Introducing Our 2024 Trailblazer Award Recipient
If you look up Trailblazer in the dictionary, you'll find a photo of our 2024 Trailblazer Award Recipient alongside the words "Ambassador of Change." Since her days at Rutgers Law School, Hannah Pennington has provided a voice for our city's most vulnerable children, families, and individuals, and she's just getting started.
We sat down with Hannah to discuss what inspired her to work in the public sector and what drives her to keep moving forward.
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Let's start with this year's benefit theme, Homecoming. What does the word home mean to you? How has that changed over time?
Growing up, I was fortunate to always have a safe place to go every night and every day. Even when I wasn't living with my family, per se, I had people around me who were available. I think of home as something more than a physical place and more about having a support network. I've always had an excellent network, even during challenging times. Home is more about your people and being able to rely on them.
Who did you look up to early on in your career or while you were growing up? Was there somebody that inspired you to start doing the kind of work you do?
My grandmother had the most significant impact on me regarding my passion for making the world a better place. She was an incredibly vibrant person. She lost her husband in her sixties, and her response to that loss was to forge ahead on her own in remarkable ways that would take me a long time to tell you all about. She was one of the most well-known people in the town I grew up in, Ho-Ho-Kus, NJ, and her hometown of Ridgewood, NJ. She was an incredibly active volunteer who used to play the piano at the local hospital multiple times a week and drive around public figures in the town parades in her little, teeny convertible.
Most importantly, and more seriously, she was politically outspoken in a not particularly progressive town. She was of a different generation and willing to stand up for her beliefs. She motivated me to become more publicly engaged, speak my mind and to give back to my community. She's my North Star.
What would you say is the best advice you've ever been given?
My mom always talked about how, with age comes wisdom and a sense of calm that you didn't even know was possible. Perspective is everything. It's less about doing one thing versus another, and more about being able to see the light at the end of the tunnel. This doesn't mean you're not going to have times when you stress out, doubt yourself, or have impostor syndrome, but having that perspective gives you a lot more grounding to move in the world differently.
What's one of the biggest lessons you've learned about yourself throughout your personal journey?
I've been thinking about this in regard to my speech. I remember telling someone long ago that I was a people-person, and they scoffed at me and said, "You shouldn't say that." But I think being a people-person is OK, and I want to embrace that.
Each of us has our own a particular way of moving through the world, but I think our core remains the same. My core has always been being a connector, being part of the community, having many friendships, and having a full life. Some characteristics about me have changed throughout my life, but at the end of the day, I still feel the way I did when I was eight years old. Who I was then is who I am now. I'm just finally embracing my identity as a people-person.
You've accomplished quite a bit in your life what's one of your proudest achievements so far?
Most recently, one of my projects in my role at the District Attorney's Office, has been helping to lead our work responding to the Domestic Violence Survivors Justice Act, a law the anti-violence advocacy community in New York State worked for years to pass. The law allows domestic violence victims who are prosecuted for criminal offenses to provide information about how the abuse they suffered affected their behavior. In two cases our investigations have led us to join in the survivor defendants' applications seeking shorter sentences, both of which were granted by the court.
It's been remarkably gratifying to be involved in individual cases where people who have experience so much trauma will get the chance to be out in the world to help support other survivors. I'm proud of that.
Another thing I've always prioritized at the places I've worked with is contributing to efforts to make the organization better. We often think about that in terms of external work, such as the product coming out of the organization or the services they provide. Instead, I mean helping the organizations themselves do better at supporting people more meaningfully.
I go back to my mom's advice on having perspective. That is something I did when I was at a corporate law firm trying to bring in resources to support more women in need or when I was at the mayor's office trying to bridge the gap between an older bureaucratic perspective on how people show up at work and how we can better support our teams. And that's especially true for organizations that have been around for a long time. Always be willing to change and do better. Don't see it as a failure but as a sign of growth.
There were a lot of things not taught to me in law school about how you should engage with defendants or how you should engage with victims of violence. However, through growth and constantly changing my viewpoint, I now have these tools to equip myself and people new to field better. This does not take away from what I did; it simply acknowledges being more informed and having different perspectives.
What's one of the greatest challenges you've ever had to overcome personally or professionally?
My biggest challenge and biggest achievement is how I got divorced and how I co-parent.
Wow, that's a very personal answer I'm sure a lot of people can relate to. Thank you for sharing that with us.
We talked about this a bit in the beginning, but you have dedicated a lot of your career to public service work, and you mentioned the influence from your grandmother and parents. What about that work speaks to you?
Generally speaking, progress and improvement. This goes back to the people-person in me. I want to be part of the solutions, and collaborating with people has always been my path to making things better.
My mother is a survivor of domestic violence. But she was found a way to keep going and live this big, happy life I eventually inherited.
Growing up, I wasn't the person who had the most resources or access to things, but I always knew that I was lucky to have a lot more than so many others.
That's what speaks to me so strongly about Rob's story and HeartShare St. Vincent's American Dream Program-the ability to create opportunities and access to spaces that would have been harder to reach for more people.
I don't think I always had the words to describe it as a high school or college student, but I knew I wanted to contribute to other people's ability to have happy and fulfilling lives.
What's something you wish people knew about gender-based violence issues in this country? What's something people tend to misunderstand or aren't talking enough about?
After 25 years of doing this work, it still surprises me how people still don't understand how common and prevalent gender-based violence truly is.
It's much more palpable now that I'm at a district attorney's office and see every day the many serious and life-threatening cases coming into the office. If people understood the frequency of the violence and its long-term impacts they could work toward creating more robust strategies to prevent these things from happening in the first place.
The second issue sounds very simple, but I wish people knew that help was available, especially in a resource rich city like New York.
People often see the gaps and the need for more resources within the system, which is not to say there aren't any, but people still need to be made aware they can reach out for help. I wish they did.
How do we encourage more people to ask for help?
We need to fund more community-based organizations that already have trusting working relationships with their community members that can provide more assistance at that grassroots level.
How do we encourage people to get involved in their community more, whether it's with issues like gender-based violence or just volunteering in general?
First, we need to improve the pay for people doing the work at the grassroots level so that they can be part of the solution. That's one way to encourage people to get involved because otherwise it's not accessible to everybody to do this work.
We could do a PSA about how meaningful being part of an engaged community can be and having more mentors in the community service arena. As one person in a huge city like New York, it's easy not to truly see the people you're moving through the world with. If we did a better job of really seeing people who are not necessarily family members or coworkers, I think it would create more engagement in the community.
What's the next big milestone you hope to achieve? Something that you're looking forward to.
I turned 50 this year, and my best friend Nina, who lives in California, and I made a list of 50 things we wanted to do during our 50th year. Nina's my oldest friend and literally my number one fan. We've been dutifully comparing notes and sharing when one of us adds to or checks something off our list. So, my next significant milestone is finishing the 50 things for my 50th birthday.
Final question, if someone voted for you most likely to ... What would that superlative be?
Start a group chat.
Because you're a people-person.
That's so funny, yes. We've come full circle.
Before we wrap up, is there anything else you want to share with our community?
I want to thank HeartShare St. Vincent's for this incredible honor. To be celebrated, especially alongside someone as inspiring as Rob, I feel so touched and privileged to be in his company.