Jennie Pastor
Jennie is originally from the UK but met her husband Brian, who hails from Virginia, when he was working in London in the early 2000s. Jennie studied Philosophy at the University of Manchester and then went on to have a career in the tech sector, where she headed up sales for the UK reseller partner division at Dell. In 2007 Jennie had the first of her three children and became a stay-at-home mom. In 2010 Jennie became a part time volunteer for UK charity ‘Sue Ryder’ where she worked on the ‘Sponsor a Village’ campaign, raising funds for communities in Malawi. In 2011 the Pastors relocated from London to Greenwich, Connecticut where the family and their 3 children lived for seven years. Wanting to get more involved in her community, in 2017 Jennie successfully ran for office for the Greenwich ‘RTM’, the legislative body of the town of approximately 61,000. During her tenure, she sat on the Public Works committee and was focused on environmental issues, such as the successful campaign to ban single-use plastic bags in the town, dramatically reducing toxic plastic waste and encouraging the use of sustainable reusable bags. In 2018 the Pastors relocated to Winnetka, Illinois where Jennie sat on the executive board of the PTO at her children’s elementary and middle schools as well as on the Winnetka Public Schools Foundation. In 2019 she co-founded ‘Pitch Your Peers Chicago’, at the time the 3rd chapter of PYP. In 2023 Jennie and family relocated back to the east coast and now live in Rye, NY where she sat on the board of the Midland School PTO and is on the board of the ‘Rye Fund for Education’. Having found so much joy in founding and running PYP Chicago for 4 years, Jennie wanted to bring this wonderful group to her new community so co-founded PYP Westchester with Autumn! Professionally Jennie has been a Compass real estate agent since 2021.
Autumn Terrill
Autumn grew up in Marshalltown, Iowa, and at 18, moved to California to attend the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in Los Angeles. She began developing a one-woman show about her younger brother, Adam, who has impeccable comedic timing and off-the-charts personality, in addition to a complex mix of disabilities. During this time, she worked with people with disabilities through the Institute for Applied Behavior Analysis. Her passion for celebrating neurodiversity and advocating for social change led to her performance of “GORK!” at the 2004 New York International Fringe Festival, where it won “Best Solo Show.” “GORK!” aimed to break down misconceptions about people with developmental disabilities while shedding a humorous and compelling light on often undervalued members of our community. Building on her creative and professional experiences, in 2004, Autumn launched Storytime with A.D.A.M. (Adaptive Dramatic Affect Method), a literature-guided, creative play session for children with autism and other language processing disorders. A.D.A.M. inspires learning and elicits language and expression through performance, music and art.
In 2006, she received the Catherine B. Reynolds Fellowship in Social Entrepreneurship at NYU to further develop A.D.A.M. as a strengths-based intervention. She earned her Master’s from NYU’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study in 2008, shortly before welcoming the first of her three daughters. After being chased out of NYC by a colony of mice (seriously…) her family moved to beautiful Rye, New York.
While raising her girls, she’s festival’d, fundraised and Parent Association’d. She’s made kid-approved cookbooks, served up “cause-worthy” cocktails, created piles of kid artwork for auctions and would do it all over again in a heartbeat.
Today, Autumn is focused on fostering inclusion, and initiatives that combat climate change. She serves on the board of New Canaan Mounted Troop (NCMT), where her tween-agers both learn to ride horses and participate in a youth development and leadership training program taught through horsemanship. NCMT simultaneously offers therapeutic programming including adaptive riding, equine-care classes and hippotherapy creating an authentic inclusive experience. Supporting the success of these programs is the highlight of her week.
Autumn continues to scratch her creative itches through writing and throwing themed parties for just about any reason she can think of! Today, she is piloting a program called, “Give Good Parties” which offers young adults with disabilities job training and facilitates community connections through party planning.
Autumn has witnessed the good that comes from women who organize, energize and galvanize a community around a common cause. She is thrilled to join Jennie Pastor in bringing Pitch Your Peers to Westchester!