailing over heart disease, which makes her the perfect chair (with husband, Larry, who is CEO of Arvest Bank and chairman of the board for central Arkansas) for the American Heart Association’s 2010 Heart Ball.
As co-chairs, Mitzi and Larry — who have two sons, Scott, 37, and Dustin, 24 — serve as “volunteer leaders and managers” of the ball. The couple must choose and recruit the executive committee members, maintain contact with and assist committee chairs, choose the theme of the ball, recruit event honorees, work to ensure the event’s financial success and serve as host and hostess for the ball. Their work is both behind-the-scenes and center stage in an effort to assure the event is a huge success. This is no easy task, and it’s an unfathomable amount of work.
But to talk to Mitzi Choate, one would never know she has so many responsibilities to juggle. She’s always calm and collected, friendly and charming. And she’s business savvy to boot, which doesn’t hurt when helping plan one of the year’s most incredible events.
She holds a bachelor of science degree in business administration from the University of Tulsa, with a major in accounting.
“Most of my professional life has been spent in the accounting profession,” she said. “I am a CPA and have practiced in both public accounting and private industry.”
She is currently the director of sales for Carpentree Inc., a Tulsa-based company that designs, manufactures, imports and distributes inspirational gifts, home decor and wall decor.
“I have worked for them for 15 years,” Choate said. “I am happy to say the owners of Carpentree wanted to keep me as an employee when Larry and I moved to Little Rock [five years ago]. So I established our Little Rock satellite office, which is in my home. I home office and travel to our customers and to the Tulsa office monthly.”
Moving to Little Rock
Prior to moving here, Choate said she’d never even visited Little Rock. But when Larry told her of their opportunity to relocate, she said, “Let’s go.”
“As I crossed the bridge and was blessed by the beautiful sight of the Arkansas River bordered by magnificent heavily wooded bluffs, I told my son, ‘It’s going to be all right!’ Our time in Little Rock has far surpassed my initial statement — Little Rock is a wonderful place full of lovely, warm, giving people.”
And Choate says that she and her husband’s involvement with the Heart Ball has only solidified for her the philanthropic nature of the Little Rock community.
“The success of the Heart Ball begins with the organized, diligent American Heart Association staff, led by Carol Dyer, executive director of the central Arkansas American Heart Association, and Ashley Whisenhunt, Heart Ball administrative associate. Added to the AHA staff efforts is the enthusiastic support of hundreds of volunteers from the community,” she said.
“I have been touched by the willingness of people to take time out of their busy lives to give time to this cause. Larry and I have been blessed to work alongside an executive committee made up of individuals who exemplify the best of the volunteer spirit.”
This Year’s Heart Ball
All those hours of volunteering culminate in a beautiful and successful event. This year’s ball — which will be held from 5:30 to 10:30 p.m., Saturday, Feb. 20, at the Statehouse Convention Center’s Wally Allen Ballroom — features an amazing roster of live auction items, including one week in Maui; a necklace valued at $10,000 from Cecil’s Fine Jewelry; the 2010 Heart Ball signature painting, “Hearts Behind the Flag” by Bob Snider, and more.
The Heart Ball Sweethearts will be presented and honored at 6:45 p.m. (Editor’s note: check out the February issue of Soirée to meet the 2010 Heart Ball Sweethearts.) Dinner will be provided by The Peabody Little Rock and music and entertainment by The Rockets. Tickets are $500 per person.
The Heart Ball was the first event the Choates attended after they relocated to Little Rock. “It was and remains for us an affair we look forward to every year. So what a huge honor it is to be co-chairing this event five years later,” Choate said. “My personal takeaway from co-chairing the Heart Ball: meeting and working with precious people who have become friends!”