Jessica Moore on Relationship-Building to Create Lasting Change
After moving to Cincinnati, Jessica Moore was on a mission to make a life for herself in her new city. After years of grinding away in just about every job in the food and beverage service industry, she didn’t know she’d find her calling in an organization like Cohear. Jessica now works as a Community Organizer, building and tapping into a vast network of Everyday Experts who help to create real change.
Interview by Michaela Rawsthorn. Photography by Chelsie Walter. Sponsored by Cohear.
This interview is a part of our series, “Cohear: Harnessing the Power of Everyday Experts.”
The following Q&A is based on the interviewee’s firsthand account of their experiences and opinions alone. Look for editor's notes with additional information in [bold brackets] throughout the article.
How would you define Cohear’s work in a sentence or two?
We're asking everyday people about their lives and how their lives could be better. And we're then connecting them to the people with the power to make those changes directly.
Tell us about your role at Cohear.
I get to make friends for a living. I get to connect with people. I make a lot of calls, texts, and emails to our network all the time to say things like, “Hey, who do you know that rides the bus? Because we're trying to connect everyday bus riders to the president of Metro. And I need to know who you know.”
That is a lot of my day. It’s a lot of fun because it gets derailed into really long, interesting conversations with people who are super, super passionate.
What has your experience with Cohear been like?
I love it. I love the people. Dani [Isaacsohn, founder of Cohear] offered this job of Community Organizer to me because he knew me as a Cohear Bridgebuilder. A Bridgebuilder is simply someone who connects other Community Organizers and me to people. There’s a link on our website for anyone who wants to become a Bridgebuilder or contribute to our work in some way.
It’s a really easy way to make a pretty big impact. For example, if you're the person who connects me to your neighbor who rides the bus, and the president of the bus company changes policy to make the buses run 24 hours because that person wants to get to a job the buses currently don't go to – you’ve made a big impact.
Dani saw something in me when I was in that role. My staff role has just been a natural fit; the company has been a natural fit. And the people I get to talk to are the kind of people I want to be spending time with.
Plus, Cohear is a great employer. I hadn’t had a job with sick days in my entire life. And there was an occasion when I had a miscarriage. It was a Sunday, and I texted Dani and Nikita [Anderson, Director of Community] and said, “I will be there tomorrow, but I will not be myself. I have had a miscarriage.” Dani said, “No, you will not be at work tomorrow.” He sent flowers and nudged me to take care of myself.
They also got me flowers when my father-in-law passed. In fact, they gave me the space to take a couple of weeks off because my father-in-law was passing, my daycare was closed, and there was a lot happening. There was just no question. I simply let them know what’s up, and they say, “Come back when you can.” Everyone is supportive and reaches out. I don’t think that’s the culture everywhere.
What is an everyday expert?
It's anybody living an issue every day.
So, we're talking about this bus rider: They’re an expert at riding the bus because they're doing it every day.
My husband, for example, used to take the bus from Norwood to Delhi every day before the pandemic. He spent three hours a day on the bus; he was an expert bus rider in a way that the executives of the bus system may not be. They might not be getting on the bus with their kids. They’re probably not taking it for three hours a day across town. So it is hard for leadership to know about that if they don't ask this guy who's the everyday expert at it. [Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority (SORTA), provides close to 14 million rides per year in the Greater Cincinnati area. Cohear organized the Bus Rider Advisory Board to improve SORTA’s services.]
When you think about a focus group, you might think about product marketing – not the social good space. Those kinds of product focus groups don't necessarily scream “relationship” to me. You plop in, give your thoughts on whatever, and then it’s done. And it’s really hard to get people to do it.
Relationship-building is what it takes to actually get people to show up and speak their minds. That's why Cohear exists. People are hiring us like they would hire an H.R. expert because what we do is a specialty. Without the relationships, you just have a flier in the bookstore people see and are like, “Oh, that would be cool,” but they don't actually go because they have no connection to it.
Naturally, my personal network is heavily represented in our Everyday Expert database. Monique [Gilliam, Director of Organizing]'s network is heavily represented, and so is Nikita’s. They're all very different. But the way you get out of only having our own networks involved is by asking for the next person your network knows. It might take a little while to expand it, but you know how far out everybody's networks really can go. Eventually, you find one person who you build a really trusting relationship with, and they'll open the door for you.
For example, if we’re having conversations about HIV prevention, education, and care, that's not the world I'm living in. But when I'm reaching out to someone in that world, I'm able to build a close relationship that’s true and honest because we’ve made a connection. And I’m telling them that I'm trying to do something that matters, and they have access to it.
Plus, if they’ve got something important going on and I know someone who is also in that space, I'll introduce them and see if there's anything they can do to help each other out. And that creates value in the network as well.
What is expertise?
