Despite being relatively new to the area (just two years ago they were in Columbus), Jon and Jessica Moore are making an incredible impact in Cincinnati and in their home city of Norwood.
“Cincinnati is our adopted home and we’ve really tried to make it our own,” said Jon, who works in digital marketing and media at Mt. St Joe.
When she’s not “shaping little people into good humans” (working as a nanny to three awesome children), Jessica teaches private cooking lessons—sharing her passion for healthy eating—and participates in School Board School, an initiative launched by Elisa Hoffman. In addition to his “9 to 5,” Jon uses his media skills to run “Move Norwood Forward” a podcast and blog aimed at shedding light on the people, businesses and happenings in Norwood.
Together, the couple also own a three-family in Norwood where they live, renting out the other units.
Did we mention that they are Cohear Bridgebuilders AND serve on two of our Advisory Boards?
“Engaged” is an understatement for the level of passion Jessica and Jon bring to their community.
“This level of involvement has always been in our DNA,” said Jon. “But we weren’t really living that out for the past five or ten years.”
Current events caused them to re-engage and commit at a deeper level.
“We felt so helpless about the national political scene,” said Jessica. “Plugging into our community and helping our neighbors makes us feel like we are moving the needle in spite of other things happening around us.”
Given how fired up she is, it no surprise that Jessica clicked with Nikita Anderson, Cohear’s Lead Organizer, when they first met. “We hit it off right away. We ended up talking for a while because she was so hyped up about this new job that she had just gotten. Happiness was shooting out of her eyeballs. When she explained the everyday expert thing, I was like ‘this is so awesome!’”
Jessica and Jon attended a Cohear conversation around affordable housing, and they were sold right away, with Jessica noting how “The conversations are put together so thoughtfully.”
Since then, they’ve attended multiple conversations, invited others to some, and have each joined different advisory boards: Jon serves on the Metro Rider Advisory Board that meets regularly with Metro CEO Darryl Haley, and Jessica sits on Duke Energy’s Customers Insights Committee that meets with Duke President Amy Spiller and the rest of her leadership team.
“I feel really valued…To meet the President of Duke [Energy Ohio]…I still can’t get over that I had lunch with her and she wanted to hear what I had to say!” said Jessica.
Jon has had a similar experience with Metro: “I tried to weigh things based on whether I’m energized or drained at the end. During the first meeting, I sat next to Darryl [Metro CEO] and after I left, I was like ‘this is my oxygen.’ To sit in that room and be with people of different ages, abilities, and needs, was very eye opening to me. I was so impressed with the degree to which the Metro staff cared and listened.”
As Bridgebuiders, Jon and Jessica encourage other everyday experts from their network to attend Cohear conversations so they can get meaningful access to leaders.
“If you care about what happens in your community, if you want to speak to the decision makers who are going to influence an issue you are facing: this is your chance to do it,” said Jon. “You almost will never have an opportunity to do this without connecting with Cohear.”
“Everyone, whether they realize or not, has an expertise that someone would find valuable.”
We couldn’t agree more! We’re thankful for the experiences and expertise that Jon and Jessica contribute to Cohear conversations, and we’re even more grateful for the work they do to make Cincinnati and their community a better place.
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