Harnessing Fear: Jessica DeAngelo ‘16MBA
“Don’t let fear stop you from living the life you were meant to lead,” is a quote that Jessica “Jess” DeAngelo ‘16MBA lets guide her through life decisions. Over the last decade, she has navigated three major career shifts, pursuing her masters degree, a cross-country move, and the birth of her two wonderful children. Jess remains flexible, tenacious, true to self, and fearless — a trait she honed while attending Arcadia University.
When the financial crisis interrupted both personal and professional worlds in 2008, Jess felt lost after she graduated with her undergraduate degree in interior design. During this uncertainty, she ultimately began working in sales. After eight years, she found herself bored in routine, but discovered that she loved the nuances of running a business. Jess decided to go back to school to learn how to properly manage a successful business…with her fears acknowledged, she took a leap of faith and applied to Arcadia University’s MBA program.
She recalls the main selling point of the program was the international focus and the ability to travel. Jess and her MBA Cohort visited Germany and the island of Dominica. She says, “you learn so much more boots on the ground, meeting with businesses…humans forget that business is collaborating with other humans…the components to the international trips really had a lasting impact on my life.”
While on the trip to Dominica, Jess welcomed fear into her life once again. Amidst a strenuous group hike to Boiling Lake, located in Morne Trois Pitons National Park, a World Heritage Site, she had soulfully connected with their local guide, Marvin. Jess, an avid hiker, joined Marvin to lead the group of fellow classmates through the jungle — only eight of her cohort members, and one of the two professors, joined the hike out of the twenty traveling with the program. She found it rather peculiar that Marvin was wearing loafers to hike such a difficult route, reaching around 2,500 ft elevation, but she trusted him nonetheless. Jess engaged him in friendly conversation and asked what led him to be a hiking guide…Marvin responded, “I used to work at Comcast in the call center, but I was told I had to change my accent to ‘sound more American’; ‘Hello, this is Marvin’,” he acted out the language shift that clearly made him uncomfortable. He shrugged at Jess. Ultimately, she realized that being a hiking guide allowed Marvin to be himself…loafers and all. She was uncertain if there was a better gift than loving what you do for work.
Once the hiking group made it past the hot springs and sulfur fields, they were overlooking their destination: Boiling Lake. Exhausted after they hiked back up the mountain, there was a chance to jump into Titou Gorge, made famous for its appearance in “Pirates of the Caribbean”… nobody wanted to do it except Jess and her professor, Ray, and she had been looking forward to this opportunity. The ravine was about 40 ft down but the rock faces hugging the riverbank were only about 10 ft in width, leaving Jess with zero room for error during her jump. Raymond Lamorgese, former MBA Capstone Professor, took the plunge first as Jess paused at the top as she assessed the risks. “Should I do this?” Jess asked nervously…Marvin responded, “don’t think too much, you’re never going to do it, just jump!” And despite her fear, she jumped.
Since then, Jess reports that she tries not to think too much about any decision she makes. “To be fearless is to experience fear, but to not let it control your destiny.” Fearlessness is one of eight of Arcadia University’s Lived Values as it facilitates “a boundless learning environment across disciplines that integrate diverse perspectives into new knowledge and novel solutions to complex problems.“ The highly regarded, values-based learning community helped shape the life that Jess wanted to maintain. The experience in Dominica is now a core pillar in her upcoming book: The Wild Advantage: Why Your Brain on Nature Is Your Boldest Business Move.
After graduating from Arcadia in 2016, Jess was able to attain a higher job as Regional VP of Global and Strategic Accounts. With her MBA in use, she was working with Fortune 500 companies, managing several accounts, and working 16-18 hours a day. In early 2022, Jess and Steve decided to move to Boise, Idaho as she left her corporate career to pursue working with a start-up company. Several months later, after suddenly being laid off, Steve encouraged Jess to start her own business and use the MBA to pursue her dreams. So, she started a consulting business in the summer of 2022. Now, Jess is loving what she does as the Chief Hiking Officer and founder of Hike to Become™, where she helps leaders unlock their boldest ideas outside. A TEDx speaker and creator of the HIKE 31 Challenge, Jess is looking forward to leading alumni and students through a Lifelong Learning Series virtual segment and publishing her book The Wild Advantage this October.