In the U.S., we have this view that expertise is having some kind of title behind your name or a certificate earned. We are missing a lot by only focusing on certificates and degrees and not lived experience. The only way to become an expert at something is by doing it.
And so, if you're doing your life every single day, you are an expert at your life. I couldn't come into your home and be like, “Okay, I can do her day in an efficient way.” I can’t live your life with as many nuances – with as many little efficiencies – because I'm not living it every day. It's really simple, but also very precise and powerful.
Why do you think harnessing the power of Everyday Experts is so important?
I think there are a lot of people in these ivory towers making decisions for people, but they have never lived the lives they are affecting – and that doesn't get us anywhere. It doesn't make the companies better, and it doesn't make people's lives better. So, I think that's what has to change. [According to Cohear’s 2021 Annual Report, Cohear hosted 130 focus groups and community events in 2021. The everyday experts who participated were 68% Black, 24% white, 6% Hispanic or Latino, and 1.5% Asian American.]
How do you create that space where Everyday Experts are comfortable engaging in honest conversation?
If I pull somebody off the street and tell them, “Hey, we're doing pizza at this thing – come join us,” they're less likely to share their thoughts on whatever we’re talking about.
I can help the Everyday Experts by giving them the right vibe, building trust, having a relationship, and letting them know the expectations. That person can come in and feel comfortable sharing because they've been really, really prepared.
How receptive are leaders to the recommendations offered by Cohear after a study is conducted? Can you give an example?
Sticking with the bus riding theme, Metro is a perfect example. Chief Executive Officer and General Manager Darryl Haley loves the advisory board. He just gets it. He knows people's names, and he leans on them.
There was one conversation with the advisory board – these two women were looking at Metro’s new marketing. They looked at each and exchanged a subtle little signal but didn’t speak up. Darryl saw it and was like, “What's going on over here? Please tell me.” The women said, “There are no Black people in these ads.” Metro went back and fixed it. Because he was paying attention and valuing the thoughts of everyone in the room, the ad was changed.
Can you tell us about a project you’ve worked on with Cohear that felt especially necessary or important?
Every single thing we do is incredible. But one example: We had already been working with the Workforce Innovation Center when coronavirus hit. They were trying to create a better working environment in Cincinnati. Then they just totally switched gears on the project to see how people's jobs were during the pandemic. [Check out Cohear’s work with the Workforce Innovation Center here.]
We brought together a nurse, a person who worked at Starbucks, someone who worked for the sewer district, a musician who also owns a tea company in Cincinnati, and more. They came together to say, “My job is protecting me in this way,” “My job doesn’t care about me; they're not protecting me in this way,” and, “This is what's working, and this is what's not working.” The Workforce Innovation Center tried to come up with some universal, bare-minimum way to take care of your employees. It was cool to see the Workforce Innovation Center Pivot so quickly and to see that our model works no matter what. That one felt really special and really urgent.
What are some common struggles you hear during listening sessions?
Mental health is really a huge component of everything we talked about last year, from food insecurity to how work was treating you to COVID-19 to being a mom who works in the service industry. [A recent Interact for Health survey found that 1 in 3 adults in Cincinnati said their mental health had gotten worse since the pandemic started.]
Childcare was another important one. For example, there were people looking for work and great factories hiring, but some people can't work there because there’s not a daycare center open the hours of the shifts. Childcare is a problem for nearly every parent. [According to the Economic Policy Institute, “Child care for two children – an infant and a 4-year-old – costs $17,592. That’s 46.6% more than average rent in Ohio.” Cohear’s Report, ‘Moving Cincinnati Forward: Economic Mobility and Racial Equity’ provides actionable strategies, including those centered around childcare, for supporting workers in the for-profit and nonprofit world.]
Do you relate to any of those struggles yourself?
Taking care of your mental health is super important. Mental health is related to relationships like your marriage, your parenting, and so much more. If you can get that stuff aligned, you’ll be in good shape. Even though I have childcare, if he’s sick, they don’t let him go in. Then, I’m stuck because I don't have a plan for this.
Can you talk about the fields that you view yourself as an everyday expert in?
I'm lucky enough to have had some hardships that, you know, at least keep my eyes open. I grew up food and housing insecure; those are two things I have not experienced recently, but I feel very passionate about.
Being broke, having student debt, and an expensive degree – that hustle of being single and trying to make ends meet. I also have four years in recovery. There's a whole part of my life where I was messy. I needed the right kind of mind space to get healthy and sober.
Who is an influential woman in your life, and why?
My sister, Lydia Daniels. She is my baby sister who is very grown. She’s a social worker in Columbus and is winning awards for programs she’s developing. She has a huge, huge heart. My parents raised a couple of bleeding hearts, for sure. She has fibromyalgia, but she just keeps going. She's super funny, and she's a Bridgebuilder. I love her so much.
Visit womenofcincy.org/everydayexpert for the full series.
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