Janet A. Peguero’s favorite spot in The Bronx is Hunts Point Flower Market. “When things get a little bit stressful, I feel like flowers help me center myself, by just admiring the beauty and the color,” the deputy Bronx borough president said. “And then, it’s just a plus that it’s a Dominican-owned business, and I get to support a local, family-owned and family-operated business,” she added.

 

This week marks the last week of Dominican Heritage Month, which celebrates the legacy and contributions of New York’s thriving Dominican American community who, according to the latest census figures, comprise 323,240 Bronxites. In fact, The Bronx is home to the largest Dominican population in the country according to the website, Little Dominican Republic.

 

On Thursday, Jan. 6, Janet Peguero, 32, made history by becoming the first Dominican immigrant to be appointed Bronx deputy borough president. “Janet is someone I consider to be a friend, a sister, and now my partner at Borough Hall,” said Bronx Borough President Vanessa L. Gibson. “She has worked tirelessly throughout her career to amplify the voices of historically underserved communities, and as the first Dominican-American deputy Bronx borough president, she is bringing a new voice and perspective to this role.”

 

Every year, the Dominican Heritage Month festivities start on Jan. 21 and end on Feb. 27. On Feb. 10, Gibson and Peguero hosted a community celebration at the Grand Slam Banquet Hall in Tremont, where Peguero said they enjoyed “good Dominican food and great Dominican music.”

 

Peguero intends to continue honoring her heritage throughout the month. “The way I celebrate is by supporting Dominican-owned businesses, the Hunts Point Flower Market being one of them,” she said, as we toured the local area. Stopping by The Lit. Bar, the only remaining bookstore in The Bronx, as previously reported by Norwood News, she purchased “If Dominican Were A Color,” by Sili Recio, described as a striking, evocative, debut picture book that celebrates the joy of being Dominican.

 

Peguero later explained that Beatstro, the restaurant next door to the bookstore, is both a Hip-Hop bar and a speakeasy and recommended coming back with friends. Later, at Chocobar Cortés, the 4^th generation, family-owned, Carribbean, bean-to-bar, chocolate manufacturing company, established in the Dominican Republic in 1929, she thanked Carlos Cortés, executive director, for bringing the  business to the South Bronx.

DEPUTY BOROUGH PRESIDENT: #Bronx Borough President Vanessa Gibson made a historic announcement on Thursday, choosing Janet Peguero as her deputy borough president. Peguero is the first Dominican woman to hold the position. MORE: https://t.co/lwYNujqzA2 pic.twitter.com/R2upAZd9bO

— News12BX (@News12BX) January 6, 2022

 

Peguero describes herself as “Dominicana hasta la tambora,” which loosely translates to “Dominican until the last drumbeat,” a loose reference to a merengue song by Johnny Ventura. “That’s just kind of the culture and the vibrancy of the Dominican Republic. I feel like I exude that each and every day. I am as real as it gets when it comes to being, “una dominicana del Bronx” (a Dominican from The Bronx).

 

Peguero was born in Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic. “I grew up in a house with a huge backyard, with the liberty to roam and run the streets with my neighbors and my cousins, in a community where everyone looks out for one another,” she said.

 

At the age of six, she left the Dominican Republic. “Moving to the City of New York, it’s the immigrant story,” Peguero said. “It was a hard transition; leaving your homeland, but also leaving your entire family and coming to a brand-new place where you are secluded.”

 

She settled in Harlem across from Macombs Dam Bridge. At the time of her arrival, the school year was just about to start up again but her local school was at capacity. She ended up enrolling at an elementary school in The Bronx for first grade. “Little did I know that bus ride was going to serve as a catalyst for where I am today,” Peguero said.

 

 

She said school was challenging for her because at the time, she didn’t speak any English. “It’s funny because my mom created a name tag for me because I didn’t know how to speak the language,” she said. “A basic question like: ‘What is your name?’…I didn’t have an answer for that. The immersion was rapid with no real preparation.”

 

However, little by little, Peguero started to pick up the language, saying one of her earliest memories of learning English was through Hip-Hop. Although she lived in Harlem, she recalls spending most of her time in The Bronx and both her parents worked in the borough also. “It was the Hip-Hop culture that I immersed myself into, learning the lyrics to the songs,” she said.

 

Growing up, Peguero said she didn’t have any role models. “I couldn’t identify with the leaders in my community,” she said. “There was no one I looked towards and was just like, ‘I want to be exactly like that person’.” Her biggest influence was her father.

 

He started out as a cab driver in The Bronx and in Upper Manhattan. After driving cabs for 20 years, he transitioned to NYC Department of Education, serving as a school aide for 13 years at Frederick Douglass Academy 1, the same high school his daughter was attending.

