Bachelor of Economics (2015)
Since graduating from CBE, Jessica has represented Australia at several rowing championships and competed at the Olympics twice. She recently won a gold medal at the Tokyo Olympic Games.
Concurrent with her sporting career, Jessica is a senior consultant at Ernst & Young (EY). In her role, she helps clients integrate the people agenda within their business strategy through designing and implementing new human-capital policies and solutions. She assists organisations with making their teams and culture more agile and adaptable.
In 2018, she also completed a Master of Business Administration at the Melbourne Business School, which included a semester at the London Business School on an exchange program.
7 OCTOBER 2021
How did it feel to see fellow ANU alumni Olympians like Angeline Blackburn (Women's 4x400m relay) and Caleb Antill (bronze medallist in rowing quad skull category) competing in Tokyo?
I felt proud. It’s always a proud moment to see someone from the ANU family representing Australia on the world stage. Calib is also on the rowing team and won his medal 30 minutes after I won mine. It was an amazing experience to celebrate together. I don’t know Angeline personally, but it was amazing to see fellow ANU alumni be part of the Australian contingent for the Games.
What advice can you share with current students and aspiring Olympians?
Some of the lessons I have learnt that I would like to share are:
- Patience is key. If you want to be successful at something, you really have to follow the process to make sure you have a strong foundation.
- Be open to new opportunities. Although this can involve a certain level of risk taking, keep an eye out for them and be open to taking them on.
- It’s good to have a strong understanding of yourself – how far are you willing to go? In my case, I’ve sacrificed a lot of family holidays and time with my friends, but that’s been the cost of achieving my sporting dreams.
- Be willing to step out of your comfort zone. For example, I started off as a swimmer but I got injured. However, I later saw rowing as an opportunity to achieve an Olympic gold medal. For me, it wasn’t solely about my love for swimming, but my love for competing and training hard.