Page 11 - 13th Annual Long Island Imagine Awards Program

Meet the Emcee Meet the Judges

Jenn Seelig Vanessa Baird-Streeter
Anchor President & CEO
News 12 Long Island Health and Welfare Council of Long Island
Ever grateful for a life led in service to others, Vanessa Baird-
Jenn Seelig is a weekend morning anchor and Streeter is President and CEO of the Health and Welfare
reporter for New 12. She is the reporter for Council of Long Island. With a rich and varied background
‘Made on Long Island.’ Jenn was born and raised in finance, business, government and the performing
in Commack and loves to report on stories in arts, Vanessa is a skilled communicator and facilitator
her hometown. She graduated from SUNY New of ensuring that what service needs to be accomplished,
Paltz and studied Digital Media Production and gets accomplished. Whether trading bonds on Wall Street,
Journalism. She began her career in 2018 as a directing communications in the private or public sector,
multimedia journalist in Utica, NY. Two years or directing a multigenerational community cultural arts
later, she landed her second on-air job in Albany workshop, Vanessa is a recognized consensus builder and
as a reporter. It was always her dream to report thought leader capable of building strong bridges across underrepresented communities. It is
back home on Long Island. In 2022, Jenn started her life’s mission to fight for the underserved and create a Long Island where all communities
freelance reporting with News 12 and has worked there since. have equal opportunities to collectively thrive, wherever and with whomever she sits.
Vanessa was born and raised in Wyandanch, N.Y. and attended Dartmouth College where
she earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree with a double major in Economics and Education. She
launched her career with investment bank Goldman Sachs, ultimately spending ten years in
the financial industry before following the call to professional public service. Vanessa first
applied her communications, thought leadership and facilitation acumen to public service
as Director of the Ministry to Catholics of African Ancestry with the Dioceses of Rockville
Center, N.Y., shortly thereafter venturing into service through government as Director of
Communications for the Town of Babylon.
After some time at the Long Island Power Authority as Executive Director of Communications,
she returned to government for a twelve-year tenure with the Office of the Suffolk County
Executive. There, Vanessa had the opportunity to affect positive change for all, initially as
Director of Communications and then as Deputy County Executive (DCE), the first person
of color to hold this latter title. As DCE, Vanessa worked to ensure twenty-first century
service to all communities throughout unprecedented crises. Appreciative of the history she
feels blessed to have taken part in, Vanessa is especially proud that her leadership ferried the
Suffolk County Police Reform and Reinvention Plan, Suffolk County’s MWBE/SDVOB
Disparity Study, innovative Labor Department initiatives and equitable COVID-19 service
distribution.
Throughout her professional endeavors, Vanessa has dually served as the Director of the
Venettes Cultural Workshop, Inc. and continues to do so with great passion and dedication.
Founded by her mother in 1967 to instill pride and foster lifelong success in children of
our Long Island community, the performing arts organization brings technical training,
academic motivation, and confidence through cultural pride in collective history to over two
hundred youth each week. Combined with her personal entrepreneurial endeavors of VBS
Hair Collection and PJs For the Culture, the latter of which she is proud to co-run with her
son, Vanessa’s primary pride in and love of her life is her family and community.
Married to Ellston Streeter and the proud parent to Howard University graduate Dallas
Streeter, Vanessa is grateful every day to carry forth the lessons instilled by her own parents,
Venice and Mary Baird. They navigated institutional discrimination in Suffolk County
with grace and determination in the mid-twentieth century, and through compassion and
resilience with unwavering commitment to bettering one’s spirit through one’s community,
Vanessa seeks to likewise navigate and serve in the twenty-first century.
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