Born on May 16, 1960, and raised in Provo, Utah, in a family with strong ties to their Italian and Slovenian heritages, Jenean developed an early appreciation and love for learning about and appreciating different cultures, languages, and philosophies around the world. In Provo, Jenean’s family was unique. Not being part of the predominant culture/religion taught her to adapt and learn the ability to bridge cultural differences.

After graduation from college, Jenean focused on raising her three children as well as her career as a marketing professional. Over the years, she lived in Southern California, San Francisco and then moved back to Salt Lake City to become one of the first 100 employees at WordPerfect Corporation. After five exciting years at WordPerfect, she moved on to Novell, Inc., Folio Corporation and finally NextPage Corporation as their Director of Corporate Events and International Marketing. In 2000, after the death of her son and with a desire to leave the corporate life behind, she joined forces with James Derheim to work with him to lend her knowledge of European travel and extended language skills to the team.

While having traveled extensively throughout the United States and Europe throughout her professional career, she much prefers her travel now, helping clients have the most authentic experience possible in their travels. Jenean’s expertise and passion for Ireland, France, and Italy as well as language, have helped to expand the tour offerings of European Focus. Jenean is proficient in German, French and is now studying Italian. Jenean also speaks some Polish and has a deep respect for the emerging success stories of Eastern Europe and its people.

Jenean lives with her husband, James, in Sarasota, Florida, and is happy to have had her two daughters move to Florida to pursue their educations and careers. Since November, 2003 they have owned a shop in downtown Sarasota, European Focus Village, where they sell unique items imported from all over Europe. It’s not unusual for the store to have more than 300 visitors on a Saturday morning when the Sarasota Farmers Market is held right outside their doors.