NATCHEZ — After months without a director, the Natchez Downtown Development Association has appointed Carrie Lambert to the position. She accepted this week.

Lambert said she approaches her new job with a drive to help maintain a vital historical downtown area.

Lambert, 48, grew up in New Orleans, working in French Quarter retail shops and her parents’ art gallery.

In July, Lambert moved to Natchez from Las Vegas, where her husband worked in the hospitality business and she worked as a paralegal, with her 6-year-old son, Jarrod. Her husband is still in Las Vegas awaiting a transfer to join her.

Her upbringing, with an emphasis on the importance of keeping historical areas vibrant, made Natchez an appealing place, Lambert said.

As a child, Lambert and her family regularly visited Natchez, and one of her first memories was of touring Longwood.

“It’s been emblazoned in my soul to want to be a part of historical places,” Lambert said.

After Hurricane Katrina hit, her parents, Stella and Rolland Golden, moved from New Orleans to Natchez.

When Lambert followed two years later, she was happy to join them.

“I moved here for the love of the city,” Lambert said. “Natchez is like coming home.”

Lambert said she was thrilled when she found the position for NDDA director.

She was one of roughly a dozen candidates the NDDA considered, President Bill Furlow said.

“We had a very strong group of candidates, and that made for a difficult choice,” Furlow said. “But I think we made the correct one. She’s got a really good combination of both the organizational skills and the people skills we need.”

Lambert will be responsible for helping organize events and communicating with downtown business owners, keeping them briefed on upcoming events.

“Another part of the communication will be to listen, to talk with downtown stakeholders about what’s important to them,” Furlow said. “What do they think NDDA should be doing? What do they need, and what we can do to support them in making their business successful?”

The next upcoming NDDA-sponsored event will be Art & Soul Oct. 5 and 6.