Jessica Smith

Jessica (Jess) Smith is an international Human Resources (HR) executive who has grown her career in tech, including Amazon.com, Amazon Web Services (AWS), and Meta. With a degree in finance from Hampton University and a bi-lingual MBA (English/Spanish) from IESE Business School in Barcelona, Smith’s data driven approach to HR and builder mentality have helped her land roles that range from standing up Talent Intelligence functions, solving strategic internal talent movement, using data analytics to help plan for the workforce of the future, and developing strategies on how to recruit and retain diverse talent. In her most recent corporate role as Director, Global Diversity and Program Experiences at Meta, Smith and her team inspired over 18K diverse students to major in computer science or pursue careers in tech via early in career diversity, equity, and inclusion programming. She also led Employee Experience & Culture for these 6100+ employees. Using her lessons learned from the tech industry and her passion around mental health in the workplace, Smith launched her first start up in Jan 2023, Zumba Fitness ATX, a mobile cardio fitness business that provides positive employee engagement and mental health programming for Corporates via group fitness activities. In her free time, Smith writes a blog, “Leadership Lessons from Normal Life” where she shares lessons about careers, work, and finding the balance between work and life to her 1K+ subscribers.  Smith is a working mother of two little ones living in Austin, Texas.