See that was the tough thing. Here I had this job that I absolutely adored, but I couldn’t travel. Had a baby, you know, and, and that was when, you know, women were trying to have it all, and it’s really hard, and I desperately wanted to keep my job, and I also – but I also wanted to stay home so Tom McAn said well let’s see if we can make this work, and you can just be a consultant. So for a year I tried working, and then I, you know, juggling the two, and to be honest, I just couldn’t do it. Because the travel – I couldn’t travel, and I really wanted to be home, and I felt like I was doing neither job as well as I wanted to. So I left Tom McAn, and stayed home for 13 years, which, which turned out to be great, you know what I mean? That was exactly what I needed to do, and it was fabulous, but it was a wonderful job and I hated to leave it. So – and now the job that I’m in now is part-time, and when I went back to work that is the perfect way to juggle family, and, and work.
Jennifer Stanovich was born in Holden, Massachusetts in 1959. Wanting to stay close to home, she attended Assumption College where she graduated with a degree in psychology. Jennifer married in 1986 and is the mother of two children. Jennifer participated in a very beneficial internship with United Way of Central Massachusetts while in college, and after graduating worked in public relations and communications at Thom McAn Shoes, Data General, and then returned to Thom McAn. Currently she is Executive Director of Holden Area Chamber of Commerce. During her career, she took a thirteen year break from the workforce to stay home and be the very best mother she could. In this interview, Jennifer stresses the importance of doing one’s best. She comments that she left her career to be with her family as she felt she was not doing either job to her fullest potential, and that all she asks of her children is for them to do their best. Jennifer discusses how important family is. In this interview, Jennifer also talks about the worth of happiness outweighing the worth of money. Jennifer mentions the positive aspects and changes that have occurred in Worcester and suggests changes that would make Worcester the “people” city that it used to be.