Celebrating Jeannette Santiago: 20 Years (and Counting!) at MNN

MNN is pleased to announce a very exciting milestone! Our super-talented Programming Director, Jeannette Santiago, is ringing in her 20th anniversary at the network. That's 20 lucky years for MNN (and counting!).

Last week, MNN's staff came together for a celebratory lunch in honor of Jeannette, whose hard work and sharp eye for content have been a key factor in our network's excellent, ever-evolving programming over the past two decades.

In 1994, MNN was headquartered in a modest space on Manhattan's 23rd Street. The fledgling network's one and only programming policy: no commercials. That's it.

"The shows I saw were mind boggling," Jeannette says. "We had piercing shows when it wasn’t a fad and an alternative cooking show that barbequed iguanas and spiders." (Yes, that producer was arrested.)

"There were weird little white guys playing rap videos and smoking funny cigarettes while interviewing rappers like Tupac and Snoop Dog (before the beef) in their Lower East Side living rooms. One kid even did the interviews out of his bedroom and later got picked up by MTV."

MNN continues to put out innovative, forward-thinking programs that only New Yorkers could possibly come up with.

But my oh my, how things have changed. MNN has grown into the largest media education organization in New York City, enrolling close to 500 students in the 40 courses being offered this fall across two cutting-edge facilities-- the 59th Street studios and the MNN El Barrio Firehouse Community Media Center. We just brought on 12 new media instructors to help us expand our training programs even further, and we're now offering supplemental seminars on TV production and promotion along with top-notch youth internships at MNN's Youth Channel.

"I’m proud to say that I work for MNN," Jeannette says. "I believe in what we do here. MNN gives voice to NYC residents, we entertain, we teach, and give new ideas to society as a whole. We help bring information to all types of communities, and skill sets to people young and old who otherwise wouldn’t have the opportunity."

She continues: "Networks watch the programming we do here and reproduce it for the masses. Not that they would ever admit to that but, hey, as long as we know."

We sure do. Congratulations, Jeannette-- and thank you!