Mari’s Blog!

Meet Jessica, a determined mother of two who embarked on an inspiring journey from San Antonio, Texas to Austin in pursuit of her dreams.

My most challenging life experience was losing my dad to suicide when I was 25 years old. My father had been my mentor. We were very like minded and he initially introduced me to my professional passion of public service. Together, he and I worked for the U.S. Government in Washington DC, La Paz, Bolivia, and Tegucigalpa, Honduras. We’d exchange news clippings of interest and make footnotes in the Economist magazine to share on long flights. He was a Vietnam veteran and a homicide.