Jessica Jarrard, Executive Director
Length of Service: June 2014
she/her
Jessica Jarrard is the executive director of Art from Ashes, an award-winning Colorado non-profit that has provided transformational creative programs for struggling youth for two decades.
Jessica has been involved with Art from Ashes since 2014, serving in various roles across the agency before becoming the Executive Director in January 2023.
Language has always been vital to Jessica as she has pursed both creative writing and technical writing paths throughout her life and career. As a child and teenager, literature, journaling, and writing provided a much needed outlet and space to simply be and create. As an adult, Jessica turned this passion into a career in journalism that evolved into a career in technical writing, all the while continuing her creative writing practice both privately and in group settings, thus leading her to Art from Ashes.
Jessica, was first introduced to Art from Ashes during a Phoenix Rising adult workshop at the Denver Public Library where she met the founder and creator of the Phoenix Rising program, Catherine O’Neill Thorn. She began volunteering at Art from Ashes in 2014 and served on the grant writing team as well as the communications team before joining the Board of Directors in 2017. In January 2019, Jessica joined the staff, becoming the Director of Operations, overseeing agency Financials, FunDevelopment, Events, and Volunteer efforts. After Catherine’s retirement in 2022, Jessica became the Executive Director in January 2023. Working closely alongside Catherine for nearly a decade, Jessica was trained in the Phoenix Rising curriculum as well as all operational aspects of the agency.
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