Jessica is a writer based in Washington, D.C. Her debut novel, RETRO, will be published by Ballantine Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House, on June 23, 2026.

You can read her work in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Marie Claire, and more. She is a longtime contributor to Vulture, where she currently recaps ‘Emily in Paris,’ ‘Hacks,’ ‘Wednesday,’ and ‘The White Lotus.’ She writes often for McSweeney's Internet Tendency, and several of her pieces have been the site’s most-read of the year. Her Washingtonian magazine guide to standup in DC, “Amateur Hour,” won a 2024 City and Regional Magazine Association award. She was a 2023 Spruceton Inn Artist Resident.

As a reporter, she asks the big questions, such as: Have you noticed that everyone’s teeth are a little too perfect? How did “Mr. Brightside” become a generational anthem? What does it mean to be a “Swiftie for Palestine”? How does the CIA recruit millennial and Gen Z spies? What really happened to Amy Winehouse? How old is Emily (in Paris) supposed to be? Her investigation into one such mystery—just how punchable is Martin Shkreli’s face?—has been immortalized by the Center for Law, Brain, and Behavior at Harvard Medical School.

She publishes a weekly newsletter, The Retro Report, where she shares vintage mood-based recommendations for what to read, watch, listen to, meditate on, and obsess over.

She is represented by Anna Sproul-Latimer at Neon Literary. For film & TV rights inquiries, contact Michelle Kroes at CAA.