“I’ve had the pleasure of working with Jessica for the past four years as our organization embarked on its journey toward inclusive excellence. Jessica’s deep knowledge of DEIB principles, coupled with her real-world experience working for and with orchestras, has made her an invaluable partner in this critical work. Her sensitivity and responsiveness to our unique challenges have been key to our success.

Jessica has been a compassionate, steady, and reliable guide as we’ve navigated complex and often challenging situations. She has played a pivotal role in helping us cultivate an inclusive environment where everyone feels heard, valued, and empowered to engage in meaningful dialogue and work towards solutions together. Her ability to handle difficult and sensitive topics with care and thoughtfulness has made a profound and lasting impact on both our team and the overall direction of our work.

From the very beginning, Jessica was highly responsive to our needs, consistently tailoring her approach to ensure that her training and educational sessions were relevant and impactful. She went above and beyond by providing additional resources, offering ongoing support, and always adapting her strategies to meet the evolving needs of our organization.

Jessica’s unique combination of expertise, sensitivity, and steady leadership truly sets her apart, and I would wholeheartedly recommend her to anyone seeking thoughtful, effective DEIB training and guidance.”

“Jessica is a charming facilitator and did a 100% superb job presenting very tough material in a way everyone could understand. I appreciated her understanding demeanor throughout the workshops and willingness to meet everyone where they were coming from. I will recommend Orchestrate Inclusion to my alma maters and current school (San Francisco Conservatory) as well as other arts organizations. Thank you so much for your invaluable work and spirit.”

“When I entered the field of arts administration for symphony orchestras, I signed up for a mentor through the League of American Orchestras and Jessica was paired with me. What struck me immediately was her ability to listen and ask thought provoking questions. Jessica facilitates the people around her — whether it’s one person or a committee of 20 — to discover solutions and next steps on their own. She is professional, well-prepared, thoughtful and dedicated to helping people innovate and achieve their goals. Despite the one year formal duration of our mentorship through the League, Jessica continues to be my first point of contact whenever I need professional feedback. I wholeheartedly recommend her to any orchestra or organization looking for a consultant to provide strategic, effective guidance in Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity work.”

“I have been a Trustee of the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra (NJSO) for nearly fifteen years. I came to know Ms. Schmidt in my capacity, there.I serve as Co-Chair of the Governance Committee of the NJSO Board. More recently, I accepted a concurrent appointment as Co-Chair of the NJSO’s Diversity and Inclusion Task Force, which has now become a free-standing Committee of the Board. 

In connection with the Diversity and Inclusion work at the NJSO, I have had the pleasure of working with Jessica for more than one year.  I cannot overstate her value as a consultant and advisor to the NJSO, in this work. In my years of corporate and non-profit experience, I have had occasion to work with consultants across many disciplines and approaches. In the role of organizational advisor, especially in the field of Diversity & Inclusion, Jessica’s skill and effectiveness sit at the very pinnacle of the field. Her extraordinary abilities in the particular areas of promoting and guiding organizational development have been honed in over a decade of Diversity & Inclusion work with The League of American Orchestras.  Jessica is able to draw easily and strategically on this vast wellspring of experience with never a trace of the didactic, or the formulaic.

One of Jessica’s many great skills is the ability to create a flexible and workable planning and exploration framework which supports progress, but which allows the client to make the direction and outcome of the work their own. In her highly successful engagement with the NJSO, Jessica quickly gained the respect and loyalty of the Task Force, and the various constituencies of the organization, including Musicians; Staff; and Board. The plan and approach in which Jessica has led us produced meaningful and tangible results in an extraordinarily short time, given the complexity and sensitivity of the subject. Progress to date on this initiative has been peer reviewed, and generally acknowledged to be at the leading edge of parallel work underway in similar organizations. 

The core principles of the unique planning model which Jessica has perfected are broad-based engagement, and ownership.  All with a stake in outcomes have a hand in process. Jessica does not decide for, but enables the stakeholders at every important juncture, as to key decisions and goal setting. Jessica’s firm but gentle style is such that participation from within the organization comes easily, and is built on a foundation of trust. As a result, the process and the result is widely ‘owned’ by all involved, and entirely the sum of their collective input. Beyond this, specific commitments and targets are reached by driving the planning and engagement process ever more deeply into the organization. In the end, it cannot be said that ‘they’ have taken a false step, because it is always the ‘we’ who must and do own the way forward.

In summary, I cannot recommend Jessica more highly. Her design philosophy embeds a clear bias toward the client independence and autonomy.  At any stage of our process, so far, the Task Force could easily have elected to ‘graduate’ itself from the advice and counsel of this thoughtful coach. Yet, we are at the point of our third ‘renewal’ of Jessica’s involvement, and on most reasonable of terms, with respect to value for price paid.”