After graduating from the University of Vermont in 2005 Jessie moved to Cape Cod to join a structural engineering firm designing high end residential homes on Martha’s Vineyard, Nantucket, and the cape in general. In 2010 Jessie made the move back to Vermont to be closer to family, during that move she went to work for a timber frame company as the engineer on staff, thus starting the love for timber frame engineering. Having an office directly attached to the manufacturing facility provided hands on learning experience as well as allowing her to watch the project go from conceptual to a 3D model, through fabrication, to seeing the timber frames erected on site, often having the ability to also go on site and help raise the timber frame adding invaluable field experience.

In 2011 Jessie decided to attend Norwich University to complete her master’s degree and became a licensed engineer in 2013.

During this time she was introduced to Duncan McElroy who became a resource and mentor in engineering timber frames.  In 2016 Jessie came to Fire Tower looking to continue to advance her timber framing knowledge.