By Andrea Sachs
She may have been from the countryside in Guyana, but Rehana Vucci’s arrival in New York in 1993 was pure Hollywood.
Flying for the first time in her life at 36 years old, Rehana arrived alone at JFK Airport on a spring night.
“The plane was coming down and I was seeing all the lights, which I‘d never seen, coming from a village where you barely have lights on the street. I thought, “I am coming to a paradise where I will walk on diamonds.”
In a sense, she was. For a woman who had never gone to high school and was widowed with three children when she was under 30, she has been able to reach some pretty glittery milestones in Manhattan. In 1996, she became the first and only female security guard at Lincoln Towers, a sprawling Upper West Side co-op complex with eight buildings and nearly 4,000 units. Then, in 2007, she became Lincoln Towers’ first and only female concierge (her preferred term for doorman).
To this day, the opportunity for a woman to become a doorman is close to nil. (After contemplating the matter for days, I have decided that for readability, I am going to use the word “doorman,” the customary term, rather than “doorperson.” Feel free to gripe below.) The number of female doormen is stubbornly stalled.
As of 2025, only 3.6 percent of doormen in the United States are female.
It wasn’t until 1971 that Sadie May Sutton became the first female doorman in New York City. In The New York Times story about Sutton’s hiring, the paper suggested that there was “a belief that a vigorous young woman is somehow physically incapable of doing a job frequently performed by frail elderly men [and] a notion that a doorman’s job embodies the duties of a Marine battalion and an overhead crane.”
Rehana was born in a Guyanese village named Cane Grove, the youngest of 13 children. Her parents were farmers who grew rice and vegetables. Rehana’s father was Muslim and her mother Hindu. “I was very outgoing,” says Rehana of herself as a child. “I was very business oriented. As a little girl, I used to sell vegetables with my mom.”
Rehana’s formal education was brief. “I liked school very much, but, unfortunately, I got married very young,” she says. Her husband Albert was a taxi driver. The couple had two sons and a daughter. When Rehana was 29 years old, her husband died of cirrhosis of the liver. “He was drinking a lot,” she recalls. “There was no kind of recreation for anybody. So girls and boys got married very young and men drank alcohol as entertainment.”
After her husband died, Rehana opened a general store. “I used to sell groceries, hardware, clothing.” The store was a success and a portent of Rehana’s future. “I always foresaw myself in a business behind a counter,” she says. “That’s why I enjoy what I do as a concierge because I’m behind a desk serving people. I like to help people.’
Two of her children were grown and the youngest stayed with his older brother when Rehana immigrated to the United States in 1993. She soon found work as a live-in health attendant for an elderly couple at Lincoln Towers. While working there, she also got a GED (high school equivalency diploma), a security license, and a nursing assistant license.
She became a citizen in 2000.
After that job ended, Rehana persuaded the director of security at Lincoln Towers to make her a security guard. She shrewdly told him. “There are a lot of elderly here and only men in the security department. When an elderly resident happens to fall in their bathroom and they’re naked, the guards have to deal with it. I will be a good asset for that. You are getting two for one if you hire me: you’re getting a security guard and a certified nursing assistant.”
Michael Phillips, a retired executive at both Citibank and American Express and a longtime Lincoln Towers resident, says he will never forget what might have been Rehana’s finest moment as a security guard. A shoplifter trying to escape the authorities ran onto Lincoln Towers property. Recalls Phillips, “He doesn’t get more than five steps off the Lincoln Towers sidewalk when Rehana tackles him. I’m serious! She tackles him, sits on top of him and calls the police.” Rehana confirms the story, saying simply, ‘I don’t run from a fight. I think being a widow and having had to fight to survive, I learned to be a fighter.”
Many packages and door openings later, Rehana is currently working as a concierge five days a week, frequently changing buildings. Now 68 and a grandmother of five, she says, “I’m a strong woman and I always think positive. I always think I can do it, and I don’t get tired easily. Success is based on determination,” she adds.
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Great to see this profile! And actually, 180 West End Ave (one of the Lincoln Towers buildings) has another amazing doorwoman (Christina) who she is at that building full time. She does a fantastic job! Would love to hear about other doorwomen/female concierge people on the UWS!
Shoutout to Tammi Shapiro from the 150 building in Lincoln Towers. She is a wonderful doorwoman as well.
This is such a neat story. I can’t thank the Rag enough for doing actual real reporting and not just lazily reposting other people’s reporting obviously re-written with ChatGPT. Thank you for telling this woman’s story, and telling it in your own words.
