Jacquelyn Teemer strives for efficiency. As an advocate, mentor, and guide to small business owners for the past six years, she takes her responsibility very seriously.

“Owning a business is no easy feat. It takes a lot of patience, time, resilience, and gumption to be an entrepreneur,” says the Small Business Program Manager for the City of Albany. “Businesses are like children to many owners, so when a person asks me to help them with their ‘baby’, that’s not a responsibility I take lightly.”

The Albany native says she looks for the art and amazement in all things, whether a movie, song, dance, poem… even people. “I enjoy people and things that are outside of the norm, forward thinking and smart.” Making her husband and boys happy makes her happy, and she also wants to be remembered as the one who made people smile when they felt they didn’t have a reason to.

What’s it like growing up in Albany? “Albany raised me from a little girl and is now seeing my boys grow. No matter how discouraged it can make me sometimes, my heart always comes back to the Albany I’ll always know and love.”