In her early 20s, after a conversation with her hero, Gordon Parks, Joan made a conscious decision to develop her broad range of talents rather than focus on only one field. As a result, her professional pursuits have included working as a fulltime calligrapher, a teacher at a high school within a psychiatric hospital, a registered NYS lobbyist, as well as a certified ski instructor.
Joan Gaylord (BA, American Studies) is a writer, editor, and photographer whose work has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, Pittsburgh Magazine, and The Christian Science Monitor, where she regularly writes book reviews. She also serves on the Board of Directors of Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, the environmental organization founded by Pete Seeger.
The Alumni Advisor for the Yale Undergraduate Jazz Collective, she is immersed in the New York City jazz scene. Loren Schoenberg, the founding director of the National Jazz Museum in Harlem, has referred to Joan as “one of the movers and shakers on the scene today.”