WORKING WOMEN OF WESTCHESTER: JOAN JENNINGS

Westchester County Business Journal, Mar 31, 2008

JOAN JENNINGS

Deputy director

Yonkers Downtown/Waterfront Business

Improvement District Works

Works and lives in: Yonkers

What were your childhood ambitions?

"I wanted to be a doctor, but family came first and raising three children overtook my academic plans."

What do you think women bring to the workplace?

"Incredible hard work, a sense of priorities and responsibility, intuition and caring."

What are some obstacles you faced in the workplace?

"Finding time to juggle family and business.

When did you know you "made it?"

"Whenever I saw my name in print. My photograph of Erma Bombeck appeared on the jacket of her best-selling book appropriately titled 'Motherhood: The second oldest profession; and on ads for the book in the New York Times' review of books."

Most rewarding moment of your career?

"I've been fortunate to have many, but one recent one stands out. I had the privilege of commissioning original pieces of orchestral music from Bobby LaVell, a Yonkers jazz musician, composer and founder of the Hudson River Jazz Orchestra. His amazingly moving '9/11 Suite in Four Movements' was performed twice at historic St. John's Church in Getty Square in Yonkers and he is working on both a suite for the Hudson-Fulton Quad and a symphonic piece in collaboration with the Yonkers Philharmonic Orchestra."