She Didn’t Follow a Path, She Built One

“You have to like what you do. If you like what you do, you enjoy doing it.” -Jeanine Jodice

Some women follow a traditional path. Then, there are women like Jeanine who build their own.

Jeanine grew up in Brooklyn before her family moved to Long Island, where she attended high school in Rockville Centre. There was no carefully mapped-out plan for her future, no college roadmap, no clearly defined destination. Like many women of her time, she stepped into the workforce and began figuring things out as she went. But what began as a search for direction became something much more. It became a life.

In 1982, Jeanine entered an industry where women were rarely seen: industrial machinery and equipment sales. It wasn’t the obvious choice. It wasn’t the expected one. But it was where she found her footing.

Starting alongside her sister, she built her business from the ground up—literally beginning from home. With determination and a willingness to learn, she immersed herself in a field that demanded knowledge, confidence, and resilience.

And she didn’t just participate, she excelled.

Over the years, her work took her far beyond Long Island.

She traveled to Italy and France, working with manufacturers, learning the intricacies of extrusion machinery, and building relationships across the globe. In rooms where she was often the only woman, Jeanine earned respect not by demanding it, but by knowing her craft inside and out.

“It was exciting,” she shared. And you can still hear that excitement in her voice today.

But behind every long career, there are moments that shape us in quieter ways.

After the loss of her husband, life shifted.

There was a period of stepping back, of navigating grief, of finding her footing again. And in time, she did what she had always done. She moved forward. Not all at once. Not perfectly. But steadily.

Today, Jeanine continues to work in the business she helped build, now from her home on Long Island. Her days are filled with conversations, decisions, and connections that span across states and countries. That is proof that experience, once earned, never leaves you.

“I don’t think I’ll ever retire,” she said. It doesn’t feel like work to her because she enjoys it.

What stands out most about Jeanine isn’t just her career, it’s her mindset.

“I always had confidence in myself,” she told me. Simple words. But they carry a lifetime behind them.

She believes in staying engaged, in continuing to learn, in saying yes to life even when it feels uncertain.

From her early days navigating a male-dominated industry to her years of travel, growth, and reinvention, Jeanine’s story is not about following a path that was laid out for her. It’s about creating one of her own. Not every life unfolds according to plan. Some are built through experience.

Jeanine didn’t wait for the perfect opportunity. She stepped in, learned along the way, and kept going. Sometimes, that’s exactly what makes a story worth telling.