I love storytelling. I also love data. I like to tell help people tell their stories in a way that breaks through and changes hearts and minds. I love to bring people together around shared experiences.

I’ve written authored and ghostwritten a slew of op-eds for prominent voices - some of them surprising! - on the case for LGBTQ inclusion and opportunity, I’ve written extensively on gender and work, and I’m a skilled media relations professional with years of on-the-record and on-background work with local, state, and national media.

My first book, a survival guide for working and breastfeeding, is available almost anywhere books are sold. Work. Pump. Repeat. (ABRAMS Books, 2015) was born out of an unusual experience: As the first Director of Giving for the now-iconic TOMS Shoes, I traveled to rural Nepal with the company's founder when my son was only five months old. I literally circumnavigated the globe with a breast pump, and couldn't believe there was no survival guide for working people doing this most awkward of jobs. After five years and hundreds of interviews with working mothers and HR executives, this book was born.

It's been recommended by Pregnancy & Newborn Magazine, Publishers Weekly, BlogHer, Fox News Health, and TOMS' founder Blake Mycoskie. Check out www.workpumprepeat.com for more.

I have written for The Atlantic, Harvard Business Review, TIME, and more (select examples below),

on the business and human case for LGBTQ rights, on workplace DEI, and on the future of work:

• San Antonio Express-News, Commentary: Texas’ anti-LGBTQ agenda is anti-business, 2021

• Harvard Business Review, Why Many Businesses Are Becoming More Vocal in Support of LGBTQ Rights, 2019

• Texas Tribune, Why put Texas business at risk instead of making a simple fix?, 2019

• Forbes.com, series exploring "Un-Careerists" - people who never do the same thing twice, and who are insatiable problem-solvers: forbes.com/sites/jessicashortall

on on the economic and moral case for paid family leave, on new-parent-friendly workplace policies and cultures, and on popular culture and parenthood:

• ELLE Magazine, 8 Honest, Raw Photos of What Maternity Leave Really Looks Like, 5/4/16

• ELLE Magazine, 23 Women Show Us the Horrible and Depressing Spaces They Pump In, 4/20/16

• ELLE Magazine, How to Turn Any Room Into a Decent Pumping Space, 4/19/16

• The Atlantic, Work In the Only Industrialized Country Without Paid Maternity Leave (Part 2), 4/16

• The Atlantic, Life In the Only Industrialized Country Without Paid Maternity Leave (Part 1), 3/3/16

• Motto (from the editors of TIME), What No One Tells New Moms About Going Back to Work, 2/22/16

• Refinery29, The Ugly Reality of a Too Short Maternity Leave, 2/5/16

• Moms Pump Here, Can I Pump Here? Understanding Your Breastfeeding Rights at Work, 1/2/16

• Huffington Post, Back to Work and Still Bleeding: The Shame and Peril of American Maternity Leave, 11/18/15

• The Bump, Why America's Lack of Paid Parental Leave Is Everyone's Problem, 11/17/15

• The Bump, Where Breastfeeding Support Is Really Failing Working Moms (Hint: It’s Not At Desk Jobs), 9/8/15

• ABRAMS Books, The 5 things that are going to happen to you when you travel for work while you're breastfeeding, 7/27/15

• The Bump, Building a breastmilk stash before you go back to work, 6/22/15

• The Bump, Why I support working moms setting (and adjusting) their breastfeeding goals, 6/2/15

• The Shriver Report, Has "breast is best" jumped the shark?, 11/20/13

press coverage (Examples)

• The New York Times: Transgender Athletes Face Bans From Girls’ Sports in 10 U.S. States, May 2022

• NPR Marketplace: Businesses are speaking out against anti-LGBTQ laws, April 2022

• POLITICO: Apple wields its lobbying might against LGBTQ laws, April 2022

• CNBC: Businesses oppose Florida’s ‘Don’t Say Gay’ ban on discussion of LGBTQ issues in public schools, March 2022

• Kotaku: EA And Gearbox Sign Letter Opposing Anti-Trans Bills In Texas, March 2022

• Austin Business Journal: Texas Competes, SXSW speak out against Gov. Abbott’s order to treat transgender care as child abuse, February 2022

• CNBC: Can a state restrict voting and LGBTQ+ rights and still be a Top State for Business?, June 2021

• SXSW keynote announcement: Rolling Stone, Billboard, Paste, February 2017

• Texas Monthly: The Power Behind the Throne, February 2017

• Texas Standard (NPR): on LGBT discrimination and economic impacts, 10/26/16 (13:30 mark)

• Coca-Cola, Want to Empower Women? Start With Parental Leave, 4/11/16

• KBAK Eyewitness News, California governor oks increased pay during family leave, 4/12/16

• Wake Forest Magazine, Profile, 3/11/16

• NPR, A Look at the Case for Paid Family Leave, 1/11/16

• ELLE, 11 Celeb superpowers to steal for 2016, 1/16

• TIME.com, 10 TED Talks That Will Help You Be a Better Parent (#2), 12/28/15

• Pregnancy & Newborn Magazine, Book Club: Our Picks from 2015

• APlus, 11 Photos Brilliantly Parody the Struggles of Moms Breastfeeding at Work, 9/10/15

• Bustle, Parody Stock Photos Of Breastfeeding At Work Tell The Frustrating Reality Of Working Motherhood, 9/9/15

• The Huffington Post, The Free Market Economics of LGBT Equality In Texas, 6/3/15

• The Week, The next big fight for gay rights will be won by big business, 5/27/15