From Bronx roots to shaping the future of public education: Jessica Sutter shares how a life grounded in service, trust, and intellectual rigor led her from the classroom to national education policy and consulting. Jessica is an education leader and consultant based in Washington, D.C., whose career spans teaching, charter school leadership, policy, and research.
Raised in a large Catholic family in the Bronx, Jessica grew up in a household that prized education and community, values that continue to guide her work today. Though no longer religious, she carries forward a Jesuit-inspired commitment to social justice and leaving institutions better than she found them. That throughline has shaped her decades-long dedication to students, families, and mission-driven organizations.
Jessica traces her journey from teaching in Chicago to training educators in Los Angeles, before becoming a founding teacher at KIPP LA Prep in the early days of the charter school movement. Those formative classroom years, including launching a middle school that eventually grew into a full district, grounded her leadership in the lived realities of students and families. Her curiosity about systems-level change later pulled her into education policy, beginning in Washington, D.C. during the Obama era, where an Education Pioneers fellowship and doctoral training deepened her impact.
Today, Jessica brings together lived experience, qualitative research expertise, and hard-earned perspective as an independent consultant. She shares why trust, self-discipline, and intellectual honesty are non-negotiable in consulting, and why leaders must sometimes say no, or refer work elsewhere, to protect long-term credibility. She also reframes mergers and consolidations in education not as failures, but as mission-preserving strategies in a shifting philanthropic and funding landscape.
At its heart, this conversation is about leadership with humanity - balancing ambition with vulnerability, innovation with stewardship, and meaningful work with a life well lived. Tune in for a thoughtful, deeply grounded discussion that will resonate with educators, nonprofit leaders, and anyone navigating change with purpose.
Chapters
00:31 👋 Meet Jessica Sutter Building Trust in Education
01:14 👩🎓 Jessica’s Early Life and Education
12:30 📚 Career Journey From Teaching to Policy Work
25:47 🤝 The Role of Relationships in Consulting
27:29 🧭 Balancing Self Discipline and Curiosity
28:53 🔍 Why Trust and Expertise Matter in Consulting
32:40 💡 Navigating Financial Pressure and Building Trust
36:42 🔗 Mergers, Acquisitions, and Organizational Sustainability
53:04 ✨ Reflections on a Life Well Lived
Links
Stay strong.
Episode 14