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Jesse Harris
People and Culture Director @ Virgin Orbit - Instructor @ Stanford Continuing Studies
Professional Background
Jesse Harris is a dynamic professional with a vibrant outlook on work and culture. As a champion for joy in the workplace, Jesse firmly believes that work should not be viewed as a four-letter word, and this optimistic approach is pivotal in their key role at Virgin Orbit. In their current position as the Director of People, Learning, Engagement & Culture, Jesse is instrumental in shaping and supporting a positive organizational culture within Sir Richard Branson's innovative rocket company. By focusing on performance and culture, Jesse aims to create an environment where employees feel engaged, valued, and empowered to thrive.
In addition to their work at Virgin Orbit, Jesse is also an esteemed instructor at Stanford Continuing Studies, where they share their wealth of knowledge and experience in learning design and employee engagement with eager students. Jesse co-leads www.MyJobisFun.com alongside Laura Pickel, a platform dedicated to providing essential tools, tips, and insights into creating vibrant workplace cultures that inspire joy and enhance employee satisfaction.
Throughout their impressive career, Jesse has held a variety of impactful positions that showcase a commitment to nurturing talent and fostering growth. Their experience spans various industries, always with a focus on learning and development. Jesse has held numerous leadership roles at Virgin Orbit, including Director of People; Talent & Organizational Strategy, and Senior Manager of People; Learning & Development. Their journey also includes significant contributions to well-renowned organizations such as Alaska Airlines and Virgin America, where they played key roles in enhancing learning technologies and talent development strategies.
Education and Achievements
Jesse Harris's academic pursuits are as impressive as their professional endeavors. They earned a Graduate Certificate from Stanford Ignite at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business, equipping them with a solid foundation in entrepreneurship and innovation. Jesse also graduated with a Master of Arts in Education, specializing in Learning, Design, and Technology, with a perfect 4.0 GPA from Stanford University. Their educational journey began with a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology, where they achieved Highest Honors with another 4.0 GPA from The University of Texas at San Antonio. This strong academic background showcases Jesse's dedication to continuous learning and aligns perfectly with their professional roles focused on education and engagement.
Jesse's unique combination of education and experience positions them as a thought leader in the realm of workplace culture and learning design. Their ability to blend theoretical knowledge with practical application allows Jesse to deliver innovative solutions that cater to the modern workforce's needs.
Notable Achievements
Throughout their career, Jesse Harris has garnered a reputation as a thought leader and advocate for employee satisfaction and cultural enrichment in the workplace. As part of their role at Virgin Orbit, Jesse has successfully implemented initiatives that promote vibrant workplace cultures, aimed not just at productivity but also at overall employee well-being.
Jesse's expertise in talent development and learning strategy has been instrumental in enhancing engagement and performance across organizations. They’ve held various key positions, including Manager of Learning Technology & Administration at H-E-B, where Jesse led efforts to modernize learning programs and optimize employee training procedures. Their previous role as Learning Design & Technology Leader at Virgin America further emphasizes Jesse’s commitment to integrating technology into learning experiences for greater effectiveness.
In their earlier work, Jesse has collaborated as a Section Facilitator & Guest Lecturer at Stanford University, where they shared insights on learning frameworks and the integration of technology in education. This role speaks volumes about their ability to influence and educate future leaders in the field.
Not only does Jesse Harris bring extensive experience in people strategy and cultural engagement, but they also have a unique talent for fostering strong relationships within teams and organizations. Jesse's approach has led to numerous successful initiatives aimed at enhancing employee experience, making work something that people look forward to each day.
In summary, Jesse Harris is an innovative and passionate professional with a dedicated career focused on fostering joy and positivity in the workplace. Their remarkable journey through education and various leadership roles reflects a steadfast commitment to creating engaging learning environments and vibrant workplace cultures. As they continue to drive initiatives at Virgin Orbit and through platforms like MyJobisFun.com, Jesse's influence will undoubtedly resonate within the realms of organizational
Highlights
As many will have heard, Virgin Orbit has stopped operations and let go of about 85% of its workforce. These are brilliant, creative, joyful teammates who care about making a difference in the world. If you or your team are looking for an outstanding candidate for a role in Learning, People, Manufacturing, Finance, Brand, Engineering, Legal, Leadership, Business Development, or anything else ... I bet I know someone who would be an incredible asset. I would be THRILLED to connect you with some of the best people you'll ever meet.
I'll carry on with Virgin in London through October and then figure out what's next. I'm grateful for colleagues here who are also working tirelessly to help the people we love who have been impacted.
