Jenna Dukes says that she hears a lot of things while standing behind the pharmacy counter handing off prescriptions.
From listening to their traffic complaints and personal anecdotes, Dukes says it was her customers at Cherry Grove Drug that prompted her to run for Horry County Council.
“Just from being [at the pharmacy] and listening, I get to talk to people all day long. … There was just a constant flow of people expressing frustrations, whether it be traffic, or, I had a lady tell me that she had tried to call a representative for months and couldn't get an answer. Just little things like that. This light bulb went off and I knew it was time to do something,” she said.
Dukes, 37, defeated longtime Horry County Councilman Harold Worley for District 1 in November and will begin her term as the only woman on council at the start of the new year.
She is the first woman to serve on council in over a decade.
"I'm very excited to bring a female perspective to council," she said. "Men and women compliment one another very well and I think that we'll all work very well together."
North Myrtle Beach Mayor Marilyn Hatley said that Dukes is admired by the community in District 1.
“Jenna is a fine young lady. She is very well respected as a pharmacist in our community and she is very trusted by the people in our community and I think that she will make a very good representative on Horry County Council,” Hatley said.
Dukes, who is originally from West Virginia, owns Cherry Grove Drug and has been a pharmacist for about 11 years.
“My parents always had a second home here so I would come down on summers when I was in pharmacy school and worked at Walgreens so when I graduated, I had a job and had already developed relationships within the community and with customers, so it was an easy easy choice to move here,” she said.
Along with her husband Curtis Dukes, who is a real estate agent in the area, and their bulldog, Wilbur, Dukes says she loves living in the north strand.
“It’s a fantastic community and it’s growing leaps and bounds and I look forward to working with all the city leaders within North Myrtle Beach as well,” she said.
Her love of politics began young with the help and mentorship of her grandfather.
“My grandfather took me with him to vote when I was three or four for the very first time and he would always make a point to introduce me to any of our elected officials so that I felt comfortable talking to them. He very early established, or taught me that, you want to have a relationship with these people,” she said.
Dukes’ schedule will soon be packed between running the pharmacy, council duties and personal obligations. She credits her pharmacy staff with making it possible for her to balance it all.
“I have a fantastic staff and I have groomed them for the last several years for me to be able to step away and take a little bit of time off. A couple of years ago, I didn’t necessarily plan for that time off to be spent in politics, but things worked out differently and I made a different decision based on a need that I saw,” she said.
Cherry Grove Drug came to be in a similar way, she said. This January will be five years since Dukes made a decision to serve in a way she saw was needed in the area by opening her pharmacy on Sea Mountain Highway.
Dukes said her communication skills that she picked up as a pharmacist will help her in her county council position.
“I’m constantly in the middle of the patient and the provider, so I think it will be an asset that I will be able to bridge the gap between local government and our constituents. I’ll be able to be that middle ground and work with my fellow council members to benefit Horry County, and also just knowing how to be in the middle and bring everyone together, that’s what I do everyday,” Dukes said.
Through talking with Little River residents, she has learned of a few different aspects of that community she wants to address during her term.
“I want to make sure that they’re getting taken care of as well. I know a lot of the residents out there that I’ve talked to feel like it’s growing too fast and that we’re not keeping up, especially with roads and infrastructure,” she said. “A lot of them are worried about the roads being congested and having an issue with getting an ambulance to them or getting to the hospital or being able to get out quick enough and that’s something that I think we all have to sit down and work with everybody to figure out how we can move forward with that.”
Outside of her pharmacy and local government worlds, Dukes says she and her husband like to travel.
“My husband and I like to travel. That’s about the only way I can turn off and relax is to get out of here completely. We love to explore new cities or old cities we haven’t been to in a while, just quick little getaways,” she said. “I’m from southern West Virginia and I like to go home and ride the ATV trails and just spend time where I’m from and thankfully, my husband really enjoys it, too.”
With the support of her loved ones and customers, Dukes said she looks forward to serving her community this coming January.
“She has always been one of those business leaders that cares about her customers and the community,” President and CEO of Destination North Myrtle Beach Cheryl Kilday said.
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