New Staff Q&A: Jessie Kochaver
We’re thrilled to introduce our new Clean Grid Campaign Director, Jessie Kochaver!
Jessie hails from Boise, ID, where she spent her childhood backpacking, skiing, and getting off the grid in the family van. After graduating from college in Salt Lake City, Utah, she packed up her car and moved to Oregon, spending time in Hood River and Bend before finally settling in Portland. Her passion for environmental advocacy led her to join OEC’s Emerging Leaders Board in 2022. At the same time, she was cutting her teeth in the legislature as a Climate Policy Analyst for Representative Mark Gamba’s office in Salem—working in coalition with leaders across the state on Oregon’s clean energy priorities.
Her wealth of knowledge on clean energy and deep ties to OEC from her time volunteering on the ELB have already made Jessie an irreplaceable addition to the team. Welcome, Jessie!
Read all about her—from early childhood career aspirations to her newfound love for Italian disco—below:
What was your childhood dream job?
I really wanted to be a cashier! The grocery store near our house had really nice cashiers, and something about the beeping really scratched an itch in my brain. But then I went to college and was pre-med, and I thought that I wanted to be either a doctor or a PA. I graduated with all the credentials of pre-med track.
Was there a light bulb moment when you realized you wanted to go into environmental work instead?
Yeah. I had an amazing professor. We were researching the Great Salt Lake and halophiles (organisms that can live in saline conditions). We were extracting salt crystals from Pelican nostrils, and studying the DNA we found there. But the Pelicans were no longer coming to the Great Salt Lake, because their migratory patterns had changed due to climate change. I thought, “We’re researching the wrong thing—the pelicans aren’t coming here!” My professor encouraged me to follow my gut and start researching climate change. That’s when it hit me: I’m in a lab researching whether or not climate change exists—but that’s not up for debate. How do I get into the advocacy side where I can make an impact?
That realization ultimately led you to OEC’s Emerging Leaders Board. What was that experience like?
It was a great opportunity to meet a lot of people who had very similar interests in the climate space, but also very different roles and careers within it. The all-member ELB meetings were great, but some of my favorite memories were planning events in smaller breakout groups. We planned a fundraiser at a brewery—that was really fun—and a film screening about wildfire impacts in Oregon. It was awesome.
What drew you to your new role as OEC’s Clean Grid Campaign Director?
Working with Rep. Gamba, I got thrown into the deep end of grid and energy policy, and I really enjoyed it—especially how varied it is. Learning about the technical side of energy policy is a never-ending journey! But then there’s a higher level where this work touches the lives of all Oregonians. The grid is this invisible thing that we need to keep the lights on and keep our lives going. There are so many ways we can talk to the public and get them involved.
When I left that office, I knew I wanted to continue working in energy policy. It’s exciting to continue working with many of the same organizations and folks I know from my time in the Capitol. This role feels like a natural continuation of my policy interests, but with more emphasis on the fun coalition-building work.
How do you spend your time when you’re not at work?
I just got into sewing in the last couple years. I knew how to hem some things, but now I’m getting into making full garments. It’s fun! You get to pick out a fabric and make it fit exactly how you want. I also bike a lot—I bike commute, and I also mountain bike and road bike. This past summer I got into bike-packing. It’s been fun to spend weekends exploring new places.
What is your favorite place in Oregon?
Well, I’m a huge fan of ferns. Coming from the high desert to Oregon, ferns are wild to me. In the Tillamook National Forest, there are some of the biggest, Jurassic Park-looking ferns I’ve ever seen. I think that’s why some of the trails there are my favorite spots in Oregon.
What’ve you been listening to lately?
Whenever the weather changes and it turns to fall, jazz always comes back into the rotation. I also just discovered Italian disco. That’s been a new obsession.
What are some things that bring you hope for the future of Oregon?
The number of people doing this work brings me hope. It’s easy to get siloed when bills don’t pass, or when things you’ve been working on don’t go forward. But it always brings me hope to look around and think about all the people who have been fighting for progress and moving forward even when things feel like they’re not moving fast enough. There’s change happening at a lot of different levels.
In this time of upheaval, we need to think really hard about the world that we want, and work toward creating it. It feels like we’re constantly on the defense and trying to stop things from happening. But we need to remind ourselves that this period of change is also a really great opportunity to put in place the things we want to see in the world. So I hope that we get to focus more on the ecotopia—not just the dystopia that we’re moving toward. It is possible!
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