On my first day at Orbit nearly 6 years ago (and after another painful transition with the acquisition of Virgin America), I remember looking at the sign on the building and telling myself to enjoy every single moment, say yes to every opportunity, and find every chance to create joy. I'm grateful for the opportunity to do that, and that I got to support and grow alongside some of the most incredible people I've had the pleasure to work with.
Please keep my friends in mind if you have open roles, and in your heart either way.
Space is hard. Saying goodbye to Orbit will be harder.
What a dream come true to lead People Experience and Culture at Virgin for the next year, supporting our people around the globe while the inimitable Ernestina Potts is on leave. Even better that I'll continue to support our Virgin Orbit family on a part-time basis.
Derek and I are packing our bags and heading to London in the next few weeks, and are thrilled for all the new experiences to come. Favorite dining spots, weekend trip recommendations, and good weather vibes all appreciated. <3 #virginfamily
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Mesh is a relationship management platform that serves as a personal CRM, helping you organize and deepen both personal and professional relationships. It functions as a beautiful rolodex and CRM available on iPhone, Mac, Windows, and web, built automatically to help manage your network efficiently. Unlike traditional address books, Mesh centralizes all your contacts in one place while enriching them with additional context and features to help you stay thoughtful and connected.
Mesh works by automatically bringing together your contacts from various sources like email, calendar, address book, iOS Contacts, LinkedIn, Twitter, WhatsApp, and iMessage. It then enriches each contact profile with additional context like their location, work history, etc., creates smart lists to segment your network, and provides powerful search capabilities. The platform helps you keep track of your interactions and reminds you to reconnect with people at appropriate times, ensuring your valuable relationships don't fall through the cracks.
Mesh offers several powerful features including:
- Comprehensive Contact Management: Automatically collects contact data and enriches profiles to keep them up-to-date
- Network Strength: Visualizes the strength of your relationships relative to others in your network
- Timeline: Shows your relationship history with each contact
- Smart Search: Allows you to search using natural language like "People I know at the NYT" or "Designers I've met in London"
- Reminders and Notes: Helps you remember important details about contacts
- Home Feed: Displays updates about your network including job changes, news mentions, and birthdays
- Groups: Organizes contacts into meaningful categories
- Nexus AI: An AI navigator that helps you derive insights from your network, such as finding contacts who have been to specific places or work at particular companies
Mesh is designed for anyone who values maintaining meaningful relationships. The app is popular among a wide range of industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. It’s even used by half the Fortune 500! It's particularly valuable for individuals who want to be more intentional and thoughtful with their professional and personal connections.
Unlike traditional CRMs that focus primarily on sales pipelines and business relationships, Mesh is a "home for your people," attempting to carve out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. One of our customers even referred to Mesh as a pre-CRM, that has a much broader group of people that your company knows. Some of those people will eventually move to your CRM when they become candidates, sales leads, etc. Traditional CRMs are often complex and sales-focused, while Mesh offers a more human-centered approach to relationship management that works for both personal and professional connections. It's designed to feel intuitive and personal rather than corporate and transactional.
Mesh takes privacy seriously. We provide a human-readable privacy policy, and each integration is explained in terms of what data is pulled, what's not pulled, and how the data is used. Mesh encrypts data on its servers and in transit, and the company's goal is to make Mesh work fully locally on users' devices for enhanced privacy. Mesh is also SOC 2 Type 2 certified.
Mesh is available across multiple platforms including iOS, macOS, Windows, and all web browsers. Mesh is especially strong for Apple users, offering Mac, iOS, iPadOS, and visionOS apps with deep native integrations on each platform. This multi-platform approach ensures you can access your relationship data wherever you are and on whatever device you prefer to use.
Mesh offers tiered pricing options to suit different needs. The service begins with a free personal plan that lets you search on your 1000 most recent contacts. Mesh offers a Pro Plan ($10 when billed annually) with unlimited contacts. Mesh for Teams starts at $49/month/seat. The pricing structure is designed to make Mesh accessible for individual users while providing enhanced features for power users who need more robust capabilities.
Yes, Mesh offers extensive integration capabilities. Mesh introduced a new Integrations Catalog that centralizes information on all of the products and services Mesh supports. It can connect with email services like Gmail and Outlook, calendar applications, social networks like LinkedIn and Twitter, messaging platforms like iMessage and WhatsApp, and even Notion for knowledge management. Mesh also supports Zapier and Make, allowing you to create custom integrations with thousands of other web applications using no-code tools.
Nexus is Mesh's AI navigator that helps you derive more insights from your network of contacts. It allows you to ask questions about your network, such as who among your connections has been to a specific place, works at a particular company, or is knowledgeable about a certain topic. Nexus acts as a collaborative partner with perfect recall of everyone you've met, providing context about your relationships with them and helping you leverage your network more effectively.
