Dr. Jenny Mains, the Honduran-American physician-turned-business leader now serving as New Orleans’ Deputy Mayor of Economic Development, embodies a career defined by service and sacrifice. Her transformative journey, she reflects, “ha sido como un entrenamiento para este momento”.
Mains arrived in the U.S. at age 15, working alone to pay her way through school before earning her MD in Honduras. Her time with Doctors Without Borders in Central America revealed a powerful truth about global migration: “entendí que muchas personas se iban porque no tenían opción”. This spurred a new mission: creating dignified jobs. In 2018, following a spiritual calling, she made the “big sacrifice” of leaving medicine to grow her husband’s logistics firm, CRC Global Solutions, where she created over 100 jobs in Honduras.
Dr. Mains’ dedication to service and decision-making are rooted in profound faith. She initially rejected the Deputy Mayor role, feeling conflicted about leaving her “perfect” life for an administration she felt was “in ruins”. After a week of prayer, she accepted the position, viewing the opportunity as a redirection from a Superior force, choosing to roll up her sleeves rather than simply watch from the sidelines. Her primary goal is to “mark a positive turning point in the city”. This means rejecting the “tunnel vision” and ensuring economic development becomes “an everyday action that people can feel,” by connecting residents to high-wage jobs and investing in neighborhoods like New Orleans East.
Her role is also an act of representation. “I’m a public school kid, I started from nothing, and I’m a minority,” she affirms. She sees her position as a message to minority children that they can lead. And she wants to provide visibility to her Latin community and its impact: “We are also part of this. We are shaping the community and making the city stronger.”
