Jessika Tantisook

Economic Recovery Corps

Expertise:

• Community & economic development
• Regional food systems
• Small business support services
• Strategic planning

Jessika joined Sea Grant in February 2024 to lead the Coastal Opportunities for Resilience and Livelihoods (CORaL) project as part of the inaugural Economic Recovery Corps Fellowship (ERC).

Through the CORaL project, Jessika is responsible for stakeholder engagement and facilitating communication across partners and regions, helping to create a comprehensive vision of what a resilient and robust ocean economy can look like across the Washington coast.

Jessika has lived and worked in economic development on the Washington coast for over a decade. As coastal community leader and local food systems aficionado, she has experience starting and operating an organic food processing business, building a regional food hub and developing equity-focused programming to support small businesses.

Most recently, she spent five years as the Executive Director of the non-profit North Coast Food Web leading the creation of its first strategic plan and helping to grow its food hub operations into a pillar of the Columbia-Pacific region’s local food economy.

Jessika lives in Ilwaco, Washington with her daughter and partner. She enjoys eating yummy foods, traveling, being active outside, and is excited to help build a resilient coastal economy for the place she calls home.