Mary Ann Liebert”™s mind runs a mile a minute.
She”™s a woman of many minds, perhaps best exemplified in an Andy Warhol-like multicolored photomontage of her portrait in the offices of her publishing company in downtown New Rochelle.
She shifts effortlessly in talking about issues from biotechnology to mountain climbing to zebrafish. And then it”™s on to Peter Tchaikovsky. The man was a prolific composer and conductor, and yet all Liebert is interested in and listens to is his Fourth Symphony, first movement.
Liebert, the prolific publisher of 70 journals and trade publications as well as The Wag, is so taken with Tchaikovsky that she”™s doing arm curls with light weights.
What you may ask does a muscle-strengthening routine and the late great composer have in common other than she”™s definitely exercising both the left and right sides of her brain?
Call it training for an upcoming gig as a conductor.
She learned a little-known lesson about conducting in 2005; it takes great strength to keep one”™s arms held out and moving for several minutes.
Liebert made her inaugural visit to the lectern to lead the Orchestra of St. Luke”™s in Manhattan. Back then she listened to the musical piece incessantly. One staffer hearing the replaying of the music coming from her office offered to bring in other CDs that she might want to listen to for a change of pace.
She won that initial conducting assignment after being the sole bidder for it in a silent auction at Caramoor. Others were probably intimidated of stepping in front of an orchestra, not Liebert.
She was nervous right up to the point that she stepped up to the podium. “The minute I gave the downbeat it was the most powerful moment in my life ”“”“ I was one with the orchestra.”
She conducted sans baton, feeling not worthy of holding the instrument that is earned through years and years of apprenticeship.
She is now pumping iron for her latest gig May 19 at The Performing Arts Center at Purchase College.
In addition to conducting, as befits a woman of many interests, Liebert, a Harrison resident, has also founded the Rosalind Franklin Society. Saying women are underappreciated in science and technology, Liebert points to Franklin as being one of the top under-recognized scientists.
Franklin should have received credit for discovering the double helix, the structure of DNA, along with James Watson and Francis Crick. Franklin was an X-ray crystallographer whose images of DNA helped in the discovery of the structure of DNA.
Liebert created a veritable who”™s who of scientists and leading science educators for the society”™s founding board.
The group is to meet April 6 for the first time in New York City. The society”™s major thrust is to make sure that women of the biomedical sciences are not overlooked in the future.
The tipping point for Liebert starting the society came following remarks made by the then-president of Harvard University. Speaking at an academic conference, Lawrence Summers suggested that differences between the sexes are the reason why men are more likely to succeed in science and math careers. The flap set off a firestorm that ultimately resulted in Summers resigning.
Genetic Engineering News is Liebert”™s flagship publication. It”™s a far cry from her more popularly known Wag magazine, whose intent is to be “wicked but not evil.”
Liebert”™s foray into the biomedical and life sciences publishing field came about because of her dad, who had Parkinson”™s disease. The disease, which is characterized by tremors and muscle rigidity, ignited her interest in medical publishing.
At the forefront in creating journals about AIDS research, Liebert met with former President Bill Clinton in August 2005 two years after he formed the Clinton Foundation HIV/AIDS Initiative. She interviewed Clinton after he had returned from Africa to check on his foundation”™s work and progress.
Back in her office, she”™s working on another publication to add to her roster; this one will address election law.
Oh, and fellow motorists, Liebert would like to let you know that if you spot a woman making hand gestures while driving do not interpret them to be obscene or intimidating, she”™s just practicing her conducting.
Â
