About the Founder

Jessica Molina, M.A.
Founder, Kaizen Advising

Jessica Molina is a strategic educator, planner, and systems leader with deep experience in data-informed analysis, continuous improvement, and community-centered planning. As the founder of Kaizen Advisory, she brings a disciplined, equity-driven approach to helping organizations understand complex systems, synthesize information, and design structures that support meaningful, long-term improvement.

Jessica began her career in the classroom, where her relational leadership, high expectations, and unwavering belief in student potential consistently drove strong academic growth. This foundation shaped her work as an administrator, where she became known for creating clear, data-informed reporting and accountability structures across both school and district contexts.

She holds a Master’s degree from Columbia University, where her graduate studies focused on Latin America and the education of Latinos in the United States. Her academic work emphasized the role of NGOs, nonprofit organizations, and grassroots efforts alongside formal educational systems. Her master’s thesis examined the Latino Youth Summit in Toledo, exploring youth voice, college access information and preparation, and community engagement.

In 2014, Jessica was selected to lead a newly founded charter school, initially serving grades K–2 and later expanding to a full K–6 program. Under her leadership, enrollment grew from 30 students to more than 300. She later guided the school through a rare and complex merger with a traditional public school district, navigating governance, staffing, family engagement, and systems alignment. This work required careful analysis, transparent communication, and planning grounded in both data and community trust.

Jessica has since served as a district administrator and school principal, including leading an A-rated school where she further strengthened organizational systems, school culture, and performance outcomes. In addition to her internal leadership roles, she has also served as a consultant to a major urban public school district in Ohio, supporting district-level data analysis, reporting, continuous improvement efforts, and community and family engagement initiatives.

More recently, through Kaizen Advisory, Jessica completed a Baseline Grantee Report for a regional foundation, examining current reporting practices and data realities and offering actionable recommendations to strengthen alignment with the foundation’s Theory of Change.

Known for her calm presence, analytical clarity, and respect for lived experience, Jessica approaches planning work with both humility and rigor. Her work centers on honoring community knowledge, translating data into insight, and designing processes that keep decision-making grounded in those closest to the work. Through Kaizen Advisory, she partners with community organizations, coalitions, schools, and foundations to support planning, analysis, and systems design that are intentional, transparent, and rooted in continuous improvement.