Emerge Staff Spotlight: July 2024

Find out more about Jessica:

It’s important to me that women get credit for all the work they do. We know that a lot of our society’s successes are due to the fact that somewhere along the line there were women involved who made those successes possible. I truly believe that investing in getting these types of individuals into leadership positions, namely elected office, is a net positive for us as a nation. That’s why being the data practitioner that gets to aggregate the effort that our alum have taken for the benefit of their families and community is an honor to me. To be able to tell stories which could potentially inspire even more women is worth it every single day. I get to say things like, “On top of their roles in their everyday lives, our alum (of our Signature Training) have invested over 360,000 hours into preparing, and committing themselves, to move the needle forward for those that go largely unnoticed by the status quo.” That’s longer than I’ve been alive, and it does not even count the hours that our alum have been in elected office serving.

I am inspired by the folks that you would not expect to see in the space. It’s so invigorating to see them find their way and show up ready to do whatever it takes to hold people accountable. Whether that looks like Gen Z encampments, or middle aged, immigrant, women of color making the transition from community organizer to data practitioner, or even the largely unaffected majority that have been agitated by divestment or mutual aid campaigns. All of it is important. It’s the scaffolding. It’s the pipeline. I can envision their trajectory and it’s incredibly inspiring.

I enjoy spending time with my dog and the people I care about: especially if it involves camping or the beach. Overall I would describe myself as a lifelong learner. I am always learning something new: new tech tools, languages, musical instruments, or even how to fix another thing on my 17 year old car. Next, I want to learn to ski. Wish me luck. <3