Jessica joined the Cape Fear family after a decade as a field services supervisor for a toxicology lab. It was a bit of a ride towards the end. Leaving behind the sourdough ambitions and homeschooling shame of 2020 after two months of furlough, she was back to jet-setting between medical facilities for work. She got that Beyoncé-living on economy tickets while the rest of the world was relearning long division and figuring out how much they’d have to sacrifice to build on an extra wing to the house. It was a weird time.

After the return of the crowds—and some company restructuring—Jessica longed for the quiet life and returned to the comfort of home, opting for the law firm vibe over healthcare havoc. Same role, different locale.

Travel has always been a passion, but she was ready to chase that passion on her own time. Jessica was just a kid when she began checking states of her travel list while growing up on both coasts. She’s up to 43 now and is saving the best for last with Iowa and the Dakotas topping the list.

With her extra downtime on the ground, she often ends up joining her family at lunch on the pier or on the beach. They have a knack for making each other laugh.

“We always end up in really weird conversations in my family. We never know what kind of rabbit hole we’ll go down that day,” she says, comparing them to The Simpsons.

Adding to her close-knit trio are her favorite four-legged friends. It didn’t take a quarantine for Jessica to know that she wouldn’t trade a day with her dogs for all the glitter drinks at Spindle’s. At 13, Ruby is her little old lady. Kaiser is around 9 and weighs as much as a grade schooler. And Frank is a baby Frenchie. Enough said. She’s a fan of her husband, too, which makes being empty-nesters next year a bit easier.

In case it’s not clear, hiring a housekeeper would be the best gift you could give Jessica. It’s one surprise she would be fully on board with. For the record, these days she can fall asleep anywhere, a skill that comes in handy on long drives. In the passenger seat, of course, unless Tesla is feeling generous with their autopilot capabilities.

Jessica is a self-professed straight talker but only when it isn’t about herself. Get her chatting, though, and you might hear about the time she shouldered one of her friend’s pet pythons. It’s still her most daring moment. After said friend had kids, the snakes got rehoused, and the kids didn’t take as much courage to hold. These days, Jessica sticks to her furry-pets-only instinct.

It’s been a winding road, and Jessica is thrilled to have found a place at Cape Fear. Ironically, while other 9-year-olds dreamed of being a princess who talks to animals, Jessica had business suits and courtrooms on the mind. Though she’s not an attorney and doesn’t work directly with clients in the process of creating an operations department, she absolutely loves her job. And she loves meeting people, so be sure to say hello!