Jessi serves as the Grants & Capacity Building Strategist for the New Mexico Health Equity Partnership. With HEP since 2012, she is responsible for co-creating strategy, processes, and spaces rooted in equity with partners; facilitating dialogues and workshops; connecting people and ideas; coordinating community-driven research; and managing HEP’s grant opportunities.
Jessi is a woman of color with family roots in Mexico. Born in California and raised in New Mexico, Jessi is deeply committed to lifelong learning and values the strengths and creativity of those around her. She is passionate about supporting communities to develop their own solutions on issues affecting them. She works to create intentional spaces for community partners to share their ideas and transform how decisions are made so the processes, and decisions themselves, center the lived experiences of people most impacted. Jessi enjoys utilizing creative engagement strategies, such as art, visuals and play to ensure intentional community building and sharing of narratives.
Jessi holds a Masters in Sociology and a BBA in Marketing & Accounting. Her past professional endeavors include: policy research, technical assistance to nonprofits, and teaching English abroad. When Jessi’s not at HEP, you can find her running long distances in the desert or mountains. For Jessi, her work at HEP and trail running are interrelated. She experiences trail running as a learning exercise— in perseverance, understanding, and connection. Jessi’s other passions include spending time with friends and family, hiking, snowshoeing, skiing, doodling, and adventuring with her husband Brian, and beagles, Bogus Basin and Burčák Bilo.