Meet the New Watonga Chamber Director

WATONGA – The Watonga Chamber of Commerce has a new executive director, a young woman who has returned to her hometown ready to make a difference.

Jerrica Chebahtah is a Watonga High School graduate who worked in retail in Oklahoma City for years before returning to Watonga two years ago. Her husband, Darien, was deployed with the U.S. Navy at the time, and their daughter Azayla was a newborn.

“I think maybe three or four months after I had my little one, I was like, ‘Mom, I can’t do this on my own,’” she laughed. “So I moved back to Watonga.”

Chebahtah stayed home with Azayla after moving back. But when she was contacted about the chamber’s open position, she decided it could be a good fit.

“Growing up here, I always wanted to make a difference. But I wasn’t sure how,” Chebahtah said. “But then people from the chamber reached out to me and said, ‘I think you’d be really good for this job.’ So here I am, and I’m excited.”

Chebahtah has been on the job for about two weeks now, and is familiarizing herself with all the important parts of her position. There’s the chamber’s August banquet to organize, businesses to contact, new members to recruit, and, of course, the annual Watonga Cheese Festival.

“Everyone keeps telling me it’s the most important thing in Watonga, so we’ve got to be on it,” Chebahtah said. “I just started last week, but I am getting the hang of everything as far as people sending their applications in, and just reaching out to people saying, ‘Hey, are you guys still coming? Are you still interested?’ I’ve been just trying to advertise, and get people to come out and help volunteer, or bring their food truck, or whatever they have that they can sell.”

Chebahtah said her priorities as chamber director will be to create a more familyfriendly community with more activities that can keep people in town for their social and entertainment needs. “I want there to be more things to do for our youth,” she said. “I don’t want (my daughter) to be like, ‘Mom, I’m bored, let’s go to Oklahoma City.’ It’s like, what can we do here?”

Chebahtah said she has a lot to learn, but is excited to get out in the community and meet business owners around town.

“It’s been challenging, but in a good way,” she said. “I think I’m going to like it, for sure. I’m just excited to get out there and see what I can do.”

The Watonga Chamber offices are located at 505 S. Clarence Nash Boulevard, but they will be relocating to 410 W. Main St. by summer’s end. More information about the chamber is available online at watongachamber.org.

The Watonga Chamber of Commerce banquet will be held Aug. 30 at 6 p.m. at Lucky Star Casino. Attendees can RSVP at cwatonga@pldi.net or at 580-623-5452.

Chebahtah’s hiring comes weeks after the previous director, Dayla Luetkemeyer, resigned abruptly last month.