Jessica Soja is a senior program manager at JFF. Specializing in postsecondary technical assistance, she designs and implements professional development strategies and technical assistance and capacity building services for postsecondary networks and partners.
Her skills and areas of expertise include:
- College and career strategy alignment
- Collective impact framework implementation
- Program design and development
- Project conceptualization and implementation
- Culturally humble partnership engagement and management
- Group learning and facilitation strategies
Before joining JFF, Jessica spent six years in postsecondary education, focusing on college affordability, guided pathways creation and implementation, and college access and career alignment strategy in Massachusetts and Michigan. Her experiences in that field include roles as a student advisor, project coordinator, coalition facilitator, and community mobilization strategy manager.
Earlier in her career, Jessica worked as an antitrust paralegal, served in the Peace Corps in Mali, West Africa, managed international humanitarian assistance projects for the U.S. Agency for International Development, and evaluated youth summer and afterschool programs.
She says she was drawn to JFF because of the organization’s culture of prioritizing community partnerships, inquisitiveness, humility, evidence, and collaboration in efforts to transform educational and workforce systems for economic advancement. She says that approach aligns with her values of working with urgency and empathy.
Jessica is a member of the National Association of Social Workers.
She has a master of social work degree in community organization from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and a bachelor’s degree in political science from Providence College.
She enjoys spending time with her spouse and child, and when she is not watching reality TV on Netflix, she loves exploring local food, drinks, and nature.
