About Jessica Pocalyto

I'm Jessica Pocalyto, and I am from Xi Prime 2013, and currently, I'm a senior learning and development consultant at Common Spirit Health.

I was very lucky because I was in my twenties, in my mid-twenties, and I didn't know what I wanted to do. I graduated. I thought I was going to be a lawyer, and there wasn't a lot of options for me that was a career choice where I felt whole. I kept thinking about different opportunities, and what happened is, I met Asia Howell, who is a MSOD alum, and she saw something in me that I didn't even know existed. I worked for her a little bit, and she suggested that I apply for the program. I had no idea what OD was. I didn't know how it could be a career, much less, a mindset. I think in terms of trajectory, it came at a point in my life where I didn't know what opportunities I have, and now I just can't imagine my life without it.

I am very fortunate that I get to contribute my perspective to a healthcare industry, which has so much heart and so much meaning. I bring all of the things that I learned in the program with me, and I'm so privileged to be able to do that. Not only was it a career opportunity, but it was something that makes me feel whole. It makes me feel like I'm contributing to the bigger community, the bigger picture. And working in healthcare, there's so much potential of changing the world around you through people's health and wellbeing.

That was my trajectory, and I think in terms of ... You know, it's still going. I don't know where I'm going to be in 10 years, 20 years, and I think that it's just going to keep moving upward, and I just feel like I wouldn't have been able to be in this space if it weren't for the program.

It's my greatest hope that my legacy is that I am someone who gave myself to others, that I was able to make an impact in the world around me, either at a small or large scale. I hope that people remember me as someone who was kind and helpful, and also who made them better people. I hope that I encourage people to challenge their thinking, and to think beyond their current scope, and to think about the possibilities. I guess I hope my legacy is that I was full of possibilities and that I brought those possibilities to other people.

I long to help our community heal. I think we need that. We've been talking a lot about that in terms of how do we come together and help people see a common ground, a commonality, a common wellbeing. I hope I could be a part of that, and I'm excited about the potential of empathy, and community, and a way to build connection, and I need to be a part of that. I'm hoping that 10 years from now, I'm a part of that conversation, I'm helping influence that, and to bring big ideas or even small ideas. I mean, in the next 10 years I might be in healthcare. I might be in a small community, big community. I'm not sure. But I know that I'm going to be a part of the conversation in some way, because it's important to me that I'm giving back and that I can help others. It's not about me. It's about everyone around me. How can I bring more of that to the conversation?