Last week, I went with several of my colleagues to the NYSAIS advancement conference at Mohonk Mountain House. NYSAIS stands for the New York State Association of Independent Schools. At the conference, I had the opportunity to speak about building your personal brand for career success with today’s guest, Jan Abernathy. Before we did our talk, we recorded it to share with all of you!

Jan Abernathy is the Chief Communications Officer at The Browning School, a K-12 boys’ school in New York City. Formerly the director of marketing and communications at The Elisabeth Morrow School in Englewood, NJ. At Browning, she is a member of the Health & Safety Team, responsible for managing COVID response, and co-chaired the school’s successful search for its new director of equitable practice and social impact.

She is president of New York City Independent Schools Communications Professionals, a professional association of over 100 members from schools throughout the tri-state area, and the co-founder of Black Advancement Networking Group, which works to gain further representation and greater professional growth of Black professionals in advancement roles in independent schools. Jan is chair of CASE-NAIS 2022, the most prominent international advancement conference in the independent school sector. A journalist by training, she has written for NAIS’ Independent School Magazine on crisis communications (Winter 2019) and the “Black at” movement (Winter 2021).

She is a trustee of Grace Church School, a K-12 school in New York City, and was on the board of Stevens Cooperative School in Hoboken, NJ, for 13 years, spending six years as chair. Her consulting firm, Jan Abernathy Strategic Communications, provides communications and DEI counsel for educational institutions and non-profits.