Northport resident Jessica Wilson, which many people know as the current Leelanau Township clerk, has always called the county home. However, her journey back to the area with her family meant living and working at different places until finding her home in the village again.
Wilson was born in Topeka, Kansas, moving to Northport when she was just 3-years-old. Growing up, she loved dance and practiced it for 14 years at the Dance Arts Academy in Traverse City, until she switched her attention to sports and schooling. A Suttons Bay Public School class of 2008 graduate, Wilson decided to move to New York City right after high school to go to cosmetology school, pursuing a different passion but still following her dream of wanting to relocate to the city.
“It was great. I had visited once before with my aunt and uncle for like a week or two, and I was like ‘I have to go,’” Wilson said.
Soon after moving to New York and earning her cosmetology license, Wilson started a family and had her first child in 2009, Aliyah. Followed by her eldest daughter and three years later, she would have her son, Jose, in 2012.
She made the decision to relocate to Leelanau Township again in 2011, where she moved back in with family before returning to New York for a brief time. Securing stable housing in the early years of raising her kids was difficult, but returning to Leelanau County and having the support of family and friends was always something she knew that would be there.
In 2013, Wilson made her way back to Leelanau again, and continued to pursue her search for housing in the county. In that time, she worked with her aunt, Kathy Garthe, on her farm, and would eventually venture into other areas of work such as a certified nursing assistant for MediLodge of Leelanau and Northport Highlands, as well as working at Leelanau Children’s Center.
About three years later in 2016, Wilson had her third child, Anna, where she shifted from working at the jobs she had to being a stay at home mom with her kids. A couple years later, she decided to begin her own cleaning business, which allowed Wilson to have flexible hours while continuing to raise her three young children. The business would operate until the COVID pandemic hit in March of 2020, when Wilson had to once again shift her focus to caring for her family from home while dealing with her children’s health issues that arose during that.
Wilson picked up part-time jobs in the meantime at New Bohemian Cafe and at Deeps Corner Store as the worst of the pandemic passed. In January 2022, she got the position as the Leelanau Township deputy clerk, a new line of work that she was eager to learn more about. Just a month into starting as deputy clerk, the township clerk at the time, Monica Diaz, left her job, and Wilson was appointed to the position.
“I had like two weeks to decide if I wanted to do this or not,” she said. “At that point, I had kind of let other people be my boss, so I was like ‘well this is a really cool opportunity for me, I always wanted to work in accounting,’ so I was like sure, I’ll do it, and if nobody can stand me, I’ll go.”
Since taking on the job, Wilson said it’s been a huge learning experience for her, but one that she’s been able to fortunately apply the skills from her other jobs to. As clerk, Wilson is responsible for record-keeping, financial operations, and elections. In addition, the clerk is a member of the board of trustees, and can vote on questions regarding the budget, personnel appointments, zoning, and other matters.
“I expected it to just be learning about how to put in numbers and learning how to do a budget, but I really have been able to use my background in assisted living in memory care, I’ve been able to use my customer service and things like that,” she said. “So really everything I’ve been through or done as far as a job prior to this, I’m able to use all of that… I had no idea how indepth elections and local politics were.”
Wilson said there are still stereotypes around her pursuing more schooling or taking more courses regarding the position, but noted that her coming in with an open mind and enthusiasm to take on the job ultimately helped her throughout the last two years with the township.
“I think coming in with such an open mind and really not knowing what I was going to need helped me in the end and that’s been the most fun — how proud of myself I am at the end of the day,” she said. “I just went for it and I decided to be a small voice when all these things are going on around me… I have a different perspective from a lot of people that live here, and I have young kids, and I am a young family, and there’s always a stereotype around that too…” Living back in Northport has been great for raising her three children, too, Wilson added. Not only is she surrounded by family and a good support system in the county, but she’s able to live within walking distance of her kids school and workplaces in town. Sharing the same things with her kids that she did growing up, like watching sunsets at Peterson Park, has also been a joy and something she doesn’t take for granted.
“Honestly the best part of leaving and coming back was all the trees… It’s like being in the middle of Central Park and that’s how you get away, but I live in the vacation spot,” she said. “Coming from knowing what it would be like to raise them in the city and coming here, it’s like night and day, having that here is a huge benefit… Peterson Park has a huge place in my heart — growing up and going there and my dad taking me. When we first moved here, we’d go to that park all the time and watch the sunsets, and now I do that with my kids and they love it.”
