Email: jesseka@patch.com
Phone: 215-268-2031
Hometown: I call many places "home."
Birthday: May 18

Jesseka Kadylak has been pursuing her career in journalism since high school, even though her desire to write began way before then. After receiving her bachelor's in journalism and English from Duquesne University in 2005, she moved to New York City and worked at CMJ, a music-focused magazine. She relocated to Ohio and began exploring the multimedia side of journalism by working at Cleveland.com as a news and entertainment editor. Jesseka returned to school to earn a master's in international journalism from American University in 2008.

While finishing her studies, she interned at USA Today. Then she worked at Washingtonian.com, where she put together multimedia packages and wrote original content for the web. When searching for a job where she could use her melting pot of skills, she discovered her job at Patch that would let her do just that.

When she's not busy working, she enjoys playing in parks with her Chug (Chihuahua/pug) Bernini and listening to and making music with her husband. She loves playing DDR and might challenge you to a dance-off. She also gets extremely competitive at pub quiz.

Your Beliefs

At Patch, we promise always to report the facts as objectively as possible and otherwise adhere to the principles of good journalism. However, we also acknowledge that true impartiality is impossible because human beings have beliefs. So in the spirit of simple honesty, our policy is to encourage our editors to reveal their beliefs to the extent they feel comfortable. This disclosure is not a license for you to inject your beliefs into stories or to dictate coverage according to them. In fact, the intent is the opposite: we hope that the knowledge that your beliefs are on the record will cause you to be ever mindful to write, report and edit in a fair, balanced way. And if you ever see evidence that we failed in this mission, please let us know.

Politics
How would you describe your political beliefs? Are you registered with a certain party?

I am not a very political person. I chose not to vote until the last presidential election because I always thought journalists weren't supposed to participate in elections to preserve our un-biased personas. But I finally realized that I'm a citizen, so no matter what my career choice is, I should still be able to do my civic duty. I registered as a Democrat, but only because I had to choose something. I tend to be liberal when it comes to environmental issues and equal opportunities, but I am a little more conservative on some issues as well.

Religion
How religious would you consider yourself? (casual, observant, devout, non religious)

I am Byzantine Catholic. I attended Roman Catholic elementary school, Byzantine CCD, and earned my undergraduate degree from a Catholic University. I go to church regularly, but I do not judge others who don't share my exact beliefs. I am always interested in learning about other religions. For example, I attended a meeting at Kingdom Hall in Kensington, Md. to see what being a Witness is all about.