Welcome to newspaper staffer Jany Sam

Jany Sam is the new office manager at the Basin Republican Rustler, part of the Big Horn County Newspapers. Originally from Peru, she has an intriguing story about her journey to Wyoming. It includes a young man from Greybull who was teaching in Peru, but long before they met, Jany was a force on her own.  

After graduating from high school at 15, Jany became intrigued by public relations and advertising.  She started college at age 16. At 18, she started working at a Subway to help pay for college. She quit after six days because she was reportedly horrible at it and hated it. She was in the food court crying. 

A young boy who sold newspapers in the mall gave her a newspaper. She has no idea why he handed her a paper, but she looked in the help wanted section. The first job she saw was for English teachers at Institute Cultural Peru North America (ICPNA).  

“I was thinking I didn’t have any training to be an English teacher, but I speak English and studied English at ICPNA,” Jany said.

 She had completed those studies with honors. She applied and was surprised when they called her because she was so young. After passing all the interviews over the 2-3 month hiring process, she was told she had potential and they would train her. She worked there for a year and then got a job offer to teach at another institute. She stayed at that job for two years. Jany tried to keep up her studies while teaching, but it was hard. She decided to just work and save money so she could go back to studying eventually. 

During this time, she received an unexpected offer from the Catholic University of Peru. She interviewed and got the job, a job she still does remotely from Wyoming. In additional to teaching English, she administrates exams and teaches Spanish to foreigners.    

Teaching, though, is not her passion. She went back to studying public relations and advertising, eventually getting her bachelor’s degree in communications sciences. 

Living outside of Peru was not part of her plan.  In fact, she applied for a tourist visa when she was 19 because she wanted to travel. The agent at the U.S. Embassy in Peru reviewed her application told her, “You’re 19, you can speak English, you’re not ugly and you can get married easily.” He denied her application. 

In 2016 she met her future husband, Shawn Crist. They were married and had a daughter. Life was good in Peru. But they wanted their daughter to get to know her Wyoming family and learn about her American heritage. Jany applied for a resident card. It took two and a half years. They moved to Greybull in 2025. 

If getting her bachelor’s degree wasn’t enough, Jany decided to get a minor in Corporate Sustainability Management. Her love for the environment led her to establish a nonprofit called Sustainable Assistance Alliance. It is focused on teaching people how to reuse waste and how to give back to the soil: “Not being a part of the pollution but being a part of the solution.” 

Jany hopes to get school districts involved. It is important to her to contribute to the community in a positive way, something she did in Peru, including cleaning beaches and working with communities to improve life quality. 

Jany noted she is still learning about how things work in a small town. (We think she is doing great).