For Jessie, Hispanic heritage is more than where her family comes from. It’s the story of the sacrifices her parents made, the opportunities they created for their children, and the values Jessie carries with her today.
Hispanic Heritage Month offers an opportunity to celebrate the histories, cultures, and contributions of Hispanic and Latino Americans. For Jessie, it’s also an opportunity to remember the generations who came before her and ensure their stories aren’t forgotten.
“It means everything,” Jessie said of her Hispanic heritage. “I am a first-generation college graduate in my family. All the hard work that my parents put in really is important to me, to get me here and to where I am now.”
Today, Jessie is a talent business partner and recruiter at Mid-America Transplant, where she helps to find the people who will carry out the organization’s lifesaving mission. While she didn’t necessarily plan her path to Mid-America Transplant, the values that guide her work were instilled long before she arrived.
Learning the Value of Hard Work
Growing up, Jessie watched her parents work to build a better life for their children. They had limited formal education and had to learn English, but Jessie remembers that they never allowed what they didn’t know to become a barrier for their family.
“They worked hard to make sure that my siblings and I had everything we needed to make a better life for ourselves,” she said. “They learned English. They learned how to help us with our homework as much as they possibly could.”
More than anything, Jessie remembers their dedication and willingness to keep moving forward.
“My parents instilled in us dedication and hard work, and to continue striving no matter what comes in front of you,” she said.
Those lessons have stayed with Jessie throughout her own life and career.
“I work really hard, no matter what,” she said. “Even if I don’t know much about something, I take the time to learn and understand so I can continue to grow and progress. I don’t let people tell me no. I just keep going.”
Creating Opportunity for Others
Jessie is often one of the first people prospective employees encounter at Mid-America Transplant. She reviews applications, conducts phone interviews, and recruits for open positions across the organization, from clinical staff to support and leadership roles.
Because Mid-America Transplant’s work is so specialized, Jessie’s role goes beyond matching experience on a resume with the qualifications in a job description. She helps candidates understand what organ and tissue donation involves, how their potential role contributes to the mission, and what it means to work for an organization dedicated to saving lives.
“I play a very small part in giving someone a second chance at life because I’m putting those people in place that are working to make sure that happens,” Jessie said.
Her upbringing also influences how she approaches the people on the other side of the interview.
Jessie makes a conscious effort to consider each candidate as an individual rather than making assumptions based on their education, previous employers, or other details on their resume. She thinks about the different experiences people bring with them and what she would want if she were in their position.
“I really believe in other people,” Jessie said. “I try to give everyone a really fair shot, because that’s what I would ask in return.”
For Jessie, it comes down to a simple question: “How would I want to be treated when I’m going through an interview process?”
That perspective extends throughout the candidate experience. Whether or not someone ultimately joins Mid-America Transplant, Jessie wants candidates to feel supported, informed, and comfortable reaching out with questions throughout the process.
Remembering Where You Come From
When Jessie thinks about Hispanic Heritage Month, she sees the work generations of families have done to create opportunities for the people who come after them.
“It’s important to remember where you come from and know the struggles that your family members previously went through to get you to where you are,” Jessie said.
It’s something she wants her own children to understand, too.
“I want to make sure that my children understand where it all started and how hard their grandparents worked to be able to get us where we are at right now,” she said. “It didn’t come easy, but if you put your mind to it, you can definitely achieve what you’re looking for.”
Jessie is proud that she has been able to fulfill some of the dreams her parents had for their children while continuing to preserve the traditions and heritage they gave her.
But she also sees another kind of knowledge being passed from one generation to the next: an understanding of organ, eye, and tissue donation.
Jessie didn’t grow up talking about organ donation with her parents. Today, after seeing firsthand how it changes lives, she knows those conversations will be different with her own children.
“Changing that generational knowledge of what donation is and how it can impact people in the future is important,” Jessie said. “You learn, and you get better generation after generation.”
For Jessie, that idea connects the lessons of her family with the work she does today: remember where you came from, learn from the generation before you, and use what you’ve been given to create something better for the generation that follows.
“That’s part of what my parents taught me,” she said. “I see it happening with organ donation. So many more people are knowledgeable now about organ, eye, and tissue donation. We just have to keep spreading the word.”
You can help spread the word, too. There are currently over 26,000 people from the Hispanic/Latino community on the national transplant waiting list.
Learn more about organ, eye, and tissue donation and register to become a donor today.