Wasn’t a comment just like this posted on another article recently? Which, ironically, does seem very ChatGPTsh. . Though I do agree. Every article is very original.
Also it is true. When I think of all the doorman buildings around me, they are all men.
Yes I’ve posted similar comments. I find ChatGPT disgusting and “reporters” who use it have no credibility in my opinion. WSR is one of the few publications (and the only local UWS publication I know of) that actually uses writers who write in their own voice without AI making their prose readable. So when I see a quality piece of “boots on the ground” reporting like this written by someone who doesn’t need the ChatGPT crutch, I like to send the message that this reader appreciates it. I hope that’s human enough for you.
Lovely. My building on W79th has a female elevator operator.
Wow. Your building returned to elevator operators post COVID? My dad’s building stopped using them, and moved them to different positions in the hulsing
I like “doorstaff” as the appropriate noun.
Yay, Rehana!
What a strong, smart, determined woman!
How nice to see an article about Rehana! We live in Lincoln Towers and generally see her in the evenings. Rehana is truly capable and always happy to help, and we are fortunate that she is on our team!
She works in our building. She’s absolutely great and cares MORE than the younger newly hired guys. You go girl!! We appreciate you!
A great American success story!
I know! How can anyone read this and be against immigration – or against the motivation that brings someone who may have little education and a hard life history here, to GED, qualifications and steady rewarding work that contributes in every way to the community here (and presumable also supports some family back home in Guyana). Good grief what blinders some of our leaders wear. Based on some mix of ignorance and fear and…who knows. (OK, maybe we know). Why wouldn’t we want a clear, safe and supported path for anyone like Rehana? How many states are suffering from shortages of workers now?? How many hospitals and old age homes have beds they can’t use because of a lack of nursing assistants? I can think of a few. Lack of documentation and unnecessary persecution is dangerous for everyone. The targeted people and their families suffer most, but we all suffer when there are not clear paths to citizenship. This story shows the upside of having a path, and I’m sure it was not easy then either.
And PS, she was very shrewd! A smart building would have more women on staff, and many people who have CNA credentials as a safety and selling point for older residents! Why is this even rare?!
A good story nicely told. How about ”door attendant”? Maybe it’ll go viral.
“Door Attendant” is inaccurate and somewhat demeaning for the Lincoln Towers staff.
Since it seems that everyone has packages delivered all the time, the desk staff spends much of their time and energy lifting packages including quite a few heavy ones.
I like “concierge” for the job title.
I’d love to see a female DOORLY [ie] (not doorman nor doorwoman, nor doorperson) but something short and easily stated. After all, if your are paid on an hourly basis, you’re called an HOURLY, right?
The right female can do as much as the right man so let’s get over the discrepancy!
What a refreshing and inspirational story. Thx WSR
The right female can often do BETTER than the right man!
What a great story. She’s worked so hard to achieve the great American dream. We need more of these stories in these worrying times.
Why is this discrimination allowed? I’ve often wondered about this. If it were me o of color denied thee jobs there would be outrage, so why does no one care that women are denied these jobs as well as porter and superintendent jobs? They are unionized well paying jobs with benefits. Housekeepers/cleaning ladies do more physical labor than doormen or porters. Mine only have physical al activity a total of 2 hours a day which is far less than any cleaning woman.
Who says it is discrimination? Maybe women apply and are denied and maybe equally qualified men apply and are hired. Maybe few women want a job acting as kind of a guard at night.
With a handyman position,the lack of women might be due to discrimination, or lack of interest on womens’ parts. But that is definitely a job that I would think more women want. I was going to say, it might be the insecurity of going into tenants’ homes alone. But home health attendants and social workers do that all the time.
Rehana is a great concierge (her preferred term) here at Lincoln Towers. She’s friendly and helpful and exchanges a smile with everyone. She handwrites a ThankYou for a holiday tip, and working between all the LT buildings, she must write thousands! Also, she’s at least the third female concierge we’ve hired in the 12 years I’ve lived here. I don’t know if Rehana was the first, but I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that she demonstrated to the board that a woman can have the character and demeanor it takes to do the job well, paving the way for the next woman who applied.
Stories like this are why I love the Rag.
Thank you, West Side Rag for posting this story. Rehanna’s story is great. But given that we have Women serving in the police department, the military, and in construction to name a few, why are there so few women working as doorman in our buildings. Maybe those of us who care about diversity in other areas should advocate for women where we live.
