Jessica came to CMC after serving as the first ever Director of Programs, and, ultimately, Executive Director of Lineage Project, a beloved NYC non-profit that provided trauma-informed mindfulness programs to thousands of young people inside systems, and the adult staff and caregivers who support them.

Jessica is a Garrison Institute Fellow, selected to be part of an incubator for emerging contemplative leaders committed to collective healing and generative action. With Garrison’s support, Jessica has developed a contemplative framework for caregiving children with complex needs and marginalized identities, and is writing a companion book, Healing-Centered Parenting. 

Jessica is the proud co-founder of a new venture, Care Lab—a virtual community + learning hub for caregivers of neurodivergent and disabled kids across the country. 

She is a social worker with clinical training in child and teen trauma treatment and a Qualified Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) Teacher through the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society at UMass Medical School. Her research and career have been committed to cultivating care spaces for Black and brown young people inside NYC systems, and building cultures of collective care among the adult staff who work with them. 

She holds a B.A. from Princeton University, and MSW from the Silberman School of Social Work. She is the co-author of “Unpacking racism, poverty and trauma’s impact on the school-to-prison pipeline” in Strategies for Deconstructing Racism in the Health and Human Services (Oxford University Press).

Jessica first encountered the dharma in 2009, and has been a passionate student and practitioner through her exploration of the Theravada, Zen Buddhist, and Shambhala traditions. Amongst a constellation of dear teachers, she considers her 6-year-old son to be the most transformative one on her spiritual path. She issued grateful for the infinite inspiration and learnings she draws from her family, village, mentors, and ancestors.