If you’ve ever called Yuba Expeditions to book a shuttle or purchased something at the cash register, you’ve probably met JoJo Donovan. Always ready with a smile and a funny story, JoJo is a born-and-raised Downieville local. Her father Billy Epps is a legendary shuttle driver for Yuba Expeditions, setting the all-time record of nine shuttles driven in a day earlier this year. Like her father, JoJo shares the same comedic wit and positive energy that draws people in makes them smile. Also, like her father, JoJo is a hard worker and a self-starter, which is why we’re excited to announce that she was recently promoted to Assistant Manager of Yuba Expeditions in Downieville.
As Assistant Manager, JoJo not only provides world-class customer service by helping people book their shuttles, schedule demo bikes and ring up all the merchandise our customers’ purchase, but she also manages timecards and scheduling of Yuba employees. In other words, she has the very difficult task of wrangling all the wild and crazy Yuba boys. She also adorns the shop with her artistic skill, drawing colorful illustrations and making trophies to brighten the spirits of her co-workers. And she made one heck of a cute cameo as a prat-slapping squirrel in this summer’s Yuba Expeditions commercial.
JoJo’s first summer working for Yuba was in 2015, along with her two sisters Sean and Mary-Ann. Since then, JoJo has gained roles and responsibilities, and along the way got married to TJ Donovan, aka Turbo, who also happens to work for Yuba. The folks at Yuba and the Stewardship are all one big family, and it’s even better when we can employ a local Downieville family!
JoJo has held multiple jobs in town, including working at the pizza parlor, the taqueria, cleaning the bank and the beauty salon and even a short stint at the now-defunct coffee shop, but it seems Yuba is where she fits in best.
“I used to just serve food to mountain bikers,” said JoJo from behind the register, donning the illustrious Lost Sierra Triple Crown. “I didn’t know anything about bikes.”
To fully indoctrinate her into the world or mountain biking, this summer TJ took JoJo on her first ever run of the Downieville Downhill. JoJo had a trouble-free run with no wrecks, no mechanicals and a lot of smiles; not bad for someone who’s never ridden a mountain bike before. But we’d expect nothing less from JoJo. Had she never walked in our door and gotten a job, she never would have ridden the Downieville Downhill.
“Besides working with Kurt, my favorite thing about working at Yuba is the bond I have with my co-workers,” said JoJo. “It’s like a big family at Yuba.”
How did she get the name JoJo?
“My mom wanted people to call me Jordan, which is my middle name, and when my sister was young, she couldn’t pronounce it right, calling me ‘JOE-dan’. Then it became JoJo and the name stuck.”
Congratulations JoJo! Everyone at Yuba is excited about your promotion and all the awesome you will continue bringing to our customers.