Jessica is a strategic communicator with 25 years of leadership experience in fast-paced, complex, and diverse government, corporate, and non-profit environments.
As the Director, Communications and Stakeholder Relations for the College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants, Jessica's role is pivotal. She manages government relations, fosters key stakeholder relationships, and oversees all strategic communications activities. Her efforts are instrumental in assisting the College in fulfilling its statutory mandate of regulating the immigration consulting profession in the public interest and helping keep the public safe from immigration fraud.
She is also a volunteer member of the Lifestyle Media Program Advisory Committee at Centennial and is a frequent guest speaker at our college and at industry events, speaking on stakeholder relations, crisis communications, and media relations.
Jessica has previously held editorial and senior communications roles in the public and private sectors. She has taught media training for C-suite executives and has worked with major local, national, and international media outlets to tell authentic stories and raise organizational public awareness. Jessica was also the former Director of Communications for one of Toronto's largest social services agencies. In that role, she helped advance important social programs while building significant community support for deeply affordable and supportive housing for the most marginalized community members in the city through media and community relations.
Having spent the majority of her career working in the social development sector and serving some of Toronto's most marginalized communities, her efforts in the communications field have allowed her to tell countless inspiring stories and raise awareness about poverty, inequality, mental health and addiction, the need for affordable housing, newcomer settlement supports, and more. In 2014, she was awarded the Ontario Non-Profit Housing Providers Association Award for her role in an ad campaign on the need to support precariously houses and homeless Toronto single mothers—a testament to her passion and dedication in these critical areas.
Speaking of Centennial, she has directly overseen multiple placement students over the last 15 years. She speaks to classes whenever possible about her career and how instrumental the college has been in setting her up for success. The key message she leaves every class with is that they made an excellent choice when they decided to enrol at Centennial College.
Jessica's decision to enrol in her program at the age of 19 was one she often cites as life-changing. She says the three years on campus were among the most important and formative of her life, setting her career path on an upward trajectory.
The program offered her hands-on learning combined with theory and allowed students access to a newsroom where they could work toward a monthly neighbourhood newspaper; some of Jessica's favourite memories were in that newsroom when she interviewed sources and wrote feature stories. These skills she developed were proven helpful when she took on her first role right out of graduation as a technology reporter and editor for the largest technology publisher in the country at the time.
Since that role, Jessica built a successful career in the journalism industry, but later pursed communications. She still keeps in contact with her graduating class of 2000, and she notes how the group often shares relevant professional and personal experiences with each other, getting together as often as they can.