Jessica Lazzara

Jess joined the staff at Jumpstart in 2000, but her Jumpstart journey began prior to that. While attending Wheelock College, she saw a yellow flyer for Jumpstart on a bulletin board and immediately knew she wanted to be a part of this work. She joined Jumpstart as a college student volunteer and, eventually, a team leader serving at Head Start classrooms in Boston for three years. Jess has held many roles at Jumpstart. She also worked as field staff, directly recruiting, training, and coaching college students in Boston. She then moved into a regional program director role, where her focus was on supporting staff in the field. She also successfully grew Jumpstart’s impact in Boston through various partnerships and innovations.

For the last 14 years, Jess has been a part of the national education and research team, landing in her current role as vice president in 2012. In this role, Jess is dedicated to using research, best practices, and field feedback to inform Jumpstart’s current and future programming. She loves working with others to conceptualize and develop new and innovative models.

Jess lives in Woburn, Massachusetts with her husband and young son.