jessa

Everyday Stories, Lived

Life

  • We are travelers here

    I like being in the airport because all the people here have a place to go. Everyone is moving. Everyone is active. And even when we are waiting on uncomfortable benches, on cold floors, and in busy shops, we are waiting only for a season. We all wait with purpose—a departure time, a gate number, Read more


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  • Why trust works

    The best leadership lesson I’ve learned? It starts with trust. When you trust that your team can deliver their responsibilities, they will learn to trust themselves to do what they can, and even more by demonstrating accountability and initiative. They’ll surprise you. They’ll surprise themselves. Micromanagement only stifles creativity because it calls for a rigid Read more


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  • Nobody wins: watching a war from afar

    It’s easy to dabble in issues we see online just after seeing a small part of the whole. We were trained to be quick to respond to breaking news without stepping back and thinking deeply about the deeper whys. In 2023, while I was still glowing from being newlywed—married just four months—news broke out about Read more


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  • No one breaks my morning routine

    I’m still amazed by how Novo sticks to his morning routine, even when he has already learned to let go of the rest. Probably, our bed has already consumed me into oblivion a long time ago if not for our four-legged alarm clock with opinions who has appointed himself Chief of Morning Operations. He never Read more


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  • Stories in the ordinary

    As someone who makes time to read books, at least six a year, I am always on the lookout for titles that I find relevant to whatever I am going through or what I want to become and improve at. So when a friend—who knows what kind of reader I am—recommends a title that’s not Read more


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