Born in the South Bronx to a Dominican mother and Mexican father, Jessica Ortiz grew up in a single parent household of Miami. “I moved here [Miami] when I was six, so most of my memories are of life in South Florida. Miami is definitely my home, this is where my friends are.” Despite her fondness of the city, she did not have the easiest upbringing there. “They [fellow students] were like, ‘who is this little light skinned s**t Dominican?!”
She switched schools often until 2008, matriculating at the iconic Miami Senior High. Upon hearing of the Posse Foundation through a classmate, she reached out to the program’s director. Ortiz jokes, “I began stalking good ol’ Bain [college counselor], told him about myself, my experience, asked about Posse and boom! He became one of my best mentors.” Having played sports throughout childhood, she concentrated more on academics after sophomore year. She began excelling in advanced placement courses, maintaining key relationships with faculty. By senior year, Duke and Mount Holyoke topped her college selection list. In retrospect, however, Ortiz regrets not casting a wider geographical net. “Trust me, I did want to leave [the East Coast] but my mom fell into a diabetic coma after spending twelve years without proper medical attention. I had to reconsider a lot of things.” Through the Posse Foundation, she joins a list of accomplished young women at Mount Holyoke. “Posse brought us [women] together, definitely. It helped me find some of my closest friends ever, but Mount Holyoke helps with that too.”
Ortiz entered Mount Holyoke in the fall of 2012 with an undeclared concentration. She reflected on her abilities quickly, deciding to pursue a uniquely musical path. “I can’t sing, I can’t dance, I can’t rap. My friend from back home was like, “why don’t you become a DJ?” With the help of a fellow Posse scholar, Ortiz joined school radio station WMHC. After training for six months, she premiered a weekly show. “I love Romeo Santos, bachata and hip-hop. That’s my focus with the show, with my music. A lot of people are into the EDM scene, but that’s not me.”
Despite a pleasant collegiate journey thus far, Ortiz’s summer internship had its financial hurdles. With an unpaid assignment and costly subway fare ($2.50 base), the commute swallowed her wallet. “I’m 20, I have an entire road ahead of me.. I basically only have money to go to work and back.” Furthermore, the scarce representation of women in industry held her back. “I don’t want to take my clothes off to sell. I want to be known for my skill, my talent and it’s hard to find women like that.”
On music’s door-to-door promotional culture, she says, “They [radio executives] would go out like two, three times a week and I can’t enter [clubs] because I’m twenty, and the minimum age to get into a lot of places is twenty-one. It only complicates things.” Despite her disadvantages, Ortiz embraces a future career in radio. To better carve out her niche, she specializes her knowledge base through Hampshire and UMass Amherst’s media courses. “Their classes are so amazing. Mount Holyoke is very theoretical and classical, and UMass offers courses directly linked to what I want to do.” Despite the inefficiencies of the PVTA, Ortiz awaits a fresh start. “Now that I am about to embark on my third year of college, I feel as if my goals have grown instead of changing completely.”