A member of the United Houma Nation, Jessica grew up in Dulac, a small Bayou community in Louisiana. While studying at Stanford, she participated in a program in Native American education that piqued her interest in tribal public policy.
‘’After this program, I thought about graduate school. I found that there were few schools doing research on Native American issues. Then I found the Kathryn M. Buder Center for American Indian Studies, which offered a unique combination of research and course work. That’s why I applied to Brown.”
Jessica worked as a student researcher at the Buder Center, where she collaborated with the Brown School’s Center for Social Development
to understand asset development within tribes.
“We wanted to understand what an asset meant within a Native American community. The opportunity to work with the faculty at these two research centers has been very rewarding.”
Jessica was selected for the Udall Congressional Internship where she joined other Native American students in Washington, D.C., to learn about tribal policy, education, health, and economic development. She worked firsthand on a reservation on tribal law and policy, and served as a judicial extern in California. After graduation, she plans to work in tribal law at a northern California firm.