Jessi grew up in Arkansas and came to Oklahoma in 2007 to study Dance and Arts Management at Oklahoma City University (OCU). There she received her Bachelor of Science and her love of non-profits and fundraising. She accepted a job at OCU after graduation where she worked in both alumni relations and fundraising. She kept her love of performing arts alive by also fundraising part time for Oklahoma City Repertoire Theater all while she completed her Masters in Applied Sociology in Non-profit Management and Leadership. After graduation she worked for the Myriad Botanical Gardens doing corporate sponsorships and membership development.

At the Myriad Gardens Jessi grew membership year-over-year by more than $50,000 annually. She established lasting corporate relations of more than $200,000 in revenue. Her calling turned her interest from humanities and the arts to serving the poor and vulnerable. This led her to accept the Director of Community Engagement role at Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City where she oversaw the annual gala raising nearly $500,000 as well as PR and marketing, volunteers, and social media. Less than a year after accepting that role Jessi was promoted to Senior Director of Development and Outreach. As Senior Director she not only grew unrestricted revenue by more than $2 million she also designed and wrote a performance quality improvement plan to guide the 14 social service programs to greater impact. As a senior leader Jessi was instrumental in the financial success and the service delivery success of this 36-county agency over 6 years. She is a self-proclaimed non-profit nerd with a mind for business strategy. She strives to guide each non-profit she works or volunteers for towards greater impact.

Her mission is connecting those that have resources to their passion by showing them how giving to great causes is a mutually beneficial relationship. She wants every non-profit to operate smartly and strategically for the benefit of the mission and inevitably those receiving the services. In 2022, motivated by wanting to help more agencies have greater success in both fundraising and program deployment, Jessi started her own consulting company – Catchfire Consulting.

In her personal life Jessi has been married for 11 years to John. They have two scruffy, small dogs named Oliver and Otis. John and Jessi enjoy traveling, craft beer, their church, and hiking. Jessi loves being creative and staying active while she isn’t helping those in need through her professional work.