Her Story
About Jessica
I have been in fundraising since 2007, and I honestly stumbled into it. I was working at a hospital because at that point we had a daughter who was in the hospital a lot, and I wanted to work there. I worked in a couple of different areas and ended up in marketing. The foundation asked if I would consider working with fundraising, so I started as an office manager and admin assistant and worked my way up. As soon as I started, I knew it was what I was supposed to do. By the time I started working in the foundation, my daughter had already passed, but it felt right. It felt like I was living a mission-led life the minute I walked in. Now I work at City of Hope in individual giving, where I work with donors one-on-one. I see myself as a matchmaker - I get to talk to people and figure out what they're passionate about, and then match that to areas where they can make a difference. Not only do I get to help them make the gift, but then I can continue to steward them and show them the impact and help them feel like I feel when I'm at work every day. I've had big gifts and been part of campaigns, but I think my most meaningful impacts are just when I get to see the joy in someone else giving back, and that happens for me on a daily basis.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Jessica
01What do you attribute your success to?
I am very self-driven and very ambitious, but I've had people who have seen something in me that I didn't see in myself at every point in my career. They have encouraged me to take a chance or helped me move things around a little bit to help make me successful. I couldn't be where I am without them. My husband and I talk about how blessed we are very often, and it really often ties back to someone who saw a spark and decided to help me light it. When it would start to fade or need to go in a bigger or different direction, they continued that support.
02What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Find your passion, because you're going to work a lot in your career, so find something that gets you up in the morning and makes you excited to go to work. And if that changes, re-evaluate. For philanthropy specifically, I would say talk to someone. Everybody who does this are people people, so we want to help people and talk with people. Find a mentor or find an internship, or find someone who has a similar personality. For me, it was seeing someone who I would want to be in 20 years, and I would find my own mentors. Most of the time that was with my career, but sometimes it was also my personal life too. I adopted lots of mentors or moms, almost. I just saw where I wanted to be and I knew they could help me find the strength in myself to get there.
03What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
There are a couple of things. One is that it very much depends on the economy. If you're having to save your money in order to pay your bills, you're not going to be able to give, and so that definitely is an issue if we see that happening with the political environment, even across the world. But then there's also opportunities that weren't available when I started. There's now degrees and pathways to this career. I stumbled my way into this, but now you can find your pathway. One challenge is that you can burn out too. You have to really stay mission-driven and be okay with no's, which is very difficult at times. You have to take yourself out of it - it's not about us, it's about the person that we're trying to help make a difference, and let them see the difference that they can make.
04What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Relationships. That ties into both, and that's probably the biggest part for both my career and my personal life. It's building that trust and being there for someone when they need it, when there's that opportunity.
Keep Exploring
More Influential Women · North Carolina
Join Influential Women and start making an impact. Register now.