While enrolled in the Conservatory of Music at Purchase College, she was the coordinator of the Purchase Jazz Club from 2002-2003, bringing in many sought-after musicians in the New York jazz scene such as John Abercrombie, Ben Monder, and Kate McGarry, and winning the Student Government's award for Best Club that year. Along the way, she discovered the music of Brazil, and has devoted much study to the deep musical traditions from that country.
Jessica graduated Magna Cum Laude from SUNY Purchase in May of 2004 with a Bachelors Degree in Music with a concentration in Jazz Studies and a minor in French Language and Culture, and she has gone on to perform in such well-known New York City venues such as the Copacabana, Kavehaz, and Cleopatra's Needle.
Among Jessica's musical influences are not only classic singers such as Sarah Vaughan, Elis Regina and Nancy Wilson, but contemporary singers like Cassandra Wilson, Maria Rita, Luciana Souza and Claudia Acuna.