Vanessa Pablo-Jones

​Vanessa is the Project Manager at the Swette Center for Sustainable Food Systems where she works on the the implementation of the USDA NextGen grant designed to train the next generation of food policy leaders.

Vanessa's purpose is to design experiences that empower historically marginalized communities to live fulfilling lives. She is passionate about guiding people to find alignment with their truest selves and take action on everything that will bring them more joy, love, gratification, and peace. She strives to be intentional about how experiences are designed to optimize the experience of the audience.

Vanessa was raised in both her mother’s native Pacific island of Guam and east Tucson, Arizona. She attended college at ASU and found alignment with ASU's values of inclusion, innovation, and changemaking. Vanessa graduated with Summa Cum Laude honors with a Bachelors of Arts in Design Management, a Bachelors of Interdisciplinary Studies in Social Transformation Communication, and a certificate in Knowledge Entrepreneurship Innovation. 

She then worked at a start-up tech/insurance company before transitioning to serve as a Teach For America corps member and 8th Grade English Teacher while earning her Masters in Secondary Education (English) also at ASU. Afterwards, she returned to ASU working as a Success Coach for online students to realize their dreams while serving as a leader on varying committees related to workplace culture, professional development, and diversity, equity, and inclusion. Vanessa then transitioned to her role as Program Manager of Venture Development with the J. Orin Edson Entrepreneurship + Innovation Institute where she was responsible for the leadership of strategic planning and collaborative support for all Venture Devils program track communities.

Vanessa founded Mindfulness With Ness to provide group meditation-journaling-conversation sessions, personal development programming, and individual coaching for women of color. Vanessa also serves both as a Mindfulness Instructor for Mindfulness First where she guides K-12 educators on how to incorporate mindfulness into their classroom curriculums and as an ASU Online Orientation Facilitator.