What People Are Saying
Learn more from inspiring clients
Janelle helped build a
multi-layered marketing
plan for my book and
excelled at every step.
The challenge was finding
people with enough passion
for my niche topic. We
worked closely together and
I was consistently impressed
with Janelle’s imagination,
connections, and
communications skill.
She’s fun, too.
- BRAD EDMONDSON,
author of A Wild Idea:
How the Environmental
Movement Tamed
the Adirondacks
Janelle is a true pleasure
to work with. I reached
out to her in desperate
need of some help
putting together a cover
letter for a job that was
due in 48 hours and she
dropped everything to
help me. She is fast to
respond, thorough, detail
oriented and truly cares
about the success of her
clients and friends. Words
come to her seemingly
effortlessly and working
with her is a privilege.
I would highly recommend
her to anyone and
everyone.
- LIZZIE WILFORD,
plant nursery professional
Working with Janelle was
a true gift! She’s thoughtful,
patient, and articulate. She
asked questions in a way
that challenged me into new
directions and allowed me to
ultimately arrive at a more
honest and insightful place
with my written piece. She
will give you her undivided
attention and leave you
thinking about the ideas
that you are exploring with
newfound excitement and
curiosity. Her intention for
collaboration, creativity, and
equity is evident in every
corner of her work. I couldn’t
recommend working with
Janelle enough!
- CHLOE WINGERTER, MBA
As a guest lecturer for
Janelle’s Adirondack
Semester, I have
experienced first-hand her
amazing ability to connect
with students, inspiring and
encouraging them to
go beyond their own
expectations. Janelle is
highly intelligent, insightful,
energetic and funny! She is
a delight to work with and
has helped me shape my
professional thinking and
writing skills. I always look
forward to our encounters.
- BRIAN L. HOUSEAL,
Chair, U.S. Biosphere Network
For several years I was enlisted as a lecturer/workshop leader at the Hamilton College Adirondack residential program in Keene. Professor Schwartz developed and refined the curriculum for this ambitiously immersive program, always seeking out a range of presenters who could introduce her students to subjects well beyond the reach of environmental studies. This expansive approach to a much fuller-than-usual Adirondack education impressed me mightily. I was tapped to speak about Adirondack ethnic, Black, labor, and migratory history--fresh material for these students, and often rather challenging. Professor Schwartz conjured a welcoming environment for these exchanges, and dealt with students with a warm, respectful touch. Incisive and good-humored, she is wonderful to work with. I can't recommend her enough.
- AMY GODINE,
Independent Scholar
Janelle brings her
extensive experience,
educational credentials,
strong moral compass,
unique perspective, and
compassion to every
keystroke, enabling her to
magically combine words
that perfectly express what
I try to communicate, yet
cannot get quite right. She
asks unanticipated questions,
coalesces new insights, and
creates text that cannot be
ignored, sharing my intent in
ways I couldn’t express. JAS
Creatives bridges the gap
between what I wish I could
communicate and what my
readers will understand and
not forget.
- JERY Y. HUNTLEY,
Founder and President,
OurStoryBridge, Inc.
Janelle invited my wife,
Kristin Kimball, and me
to speak at Hamilton
College when Janelle
was a professor there.
She designed the event
to bring out the best in
all of us. She succeeded
in a marvelous way,
expanding our horizons
in the midst of a highly
organized bureaucratic,
educational institution.
Best of all, she created
enough flexible time
for faculty and students
and us to create our own relationships, some of
which led to lifelong
friendships. At the same
time, she held herself and
everyone around her
accountable to
the vision of the event,
which she had planned
months in advance. In the
end Janelle synthesized
a gathering that brought
literature, farming, academia,
art, food policy, and more
to the table. Over the next
few years, she expanded
on those themes by
creating an Adirondack
semester that brought
students and faculty and
farmers together in a way
that saw lasting benefits
for the whole community.
She has always inspired me
by her ability to be herself
in many contexts and to
bring us all together in
ways we didn’t imagine
before we met her.
In short, she is a rockstar.
- MARK KIMBALL,
Owner-Operator, Essex Farm, NY
During the five years
that Janelle Schwartz
designed and directed
the Hamilton College
Adirondack Program,
which used my 40-acre
property, “The Mountain House,”as its experiential campus, I received many letters from the local organizations with which the students worked, as well as many letters from students’ parents—all thanking me and expressing their gratitude for the wonderful and unique experience the
program provided. Thanks to the tireless leadership of Professor Schwartz, this program created an awareness for engaging and encouraging students to learn ways of finding a sustainable balance between how to make a living post-college and how to respect and maintain the thousands
of acres of unspoiled and undeveloped land within
the Adirondack Park—and
how to adapt this experience anywhere in the world.
