Jessica is my wife. She's a writer and author of two books focused on personal growth, self-worth, and living with intention.
We met on OkCupid in 2014, back when it was a website, before mobile dating apps existed. On our first date, she drove herself to the restaurant in Seattle using MapQuest directions she'd printed out at home. We got married in Cabo in February 2020, flying out for the wedding having never heard the term "coronavirus." After a beautiful week with family, we flew home to Seattle, and a week later, the world shut down.
Jessica has been with me through every high and low of my career, and she's as much to credit with the success of Tatango as I am. She was a critical sounding board through every stage of the company. She's also responsible for our love of travel. If it weren't for her, I would have never left the office. But even when she encouraged me to venture out, she arranged everything so it wouldn't disrupt the business, usually by extending the trip for weeks so we could both work during the day from the road, then adventure out at night and on parts of the weekends. (That said, I still have nightmares about boarding flights, being offline during takeoff, and praying the onboard Wi-Fi would actually work once we hit cruising altitude.)
We're opposites in almost every way, and it works. I'll be reading business biographies; she'll be reading books on personal growth. I'll go to a business conference; she'll be heading into a meditation retreat. I naturally laser in on what can be improved or fixed in a business; she sees the good in people and their potential. That same lens, the self-awareness, the focus on intention, the willingness to do the inner work, is what runs through both of her books. Her first, Your Bright Life, is a guide to building a life that actually feels like yours, grounded in self-awareness, honest about the hard parts, and practical about what it takes to make lasting change. Her second, Shine Bright, goes deeper into how to find your message, build confidence sharing, and make a difference in a way that's unique to you.
Her first book is actually what inspired me to start working on my own. Some in my family think I just didn't want to be the only non-author in the household, which isn't true (haha). The real difference is that her words come straight from her, while mine go through ChatGPT a few times for edits.
She's my soulmate, my best cheerleader, and my business coach, all in one.