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Staff Snapshots | Asja Leigh Jackson

July 25, 2024
  • Hometown: Grand Rapids, Mich.
  • Role: Education policy advisor for the Michigan Legislature
  • Years of legislative service: Seven

“If you don’t have time to do it properly now, when will you have time to redo it later?”

Asja Leigh Jackson Michigan
Jackson

Why did you choose to work at the Legislature?

To be honest, when I first started in the Legislature, I was just looking for a more stable job while I finished law school. My plan was to work there until I graduated and started my legal career. I got my start working part time in a legislative office, then communications and now policy. Each role has been more fulfilling than the last, and I am always glad that I took that opportunity back in the fall of 2017. I found my passion and it is by far the most fulfilling work I could be doing. So, seven years later, I’m still here and it isn’t perfect; the work is hard sometimes, but there is no place I would rather be.

What skill or talent are you most proud of?

Explaining complicated concepts in plain language. Often legislation and governing in general can be inaccessible because of the jargon or terms of art used. I understand that sometimes those words are necessary, but one of the things I work very hard at is using everyday language as much as I can, and thoroughly explaining jargon and terms of art when I need to use them. I never want someone to feel like they need to be a legal expert when they are trying to engage their government.

What’s the best advice you were ever given?

I have two, and I feel like I recite them almost every day. The first is to take things one day at a time. Sometimes that breaks down even further to one hour or one minute at a time when things are hectic, but the principal remains. Life is always pulling us in a dozen directions, and we can’t do everything at once, so you just have to focus on the thing right in front of you and when it is done move on to the next.

The second is if you don’t have time to do it properly now, when will you have time to redo it later? I am sure I am not the only person who feels the pressure to finish a task quickly so I can move on to the next thing on my to-do list. When I am feeling that pressure, I try to remember that it is better to take a little extra time to get it done right the first time than to try and carve out time when I need to be focusing elsewhere to polish or fix something.

Who or what inspires you?

Honestly, the thing that inspires me the most is my team. We are a small but mighty group, and I watch them achieve the impossible under extraordinary circumstances every day. It is an honor to serve with them and I wouldn’t be the policy advisor I am today without their collaboration and support.

What’s one thing you love about your state or territory?

I think one of my favorite things about Michigan is that you are never more than an hour’s drive from a lake. On the west side of the state where I grew up, as soon as school was out for the summer, my family and I would spend a day getting the family car beach-ready. And then any day the weather was good, we would pile into the car and be at the beach in 30 minutes.

What are you currently reading/listening to/watching?

My book club and I have been working our way through the “Throne of Glass” novel series, by Sarah J. Maas. We’re about halfway through and I have been enjoying it so far. My friends have also been encouraging me to watch “Abbott Elementary,” so I am looking forward to watching it during the legislative break this summer.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Use the email icon above to suggest a legislative staffer for the “Staff Snapshots” series.

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