Enrichment Beyond the Classroom
Meet Our Team
At Jessie B's Academy LLC, we value our team members and provide ongoing professional development opportunities and a supportive team environment. Our qualified and caring staff members have early childhood education training and certifications. They are passionate and dedicated to inspire and nurture young minds. We work with our teachers to develop and implement age-appropriate lesson plans that promote social, emotional, and cognitive development. Overall, we have a genuine love for teaching and a commitment to fostering a positive learning environment.
Support Team
Deborah Dearing
Ready Reader
Meet Our Founder
Mrs. Jessica Nicole Gant
Jessica N. Gant, the founder of Jessie B.'s Academy, was born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri. She attended the Hazelwood School/Special School Districts. Through her educational experience, she knew at an early age that she wanted to help other students by changing the sometimes-adverse narratives surrounding neurodivergent learners and children with disabilities.
In the second grade, Jessica realized she didn’t see words and letters in the same way as her friends and classmates. She was evaluated, eventually diagnosed with dyslexia, and had to repeat the second grade. Due to her diagnosis, she had to attend “resource” classes in a separate classroom. She sometimes missed class activities with her classmates, making her feel heartbroken and left out. Despite these feelings, Jessica was able to exceed expectations by paying attention, practicing the techniques taught by the resource teachers, and more importantly, by pushing herself to be a better student. With encouraging teachers and learning techniques she developed on her own, she was able to reintegrate into general level classes as a high school senior.
As a child, Jessica understood that it was not necessary to separate students with different learning abilities from their classmates, and that learning didn’t always require a typical classroom. It was during these early years that the idea of opening her own learning academy came to light. The culmination of her educational experiences, a college internship at a blended school, and working as a Behavior Specialist for the Special School District, served to reinforce Jessica’s dream of founding her own learning academy. Armed with a BS in Human Development and Family Studies from the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, an MBA in Business Administration with a concentration in Management and Leadership, along with two degrees in Human Resources, Jessica has served as the Director of Jessie B’s Academy since 2016. Jessie B’s Academy has provided a blended and inclusive learning style since it first opened.
Jessica gets inspiration and motivation from a quote by Michael Jordan: “Practice like you have never won but perform like you've never lost.” This philosophy drives her to encourage excellence and resilience in all aspects of life."