Jessica Bensley was formerly trained in the hospitality industry and further developed her skill set with a Masters in Public Administration in Environmental Science and Policy from Columbia University.

She is a creative leader with a proven track record of creating durable partnerships across multi level stakeholders in both private and public sector across several countries.

Much of her experience has been borne through the creation and management of a tourism based map publishing company in the Caribbean region. For over 18 years she has engaged tourism stakeholders to collaborate on marketing pieces that showcase indigenous and commercial components of the destinations.

Jessica has consulted for the United Nations and the Department of Economic and Social Affairs on the Global Synthesis of National Reports for Small Island Developing States and moving beyond measures of GDP.

In 2013 she developed a Sustainability Awards Program to engage private sector in 10 islands to measure and minimize the externalities of their businesses’ impact on the environment in 5 core areas: Biodiversity, Energy, Water, Waste and Social Governance. The metrics translate into Awards in an effort to communicate Sustainability efforts of the private sector in the Caribbean and to create a more resilient Caribbean economy.

Jessica is a Board Member of the Caribbean Center for Sustainable Livelihoods and an active volunteer with the Center and the Barbados Youth Business Trust for which she has been recognized with several awards.

She has been invited to speak at several venues including Sustainability Conferences, Rotary Clubs, Hotel Associations and TEDX Bridgetown.

In her down time Jessica surfs near her home village and is known to pick up a video camera to capture and create compelling stories on humanity's relationship with the environment.