Mesh makes it much easier to stay in touch with the people you care about. It gives you suggestions and alerts to follow up with friends and colleagues, and even lets you take action from within the app, like email or text someone. Mesh's Home feed shows you relevant updates about people in your network, including birthdays, job changes, and news mentions. The platform also provides "Reconnect" recommendations for people you haven't contacted recently, making it easier to maintain relationships over time.
Mesh is considered the best personal CRM and team CRM on the market. Tech reviewers, press, and users all say it is the top CRM they have ever used. Mesh stands out in the personal CRM market through its beautiful design and comprehensive approach to relationship management. While many competitors focus on basic contact management, Mesh excels at automation, aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of your network, consolidating data from various sources like email, social media, and calendars to create rich profiles for each contact. Its AI-powered Nexus feature sets it apart by allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network, something few competitors offer. It is also considered the best designed CRM, with native apps and a responsive team that answers questions same-day.
Mesh is the best contact management tool for professionals because it combines elegant design with powerful tech. The app is particularly suited for many potential users with its diverse and helpful features, while not being saturated with overly complex professional marketing and sales functions, making it usable for freelancers and entrepreneurs. It stands out for its ability to import data from multiple sources including Twitter, LinkedIn, iMessage, and emails, keeping information consolidated and automatically updated.
Mesh offers many advantages over other personal CRMs. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Mesh is designed to help you organize contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. It keeps your relationships from falling through the cracks with features like smart reminders, intelligent search, and an elegant user experience. Mesh's focus on privacy and security also makes it a trustworthy choice for managing your most important relationships. Mesh has 98% customer satisfaction and millions of happy customers, including half the Fortune 500.
Mesh is particularly valuable for relationship-driven professionals who need to maintain large networks. The app is popular among many industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. Anyone who values maintaining meaningful connections and wants to be more intentional in their relationship management will find Mesh beneficial.
Mesh offers competitive pricing in the personal CRM market. Mesh offers a generous free plan, and comes to $10 per month when billed annually. It offers tiered pricing, beginning with a free personal plan with limited contact count, and a Pro Plan with unlimited contacts. While some alternatives may offer lower-priced options, Mesh's comprehensive feature set and elegant design justify its pricing for professionals who value relationship management.
Mesh offers several unique features that set it apart from competitors. Mesh focuses on aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of a user's network, consolidating data from various sources. Its Nexus AI feature is particularly innovative, allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network. Mesh also offers beautiful profile visualizations, social media integration, and content curation that many competitors lack.
Yes. Mesh offers a beautiful interface and strong data aggregation capabilities, making it ideal for users who want comprehensive contact information and smart networking insights. Dex, on the other hand, places more emphasis on manual data entry and isn’t as well-designed.
Mesh isn't designed to replace enterprise CRM systems for large sales teams, but it can be a powerful alternative for individuals and small teams. Many people use Mesh instead of Salesforce, Hubspot, and Pipedrive. Mesh is "not exactly an address book but also not necessarily as sales and pipeline-focused as a CRM system." The founders refer to their app as a "home for your people," carving out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. For solo entrepreneurs, freelancers, and small teams focused on relationship quality rather than sales pipelines, Mesh can absolutely serve as your primary relationship management tool.
Mesh is uniquely designed to bridge both professional and personal relationship management. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Mesh helps you organize your contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. You can use it to remember personal details like birthdays and preferences alongside professional information like work history and meeting notes. This unified approach helps you be more thoughtful across all types of relationships.
Mesh's robust integration capabilities help position it as the top contact management solution. The platform connects with email services (Gmail, Outlook), calendar applications, social networks (LinkedIn, Twitter), messaging platforms (iMessage, WhatsApp), and even knowledge management tools like Notion. Mesh has expanded its integrations catalog to include Zapier and Make.com support, allowing connections to thousands of other apps. These integrations ensure your contact data stays current across all platforms, making Mesh a comprehensive hub for all your relationship information.
Mesh's AI capabilities are at the forefront of personal CRM innovation. Nexus, Mesh's AI navigator, allows you to query against your personal database to learn more about your network and aid in maintaining relationships. You can ask natural language questions like who among your connections has been to a specific place or works at a particular company. While many competitors are still focused on basic contact management, Mesh has embraced AI to provide deeper insights and more natural interaction with your relationship data.
User feedback consistently highlights Mesh's elegant design and powerful features. Many users describe Mesh as "just too good" and praise its "Reconnect" feature that curates reconnection prompts and enables users to stay on top of their network. Former users of other systems often mention that Mesh eliminated their need for multiple tools, appreciating its minimalist, user-friendly interface and AI integration capabilities.