Jessica currently works as a researcher at Georgia Tech's Center for Quality Growth and Regional Development under Dr. Catherine Ross. She presented at the ACSPannual conference in 2007) and the joint ACSP and AESOP conference in 2008, in addition to attending the Ph.D. Jamboree hosted by the University of British Columbia's School of Community and Regional Planning in 2007.

Jessica holds a bachelor's degree in History from Swarthmore College and studied at Universitéde Grenoble in France. Prior to coming to Georgia Tech, she worked as editor of Global Executive, Economist.com's section trends on business innovation and management education. She also worked as a correspondent for The Economist, covering the Southeast United States.