Jessica Nojek is the Executive Director of Mission: Graduate. Mission: Graduate is a cradle-to-career education partnership with a big goal for educational attainment: 60,000 new graduates with college degrees and certificates by 2020.
Started her career with the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities in Washington DC. Her heart led her to New Mexico where she eventually came to work for the Greater Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce. Her work with central New Mexico’s business community and background in higher education public policy came together at Innovate+Educate, a non-profit that focused on bridging the skills gap between job seekers and employers. She then went to the New Mexico Department of Workforce Solutions (NMDWS) as the Statewide Youth Engagement Coordinator, working to empower statewide partners with best and promising practices in youth engagement, strategies for strengthening coordination with youth agencies and organizations and promoting statewide awareness of the unique workforce needs of New Mexico’s young people. This work included managing the creation and content for the state’s first online hub for internships. She is now excited to utilize all of her experience to support the goals of Mission: Graduate as Executive Director, working to improve the education outcomes in central New Mexico.
With a degree in Historic Preservation from the University of Mary Washington, she has found herself following a totally different career pathway like many professionals. This has fueled her passion to bring more knowledge and opportunities to our young people around education, career pathways and the development of skills for a brighter future and economic mobility.
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