It has long puzzled me that there are so few women on the staff of NYC apartment buildings. Women have served in much higher percentages on the NYPD and FDNY than in apartment buildings for decades. It’s only within the last several years that my building, with a staff of 20, has had any women on staff, one a doorwoman, and the other a porter who occasionally fills in at the door. They’re as capable as the men, and perform all of their job duties with the same skill and dedication. What’s going on with 32B-J? With non-union building employers.? Something is askew somewhere…
Great story about a great woman. I have lived in Lincoln Towers since the year Rehana arrived in the U.S. She’s a friendly presence in my building weekday evenings when she covers the concierge’s meal break. We say “concierge” at 165 WEA but “package handler” describes a large part of their work nowadays. And we’re thankful for that.
Love this story!!!!!!
There’s a doorwoman at the Austin on W 79 as well.
There is another! Keisha the concierge at Schwab house on . 11 Riverside Drive.
166 W. 75th has a great female concierge team and has for years!
Great story.
Don’t get the “contradiction” reference in the headline.
Female doorman
She is a sweetheart. We’re lucky to have her.
Great profile! Where’s a profile for Garry Johnson, the most beloved doorman on West 80th Street and Amsterdam Avenue at the Chesterfield?
I have been an officer of the 160 West End Avenue Owners Corp. since 1986. We are one of the 8 Lincoln Towers buildings. I have known Rihana since she joined our security staff and see her regularly when she does dinner relief in our building. There are at least two other female door attendants in our buildings but the general point of the article — that there are too few female building staff members — is correct.
The person who suggested the title be changed to “Package Handler” has a valid point. Before Covid we handled about 15,000 packages a year for 500 buildings. Now, the number is 50,000 and growing. And that doesn’t include food deliveries.
Brava!
I made a mistake in my comments when I wrote that our staff handled 15,000 packages for 500 “buildings”. I meant to write 500 apartments.
LT has more than 1 Doorly. Love that word.
As a Lincoln Towers resident, I can say that all the accolades about Rehana are well merited. Good to learn that she once took down a fleeing shoplifter. Now I know not to cross her😉. But Rehana is hardly the only woman doorman/doorperson/concierge (your pick) in Lincoln Towers. There’s at least one other that I know of — also a crackerjack! And, although I don’t have the stats to prove it, she may be an even greater rarity in the profession: she’s Jewish!
Congrats Rehana! Love this story.
I’m proud that my pre-war has its first female door attendant this year. Call her that, or concierge.
What a story. Gutsy lady
150 WEA has had a doorwoman for about 5 years. Tammy Shapiro is one of the best! Sounds like its Lincoln Towers leading the way with building help DEI. (Please don’t tell our President)
Rehana’s story is inspirational and encouraging.
There is a female concierge on CPW in the low 90s – maybe at the Ardsley?
Good for her. She earned it.
Trump would have deported her!
Such a terrible comment. No, she came here LEGALLY, she is the same as you or I (assuming you didn’t sneak across the border to get here).
Why do you assume she’s deportable? Because she has dark skin complexion? Go get your TDS checked, it’s known to be contagious to some people.
I was joking!
Excellent piece by WSR – women have often been just as capable in positions conventionally held by men. Good for her in creating her own opportunities, like so many hardworking/determined immigrants have had to do!
I don’t have a problem with the term “doorman;” however, describing her as a “woman doorman” is degrading, as is the term “woman lawyer” or “woman doctor.” It suggests some sort of inferiority or different stature. We never use the term “man lawyer,” etc. The correct description should be “female doorman.”
So true! Thanks for bringing this up. Language usage is very important.
At 685 WEA, we’ve had a female door/lobby attendant, Valerie, since 2005!
Why is this newsworthy in this day and age. Women have been in different work areas since at least WW2. How about the Rosy Riveters.
Excellent question.
Why are people on the west side so surprised ?
Because there have been so few women doing these jobs.
We’ve had a couple of female doorwomen in my building on CPW. One left after a year and the other has been here for several years.
So lovely
Love it.
Great story!
We have a great woman door attendant here on 86th st too! She is incredibly attentive to all residents and takes care of everyone in the building as if we are her family. Nothing brightens my day more than seeing her.
We love Lystra!
Love that the author highlighted one of the doorwomen at Lincoln Towers and her story as an immigrant and amazing asset to the community, but definitely a missed opportunity to do a piece that included Christina and Tammy who are also superwomen who work as doorwomen there.