My name is Jessamyn and I tend to tell folks that my name rhymes with specimen but with "J."As a native Seattleite, hailing from the Central District, my roots in the Pacific Northwest have uniquely grown me into a person whose life pursuit is entrenched in relationships. My first exposure to the power of relationships began with my family. Growing up with an African-American father, his family from Brookhaven, MS and a white mother, hers from Great Britain, I was the product of two families with contrasting cultures and history.As a child, I observed both the differences and similarities of my two families; specifically the various social behaviors, value systems and how they each expressed love. During that time I became sensitive to the nuances of their different lived experiences but ultimately their similarities.With a shift in perspective, what once could have been considered an upbringing steeped in identity conflict, became my most powerful season of development. I was able to cultivate the communication skill of taking the tension of two realities and creating one life.After I graduated from Seattle Public Schools and pursued a Journalism degree at Loyola University New Orleans, I gently learned that I desired more than to report on issues but to construct substantial conversations rooted in science. I changed my major to Sociology and I was home.I gained valuable insight into how various social factors impact not only how organizations operate but how people relate. Over the past 26 years, I've come to establish my life on one simple principle: The integrity of any institution begins with its individuals.My passion is to equip people with tools needed to build strong social bonds in all parts of their lives. Whether it's on the home-front or the halls of higher education, the entertainment industry or philanthropic spaces.