Employee Spotlight: Jessica Gressett
Every day for more than 40 years, Southern Nuclear employees have been improving the lives of our neighbors in Alabama and Georgia. Meet one of our folks who’s dedicated to providing you with clean, safe, reliable and affordable energy.
Jessica Richards Gressett, senior engineer, Plant Farley
How long have you been with the company: Almost 5 years.
What are your current job responsibilities? I work in Site Design group and am the responsible design engineer for our Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation expansion project.
What do you love about your job? I love that I get to interface with so many different groups at the plant. This project has allowed me to get to know people in other departments, which is something I love doing. Southern Company and Southern Nuclear are also very family oriented as well, and I love feeling like I work with one big family.
Hometown: Fayette, Alabama
First job (not your first job at SNC): My first job in high school was working at a music store, where I’d taken piano and voice lessons for my whole life (basically from ages 5-18). During my years at Mississippi State, I co-oped with Brasfield & Gorrie, a general contractor. I worked for them for four years following graduation before transitioning to Southern Company.
Favorite food: My granny’s fried chicken, my grandmother’s macaroni and cheese, and my mother’s lemon icebox pie. Oh and the Mexican Kitchen in Columbus, Miss. – by FAR my favorite Mexican restaurant.
What is your favorite movie and why? My favorite movie is Disney’s animated version of Beauty and the Beast. I have always loved Disney movies, and Belle is the princess that I dreamed of being as a child. Looking back, I feel like I made a good choice, Belle is intelligent, independent, she totally could have been an engineer (given that her father was an inventor), and she’s a brunette like me.
If given the chance, who would you want to be for a day? I’d love to be Kristin Chenoweth for a day, back when she was originating the role of Galinda in Wicked. That show would be so much fun to be in! It is one of my many, many favorite musicals.
What are your hobbies? Other than spending time with my husband, Trent, and our (currently) 19-month old son, Harvey Drake, I love to sing and perform, and hope to get involved at some point with Dothan’s local community theatre group. I also love to volunteer and have been able to participate in a few events in the past year through APSO, which I am currently co-president, and WIN.
What interests you about nuclear energy? I never even considered a career in nuclear energy before coming to Farley. Yet here I am, and I have learned so much. Nuclear energy is such a clean, reliable and cost-effective source of energy for our planet. I, like most people, did not fully realize that until coming to work here.
