About

This photo is a still capture of what is actually a GIF of me giving a thumbs up. Yes, really.

Hi. I’m Jessica. Glad you found your way here.

I’m a journalist, but as I’ve always said, I’m a person first, journalist second. So, in no particular order, some facts about me:

• I am from Nevada: born in Lake Tahoe, raised in Las Vegas, college-educated in Reno. I will unabashedly correct you if you say my state’s name wrong.

• I have lived in D.C. since 2010. That still kind of blows my mind, because…

• I was only supposed to be here for three months. I was hired on full-time after doing an internship at Roll Call, a Capitol Hill newspaper. A couple years later, I became a reporter at the environmental news organization E&E News.

• I then worked as a digital editor at USA TODAY, where I edited and wrote and tweeted and said stuff on podcasts. I hopped over to National Geographic as a senior digital producer to make sure nationalgeographic.com looks awesome and do a variety of other things.

• Now I’m back at USA TODAY, covering politics.

• I sometimes burst into random song and/or dance. I blame attending a performing arts high school for that.

• I went to the University of Nevada. No, it’s not in Las Vegas. Go Pack!

• Much like Leslie Knope, I like waffles and news.

• I love livetweeting movies. Usually romantic comedies. Even better: made-for-TV Christmas movies.

• I like volunteering for things. Among them: the Online News Association.

• I keep the music alive by singing with the Capitol Hill Chorale and District Karaoke.

• I also enjoy attempts at organizing my book club. (RIP, wine club.)

• I need to stop buying books, but I never will.

Want more? You can send me a message, tweet me, be my friend, see a really detailed version of my professional history or read a few of my stories.

Disclaimer: This blog is all me and doesn’t represent the views of any companies I work for (past, present, future), nor does it have anything to do with any organizations I volunteer with.