Jordyn White is the Senior Director of Leadership Development and Research at the Human Rights Campaign Foundation, the largest LGBTQ+ civil rights organization in the United States. She also co-founded and serves as General Manager of the Washington Prodigy women’s tackle football team.
Being connected with community and helping others has always been important to Jordyn.
“Growing up I always knew that I wanted to help people, but I wasn’t sure what that would look like for me,” she says.
Jordyn initially went to school to be a doctor, but majored in psychology instead of an applied science.
“Something was always pulling me towards the people side of things,” she explains.
After graduating, she worked in a children’s psych hospital and soon transitioned to social work. She loved being able to make a difference on an individual level but she was frustrated that the system wasn’t set up to support families sustainably.
“I decided that I wanted to move to DC because I knew this is where change happens. This is where policies are made,” she shares.
Over the next few years, she searched for government jobs and focused on further developing her skill set. She worked at a law firm and as a long-term substitute teacher before taking a position as a survey methodologist with the Census Bureau. Here, Jordyn honed her technical writing and methodology skills before moving on to become a study director with the National Academy of Sciences.
“I’ve had a lot of opportunities in the world of social sciences. In my role at the National Academy of Sciences, I was able to combine my experience in psychology, project management, data knowledge and research methodology.” