Her Story
About Jessica
My journey in development and learning spans about 8-9 years, with HR experience for about a year. In my HR role, I have the opportunity to do interviews, onboard people, provide training, and get them set up with everything they need to ensure they're paid on time and understand their job responsibilities, guidelines, SOPs, what steps to take if something happens, and all the important nuts and crannies. I make sure they understand the culture we have within the organization, where they fit in that culture, and how they can thrive, including different ways they can enhance their wellness while employed with us. I do this for a dance studio. In professional development, I teach workshops in person and virtually - leadership classes, training on different platforms and software, and recently I started doing professional development when it comes to wellness, mental health, preventing burnout, having tough conversations with your manager, navigating through change, showing up and changing for your team, and becoming a part of your team so you can enhance with them and be there when they need different things. I have a bachelor's in psychology and my master's in human service care and counseling with a focus on clinical psychology, which is why a lot of the professional development I've done has not only been to gear people up for leadership, but also to help them find ways where they can thrive in any space they're in from day one.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Jessica
01What do you attribute your success to?
I feel like a lot of my drive now really does stem from me wanting to be able to show my children that no matter what, you can always achieve that next step. I just recently finished my master's, and I have 4 kids, I work a part-time and a full-time job, on top of rebuilding the nonprofit, and a lot of people didn't even know that I was doing my master's until I sent my graduation invites, and they're like, holy smokes, wait a minute, like, when? For me, when I think about that, it just reminds me that a lot of this is to show - I have 3 girls and a son - to show them that it's not a timeline of when things have to happen, but more so the fact that you finish and do them in whatever shape or form.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
Just go and do it. It'll work out, you'll figure it out. I recently realized this when I thought about what I would have told myself 20, 30 years ago, when I knew I've always had this love for the psychology world. I hear it all the time - just go and do it - but I think it's still hard, like, even as an adult now, to do that. I started really pushing my professional development program on LinkedIn and places like that, and I just started doing it, doing the videos, posting the thing. And I've had a lot of people comment, and it's not leading to any leads right now, but it's the fact that people are really looking at this stuff. Like, people really want to see this. If I didn't just do it, I would be stuck where I'm at. I wouldn't have that realization. So just knowing, you know, just get out there and do it. You're gonna hear no maybe a thousand times, but then you're gonna hear some really good yeses, and that's gonna develop everything moving forward.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
The first thing I would tell them is to really be open-minded. All of those areas, it's all about making things personable to the person, because you can have person A and B, neither one of them are going to learn the same way, or process things the same way. So, have patience with yourself as you're learning to fit into that role, but then also have patience when you have to change and adjust things so that they're received properly, and the learning happens a little bit better because of you doing that.
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