Rancher, wife, mother, publisher

By John Serfustini

Jenni Fasselin, who will take the helm as publisher of the Sun Advocate and Emery County Progress July 1, is no stranger to business. She has been in the farming and ranching business her whole life.
She is not a stranger to the Carbon-Emery community or its newspapers, either. Fasselin has worked for both papers in advertising sales for 20 years, 16 of which were as ad department manager.
That introduction is far too brief to summarize more than three decades of experience that convinced the top management of Brehm Communications, Inc. to appoint her to her new job. Here are a few more details.
The love of the land is in her blood. “I was raised on the Emery County farm my husband Bill and I own and operate,” she says. They have a cattle and sheep operation they built from the ground up.
“Being a farmer or rancher is something you do because you love it. It’s lots of hard work with little compensation. But it teaches respect for the land and animals, and how to be a good steward,” she explains. “It has enabled me to raise my best crop ever: three hard-working kids and the best bumper crop ever, my grandson.”
“I have always said it takes a special kind of crazy to be a rancher,” she jokes, “because being a farmer is as much a mentality or lifestyle as it is a profession.”
What does it take to be a newspaper woman, then?
“I want to be involved in something that makes me feel that I am achieving something useful,” she answers. “I think our newspapers are important to our communities and I have always enjoyed being part of that. I love working at the paper and I believe in what we do. We are the community’s news source and we are the record keepers. I applied for the publisher’s position because I didn’t think there was anyone out there cared as much as I do about this community and the two newspapers.”
During her two decades in advertising, she has come to know and be known by the business decision makers that keep Carbon and Emery Counties going. She says that the more she and the ad staff learn about the community’s businesses and industries, the better they can design effective advertising.
As advertising manager, Fasselin has encouraged her staff to become involved in community organizations and activities. She herself is a board member of the Carbon County Chamber of Commerce and has worked with publisher Richard Shaw on many Sun Advocate projects, including the No Grave Unadorned program to make sure that some 40,000 graves in the two counties have at least one flower on Memorial Day.
“I am happy that Rick has agreed to stay associated with the Sun Advocate in his retirement,” she said. “His leadership has been wonderful and we would all miss his experience and sense of humor if he left.”
Fasselin says she is a member of a team of professionals dedicated to producing newspapers. “We’ve been around for almost 125 years. My goal is to make sure the work we do here today is here for the next 125 years.”