 

Peguero recalls that her father would stand in front of the school and greet every single student each day. “What I realized is that made a difference in every single student that walked through that door, because they felt seen,” Peguero said. “I felt seen every day by my dad.”

 

She also remembers the time her father helped the predominantly Black chess team at her high school. “During that time, there were budget cuts. The chess team was limited in being able to attend tournaments,” Peguero said. “My father volunteered to join the chess team to serve as the guardian of the team. That really made a difference, because it allowed this chess team that didn’t have resources to attend tournaments.”

 

Peguero said she still gets messages from alumni of Frederick Douglass Academy 1 who tell her what a difference her dad made in their lives. She credits her father for sparking her interest in public service. “To this day, I carry those lessons with me along the way,” Peguero said. “While you are serving, you are here to make the community you are serving better. Every single day that he woke up, he made someone’s life a little bit better through his service. That is what I am committed to.”

 

While at the school, Peguero met Radhy Miranda, now VP for government & community relations at NYC Economic Development Corporation, during her freshman year. Miranda recalls how they had a global studies class together and ended up commuting to school together. Miranda considers Peguero one of the best human beings he has ever met. “She is a very caring, passionate, and extremely intelligent young lady, a very relatable person that wants to ultimately help, and is for others,” he said.

 

Peguero started her career in government in 2016, working for NYC Department of Small Business Services (SBS), later working with others to ensure under-served Bronx and Upper Manhattan neighborhoods undergoing land use change had direct access to business, workforce, and neighborhood development services. There, she crossed paths with fellow Dominican, City Councilwoman Pierina Sanchez (C.D. 14), who observed and commended Peguero’s impact on the community. “She assisted many immigrant merchants along Jerome Avenue and helped to found the Jerome Revitalization Collaborative, where we worked closely together,” Sanchez said.

 

Felicidades Madam Deputy Borough President Janet Peguero!

So incredibly proud of mi hermana, @jpegnyc_, una luchadora, a fighter, rooted in community & struggle, a tireless worker & advocate, appointed by our @BronxBP today as the 1st Dominican Woman to hold the post. #HerStory https://t.co/aZuV6mslWX pic.twitter.com/u7SrlIrjXu

— Pierina Sanchez NYC (@PiSanchezNYC) January 6, 2022

 

Miranda has also seen this firsthand. “If you look at her professional trajectory, she was doing work with the small business services for the City, supporting small businesses through commercial lease assistance, and making sure people in our communities of The Bronx and immigrants had access to resources,” he said. “It’s not like she couldn’t do other jobs. She deliberately put herself in a situation where she is supporting those types of programs and initiatives.”

 

Before becoming deputy borough president of The Bronx, in 2020, Peguero worked as an associate at Constantinople & Vallone, a government relations, public affairs, and business development firm. Miranda noticed how this role fit into the larger pattern of her career trajectory. “Going to do some work with consulting and lobbying, but on behalf of nonprofits, that is impressive and remarkable,” he said. “She is shaping her career in a way that is giving back, inherently.”

 

In her current role, Peguero is in a perfect position to do just that. “It’s a full circle moment because my entire life, I have been dedicated to public service without knowing that was the category of it,” Peguero said. “It wasn’t until later on that I identified as a public servant. I realize that this is exactly where I wanted to be.” She believes she is an ideal representative of the borough, saying,  “I have the lived and professional experience to be able to represent Bronxites.”

 

Peguero said she is grateful too for the opportunity to work alongside Gibson. “She is kind, but also she is a strong, powerful advocate,” she said. “She does not take ‘no’ as an answer for anything. It’s like when there is a will, there’s a way. Learning under her leadership has been a blessing.”

 

As deputy Bronx borough president, Peguero plans to continue to support small businesses. “We can’t speak about moving The Bronx forward if we don’t focus on local economic development,” she said. “During COVID, small businesses took a hit. How can we develop more local job opportunities for Bronxites? How can we develop more training opportunities for local residents?”

 

Peguero also intends to advocate for more affordable housing units, not one-bedroom units or studios but on larger developments that she said meet the needs of Bronx families. To accomplish this, she hopes to capitalize on public-private partnerships. “We know that through private partnerships, we are able to cut through the red tape and really bring actionable and tangible outcomes to the borough, developing those relationships and bringing them to The Bronx,” she said.

 

Indeed, having lived 11 years in Kingsbridge, Peguero wants to set the record straight on The Bronx. “We are a beautiful, diverse borough,” she said. “We are the borough with [the] biggest parks. We are the birthplace of Hip-Hop. No one has that over us. Personally, I have taken it upon myself to show all of my friends in my network the gems of The Bronx.”

 

She added, “If there is a change that you want to see, work towards that change. Focus on that change, and then build out a plan that will really work towards bettering the lives in the community you live in.”