Jane’s first career was with the United States Air Force, where she retired in 2009 with the rank of colonel. Following that, she worked in the nonprofit sector as a freelance writer and communications director for Community Lodgings in Alexandria, Virginia, and founded and served as the first executive director of Heard, an Alexandria-based nonprofit organization that contracts with a variety of artists to bring creativity and life skills to people in need.
Jane uses her nonprofit and military leadership skills to coach communities throughout Ohio and help them address local challenges by hiring local artists. Her program comprises six 90-minute online sessions where participants identify their community needs and artistic resources, create a foundational structure and budget, secure funding, and launch.
As a result, one community expanded its community public art initiative and was awarded a $50,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. Another Ohio community received 100 percent of their funding request from their local United Way organization and offers weekly arts programming for students facing mental health challenges.
When HeardNova.org hired a new executive director in November 2023, Jane learned the craft of makeup artistry, a career she studied as a part-time hobby in the 1990s. Under the name “seenbyjane,” she gathers teams of makeup artists, hair stylists, and photographers to create makeover events for women in need—often by partnering with the Alexandria nonprofit organizations that she worked with as the executive director of Heard.
Most recently, Jane was accepted into and completed the Coco Rocha Model Camp, a boutique master class for models taught by supermodel Coco Rocha in New York. She plans to integrate her modeling and seenbyjane work into one umbrella where all women see their unique beauty.
Jane holds three master’s degrees: Public Administration from Troy State University, Strategic Studies from Air War College, and Public Relations and Corporate Communications from Georgetown University. In her spare time Jane and her husband love to travel and spend time with their families.