- ROBERT M. BIESEMEYER,
owner of The Mountain House, Keene, NY
Janelle is a fantastic collaborator and colleague. We have worked on multiple projects together in varying capacities; the results always exceed my original vision. Janelle has a subtle style of mentoring her collaborators that creates space for everyone to accomplish their best work. She encourages us all to dream big and ground ourselves by focusing on accountability, self-reliance, adaptability, situational awareness, and community engagement. Janelle helped guide me toward uprooting and shifting my teaching pedagogy before I realized what had happened! In my current role I’m just now seeing the best practices, which Janelle envisioned using years ago, finally start to percolate across campus. Janelle is always working on the leading edge and making waves long after she has moved on.
- CAROLYN B. DASH, PHD,
Assistant Laboratory Professor of Biology at Middlebury College
Dr. Schwartz was a delight to work with as a consultant on
our projects here at Paul
Smith’s College. Her work
was extremely thorough, thoughtfully executed, and
she paid attention to details
that we were unable to see ourselves while creating some new programs here at the college. I appreciated her collegiality and willingness to drive the conversation into sometimes uncomfortable places for the betterment of
the institution. I would
absolutely work with her again!
- JOSEPH A. HENDERSON, PHD,
Lecturer at Paul Smith's College
and Associate Editor of Journal of Environmental Studies & Sciences
Working with Janelle was
a pleasure! I was very
pleased with the effort she
took in addressing my
needs. The book reviews
that she wrote—requiring
thorough reading of three
different manuscripts—were
completed in a timely and
professional manner.
Janelle has an easy, friendly,
and very approachable
manner and is very
knowledgeable about a
wide range of subjects.
In my opinion, she would
not be deterred by projects
that seem difficult or “out of
the box.” With her expertise
in educational venues and
with her sharp and practical
mind, she is well-equipped
to take on literary tasks,
creative marketing designs,
and much, much more.
I recommend her
wholeheartedly.
- JOAN G. SHEEHAN, PHD,
Editor of The River Quintet, a YA
historical novel series by Ray E.
Philips, MD; author of A
Companion Guide to the River
Quintet; author of The Exploring
Language Series, a comprehensive
exploratory world language
program for the middle school
students
I hired Janelle A. Schwartz
for a developmental edit for
a non-fiction book. From
our earliest correspondence
all the way throughout the
project, she has been
phenomenally professional.
Her communications are
prompt and clear. Her
billing has been fair and
transparent. Janelle brings
a stellar intellect and great
sensitivity to the delicate
work of developmental
editing. She asked pointed
questions that pushed me
to clarify my own goals so
that together we could bring
my vision to fruition. Janelle
has an uncanny ability to
use language that feels like
it’s mine as she tactfully
smooths out my clumsy
transitions. She is mindful
of her own foot print on
my project, always cautious
to make sure she hasn’t
changed any of my intended meaning. She has brought imagination and insight
that has renewed my
confidence and passion
for this project. From
the beginning of our
association it has been
obvious that Janelle truly
cares about helping
people realize their
creative dreams. She is
talented, funny and kind.
Without hesitation I
wholeheartedly recommend
JAS Creatives.
- EMILY MARYNCZAK, AAHCC,
author of Emily’s Birth Book: Your
Guide to a Conscientious Birth
I have known Janelle in diverse capacities during the past fifteen years—college professor, consultant, collaborator, colleague, career counselor, and confidante. And no matter the circumstances and what professional “hat” Janelle wore at any given moment in our shared history, her bold creativity combined with uncanny intellectual resourcefulness have been a constant throughline in our working relationship. Janelle swiftly spots the flicker of brilliance within an otherwise inchoate project and tenaciously remakes what had been a vague vision into a viable final product. Likewise, Janelle manifests her preternatural ingenuity by bringing her radically interdisciplinary areas of expertise as well as her extensive network of thought-partners to any task presented to her. Whatever the scope of the project, working with Janelle offers the chance to co-create something extraordinary, more colorful than the sum of its component parts.
- LOREN MICHAEL MORTIMER, PHD, Provost's Postdoctoral Fellow in Native North American History at Emory University