Jessica is a national leader in racial justice and movement building, holding expertise in youth engagement, organizational development, and training. Jessica’s passion for organizing started at UC Santa Cruz where she was elected as Student Union Assembly President for two terms. After graduating, Jessica served as the Organizing Director for the United States Student Association (USSA) where she led campaigns in over 15 states. During her tenure USSA led efforts to pass the College Cost Reduction and Access Act – the largest increase to grant aid since the passing of the G.I. bill in 1944. With leaders of the Generational Alliance (GA), Jessica led efforts to develop Generation Vote, a coalition of 20 organizations invested in building a youth voting bloc that generated over 1 million youth contacts. Jessica then served as the National Training Director for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) where she helped to coordinate national election efforts for the 2012 election to turnout over 1.2 million Black voters and build uniform capacity & training programs for the national, state, and local levels.

Seven years ago, as the world was watching and waiting for the verdict in the murder case of Trayvon Martin, Jessica with other organizers from across the country co-founded Black Youth Project 100 (BYP100) where she later became the first National Chair, and focused on capacity-building and sustainability efforts for the organization and other organizations that make up the Movement for Black Lives. She later became the Director of Special Projects for Movement Voter Project where she met her business partner that led to the founding of the company and non-profit—Piece by Piece Strategies. Outside of organizing, Jessica has committed herself to building power through accountable movement-building, working with organizations such as Revolve Impact, Community Justice Reform Coalition, Midwest Academy, and the Center for American Progress.

Jessica has been featured in national, state, and local media outlets including Ebony, PBS Newshour, BET, CNN, and Buzzfeed and has won numerous awards including the 21st Century Innovator Award from the Midwest Academy. Throughout her career and to-date, she has personally organized and trained more than 25,000 people.