We were lucky to catch up with Jess Jellings recently and have shared our conversation below.
Jess, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Let’s start with education – we’d love to hear your thoughts about how we can better prepare students for a more fulfilling life and career.
I am “self-taught”. I did not attend college or any vocational school, and I hold no degrees. I have had the great fortune to learn from talented and successful co-workers as I’ve evolved my career from hospitality to communications and marketing. Growing up, I was what you might call “not interested in attending class” so on-the-job training has been a gift.
So often, people feel pressured to attend university even if they are unsure of what they would like to study. I would love to see a transformation to a broader hiring process that is based on skills, not a degree to allow everyone to learn and work in an environment they enjoy.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
People always joke that I’ve had “a million” jobs, which is not quite true but I have had the opportunity to work with some amazing organizations in very diverse sectors. I began my career in restaurants and bars, working my way into management positions in catering sales. That customer service training allowed me to expand my role in restaurant operations, event planning, and now communications.
My current position with WomenVenture (a Minnesota-based nonprofit that provides training and access to capital to business owners) provides me with a platform to utilize my interpersonal and logistics planning skills to support the organization and its clients.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
In my personal life, my artistic outlet is cooking and photography. I love to find new recipes and flavors to experiment with and recently I’ve noticed that these creative hobbies also flow into the nonprofit world. Being able to see tangible outcomes (results, views, delicious spaghetti) really encourages me to try new things and step outside the box. A successful marketing campaign requires a little bit of creativity to be successful.
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, I was working as an event planner for a climate- and energy-focused nonprofit. In the span of three days, all of our events were canceled and my workload disappeared. Thanks to a supportive manager, I was trained in multiple facets of communication and was able to keep working with a team I really enjoyed. My colleagues went out of their way to teach me best practices around social media, web maintenance, design and so much more. I would not be where I am today if they hadn’t taken the time to guide me in a new field.