Jessica is a writer based in California's Bay Area since early 2010. She grew up in the northeast, outside of Boston, and chased dreams of brass bands and routine Sunday second lines down to New Orleans, where she lived for five years. In New Orleans, she studied journalism, public relations, hole-in-the-wall bars, hurricane recovery, sweaty brass bands, "Fess" and James Booker, bars that never close, second line parades, Caribbean culture and perhaps most notably, reggae music. Somehow, between sweating it out in the dancehall (hosted by New Orleans' top-ranking sound Bayou International), hustling publicity for a green building nonprofit and reporting for a local newspaper, she got a degree in mass communication from Loyola University. Based on little more than some WBLK and Jah Warrior Shelter mixtapes she'd copped from a distance, she relocated to the Bay Area and now lives in the East Bay. She works as a book publicist from 9 - 5, and documents as much of the Bay Area reggae scene as she can manage through United Reggae and her own work-in-progress, Bay Area Reggae Project (www.bayareareggaeproject.com).

Jessica is on a mission to strengthen the worldwide reggae community by initiating and taking part in this dialogue, spreading the word and sharing her respect and love for the incredibly hard working and devoted artists that work tirelessly to promote positivity through the art of music. Oh! And you can follow her on twitter: @ReggaeProject.