Jess
Jess was born and raised in small-town Easley, SC, and upon graduating from the University of South Carolina, she set up shop in famously hot Columbia and started working at an ad agency, beginning there as an Account Executive and ultimately becoming the Director of New Media.
But after five years with the ad agency where her career started, Jess was bitten by the advocacy bug. She started volunteering with South Carolina Equality and discovered that her passion was working for equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people. So Jess made the difficult decision to leave the agency that had given her many good memories, and she started working as a freelance marketing strategist while searching for a job at an LGBT organization.
In September 2010, Jess was offered and accepted a job at One Colorado, a statewide advocacy organization dedicated to securing equality for LGBT Coloradans. Knowing she had landed her dream job, Jess packed up Addison, Izzie, and their belongings and moved to Denver, Colorado.
Jess started at One Colorado as Communications Manager, spending her time planning political strategy, engaging and mobilizing organizational supporters through a variety of online and offline communications tactics, and educating the public through the media.
After a year of focusing on communications, Jess was promoted to the position of Deputy Director. In this role, she oversees One Colorado’s operations, communications, and field organizing.
Outside of work, Jess loves walking in many of Denver’s parks; watching great TV (the best of which is, undoubtedly, Joss Whedon’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer); and thinking and talking about politics. She also enjoys traveling, including making trips to South Carolina to visit the friends and family she left there.
Jess likes: traveling, reading good books, and politics.
Jess dislikes: bigotry, gender roles, and mean people.
