Jessica is the Library Assistant for Access Services at the Historically Black College or University (HBCU) Fisk University's John Hope and Aurelia E. Franklin Library; a Graduate Research Assistant for Middle Tennessee State University's Center for Historic Preservation; and a Contracted Public History Researcher for Middle Passage Ceremonies and Port Markers Project Assistant. She is completing a Ph.D. in Public History at Middle Tennessee State University, specializing in historic preservation, oral history, and material culture. Her dissertation research centers on 19th- 21st-century Black women preservationists and public historians' placemaking, particularly emphasizing underrepresented or systemically marginalized landscapes associated with iconic author and anthropologist Zora Neale Hurston. Jessica's passion for public history extends to her personal interests, including reading, nature, animal rescue, and visiting cultural heritage tourism sites.