Jessica O’Donnell

Jessica is passionate about understanding what motivates people, which provides her with a strong foundation for supporting teams in designing inspiring goals and clear objectives for success. Leveraging her experience in human-centered design and the learning sciences, Jessica is highly effective at fostering team environments conducive to creative, inclusive, and collaborative thinking and problem solving. 

Jessica holds a Master’s in Education degree from Harvard University, where she studied and worked at the intersection of learning design, innovation, and technology. Jessica specifically focused on the role of motivation in improving learning experiences and outcomes by developing innovative and powerful pedagogies. Jessica also holds a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Linguistics and Psychology, as well as a Bachelor of Education, both from Queen’s University. 

Prior to joining MacPhie, Jessica worked as a Consultant for Nelson Education. In this role, Jessica developed extensive project-based experience in research and design throughout all stages of the product development lifecycle. In addition, Jessica was an integral part of the Professional Learning team at Nelson where she was actively involved in creating market-leading professional learning solutions with educators, system administrators, and other high-profile Canadian thought leaders in education.  

As a Consultant at MacPhie, Jessica is focused on unlocking clients’ full potential and creativity. Currently, Jessica is supporting the development of strategic plans, while also collaboratively designing and facilitating team development programs. Her goal is to motivate and support teams in building a deeper sense of trust, developing sustainable habits, and collectively working to achieve their goals. Throughout all of her work, Jessica is a strong advocate for ensuring equity is at the forefront of design and facilitation.

Outside of work, Jessica enjoys local weekend getaways and travelling abroad with friends and family. Additionally, Jessica lives and breathes design – particularly, in the world of fashion. On the weekend, you can almost guarantee that you will find Jessica exploring vintage clothing shops in the city.

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