Jessica Kawamura is a fourth-generation Japanese American Christian from Berkeley, California. After concentrating in ethnic studies at Brown University and studying Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley, she worked for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, U.S. Department of the Treasury, and Ernst and Young. Currently, she is a third-year master of divinity candidate at Candler School of Theology at Emory University and an ordination candidate with the California-Nevada Conference of The United Methodist Church. She serves as the executive committee secretary of the National Japanese American United Methodist Caucus.