A message from the Founder and Publisher of The Queens Couriers
The Queens Couriers are a labor of love and and when we began in my living room in 1985 I found my passion – the news business.
As a former grade school reading teacher my career took a very sharp turn with the birth of my first-born child. Before her second birthday she was diagnosed with severe brain damage from a birth injury. In 1970 we brought her to a “school” on Staten Island in hopes that their Infant Rehabilitation Center might help her with their physical and occupational therapies.
Shortly after, I founded Life’s WORC, the Working Organization for Retarded Children, a group of wonderful, caring people who had healthy children but wanted to help me. We raised thousands of dollars and organized busloads of volunteers to donate their time to help the children at Willowbrook.
But state budget cuts at the school caused dramatic service and staffing cutbacks.
It was a cold rainy day in 1971 when I picketed with WORC members, fighting for the rights of my daughter Lara and the 5,400 other residents at the Willowbrook State School for the Mentally Retarded.No one heard our cries until the news media (Geraldo Rivera, most notably) filmed and reported on the abominable conditions at the “school.”
It left a lasting impression on me how the power of the press helped focus on the needs of people with mental retardation and ultimately brought change forever. I had a dream to one day be in the news business myself.
As a young mother of four children, I was searching for a career that would allow me to work but be available to my children. I had met John Toscano, the former political editor of The Daily News, and he gave me the opportunity of working for him on his new weekly newspaper. I was John’s inquiring photographer, news reporter, and finally salesperson. He taught me everything I know about the news business.
A few years later, in 1985, I saw how all the apartment buildings in northeast Queens were going co-op. It seemed to me that if people owned their apartments, there is a greater interest in the schools, the political and civic scenes. In fact, we decided to start a weekly as partners and called it The Queens Courier.
It’s hard to believe, but in 1985, John and I each invested $250 to start the business. I worked out of my living room and he worked out of his basement. His son delivered the newspapers to major outlets in our communities, and subscribers got the paper for $5 per year. John and I wrote the articles and sold the ads with the aid of five other people.
Today, The Queens Courier family includes a staff of 50 and John has gone on to other projects.
It wasn’t an easy path.
When the very first edition in 1985 came off the presses at 2 a.m., I saw the first page photo was unclear. I yelled “stop the presses.” the printer had to take the plates off the presses, reshoot the photos, make new plates, put them back on the presses and then begin the run again. By 4 a.m. we had a product and could proudly send it out onto the street the next morning.
It wasn’t my last late night, but it comes with the territory.
Nevertheless, the intensity, pressures and problems pale in comparison to my love of what I do.
The Queens Couriers, as expressed in our first editorial in 1985, urged our readers “to participate with us to keep us informed about what your social, fraternal, business, and athletic organizations are doing; to apprise us when there is a wrong to be righted; to help us heap praise upon a friend or relative or co-worker for an exceptional accomplishment; and to condemn any acts that violate the community’s trust.”
Now we are a group of 11 publications, serving all of Queens. We publish the only Queens community newspaper in Spanish El Correo de Queens, Queens Business Today, Queensborough magazine (the official newspaper of the Queens Chamber of Commerce), HealthWise magazine, North Shore Towers Courier and a tourist magazine Key to Queens. We were selected as one of the top ten community newspapers in New York State by our peers, and we have restated our mission in fewer words, “We’re All About You.”
Our passion for bringing the finest quality newspaper to you is stronger than ever.
We thank you, readers and advertisers, for all your support in making it possible.
