“We're used to taking the crumbs, not understanding that we need the slice or the loaf. We're so excited to get anything that we will still take less than what we deserve,” said Jessica, a proud wife and mother of two who is intentional about uplifting her Detroit community and seeing her people realize their worth. “I love people, and I want to just make everybody feel their best,” she added. 

The certified nurse-midwife enjoys her job and the opportunity it gives her to offer quality healthcare to patients. 

“The reason why I became a midwife is to serve this community, specifically. Being in Detroit as a midwife of color… as a person of Mexican and African American descent… Detroit is love,” Jessica shared. “My goal as a (healthcare) provider is to make sure that I'm giving somebody that realistic presentation of health that's full of love, that they see somebody who wants to see them.” 

She and her husband of more than 17 years are parents to two young children—a “vivacious” 5-year-old daughter, and a 2½-year-old son whom she calls a “charmer”. Jessica and her family lived in New York for a short time while her husband completed his master’s degree, but relocated back to Detroit three years ago. In fact, they now live three minutes away from her job at the same health clinic in Southwest Detroit that she visited back as an infant. 

“I got my first vaccines here. They looked up when I got my flu shot. They saw that I was first a patient here at six months and 20 days old. I'm now 37-plus years old. I take a lot of pride in being here,” she continued. “I consider myself a person who wants to give back to the city, the city that nurtured me.”

Her desire to show love to her hometown is deliberate because Jessica feels, that when done right, nothing makes a bigger impact than the community. 

“I think [a] community is super important because we can create it. Community is something that I get to choose. I'm in the driver's seat when it comes to how I show up in my community.”

Jessica is one of 12 randomly paired UpTogether members who participated in a three-month, community-led design team. The group worked to identify challenges and funding solutions that could impact employees of Black and Brown businesses in the city of Detroit.

“One of the things that came out of one of our meetings is that people of Black and Brown communities need more sharing of resources. That idea of advancement, many times, is something that is not shared with the Black and Brown community,” she said before sharing that her group soon realized how similar their goals and how strong they could be, together. "Through us talking together, it's realizing that we can create a lot of change. When we're singular, that's very hard. When we come together, it's quite dynamic.”