Jessie joined IYF in 2012, bringing with her a wide variety of experiences related to youth, education, international development, and communications. She has worked as an educator in Kyoto, Japan with the JET Programme, and in Costa Rica, Ecuador, Peru, China, Cambodia, India, and South Africa with Thinking Beyond Borders, an international development-focused gap year program. Jessie has also worked with various development organizations in Washington, DC, including the Small Enterprise Education and Promotion (SEEP) Network and the Microfinance Information Exchange (MIX), as well as consulting on USAID-funded projects in Guatemala and the Dominican Republic. She holds a master’s degree in International Development Studies from the George Washington University, with a concentration in sustainable community-based tourism development. Jessie earned her bachelor’s degree in Language & Linguistics from Whitman College; she is conversational in Spanish and Japanese, and less than conversational in German, Maori, Mandarin, Thai, Italian, French, and Shona.