We haven’t yet seen too much of her silly side yet, but the COURIER’s newest staff member, Jacquie Fischer, assures us its there.

“Right now, I’m pretty serious because I don’t know people that well and I’m adjusting to the job and the environment,” she said. “But I’m really kind of a goofball.”

Ms. Fischer joined the COURIER staff on January 9, 2012, taking over Aimee Ripley’s position as the classified manager. Three weeks in, she’s getting closer to feeling at ease and definitely eager for the feeling of new-job stress to fizzle. As people and procedures and practices become more familiar, however, it’s not likely that the COURIER becomes her favorite job. That top-tier status is reserved for one thing: motherhood.

“It’s my favorite thing in the world. I love everything about it,” said Ms. Fischer, mother to Norah, age 7, and Jonas, age 4. “Even the difficult times are worth it, because you see the rewards and the changes and the growing, and when the light goes on in their eyes.”

Ms. Fischer spent her own childhood, youth and young adulthood in Mt. Baldy, attending Mt. Baldy schools through eighth grade and then transferring to Claremont High School, graduating in 1999. She looks upon her Mt. Baldy years with fondness, appreciative of what the quiet, safe neighborhood gave her that other areas might not have.

“It was definitely a quiet, tight-knit community, and I had a lot of freedoms growing up to run around and play and roam and just be a kid,” she said.

A relatively quiet teenager at CHS, Ms. Fischer didn’t spend a lot of time in extracurricular activities or socializing and goofing-off after school. Instead, most days, she went straight from school to work at In-N-Out Burger on Indian Hill Boulevard, a job she loved.

“It was a really great place to work,” she said. “I was really taken care of there. It was strenuous sometimes, but a lot of fun.”

For the 5 years immediately prior to joining the COURIER staff, Ms. Fischer worked at a website design and marketing firm as the manager of customer service. Earlier, she worked at a law firm and as a police aide in the records department of the Claremont Police Department, primarily handling a variety of clerical duties such data entry. Though she sought the job with the Claremont PD because of an interest in pursuing a career in law enforcement, Ms. Fischer ultimately decided this was not her life path.

Family life means everything to Ms. Fischer, so her primary focus is her husband of 8 years and her children. The family of 4, plus their 2 dogs and 2 cats, bought a home in the Glen Helen area of San Bernardino County: “I love it,” Ms. Fischer said.

“It’s secluded, so you’re not in the hustle-and-bustle of businesses and stores. There’s nothing super close and in your space,” she continued. “It’s a small, family community. We’re friends with our neighbors, my brother lives there, my best friend lives there.”

And the 20-minute drive to the COURIER doesn’t bother her a bit. Along the way, she takes a detour through Mt. Baldy, where her daughter attends elementary school and where her mother lives and watches her son when he’s not in preschool.

“My mom is the best!” Ms. Fischer exclaimed.

Together, the Fischer foursome enjoys riding bike, doing puzzles and a being active in variety of outdoor activities. Though she “probably doesn’t have a green thumb at all,” Ms. Fischer takes pleasure in vegetable and flower gardening, and she likes to read, naming Nicholas Sparks and Jane Green as 2 of her favorite authors.

Reflecting on what she likes best about her new job, Ms. Fischer noted that it’s exciting to hear about news while it’s happening rather than reading it afterwards. Additionally, she is having fun meeting the eclectic mix of people who seek classified services at the COURIER. If you haven’t met her yet, feel free to swing by the newspaper office, swiveling your head immediately to the left as you step in. We heartily welcome “Jacquie”; please do, too!

– Brenda Bolinger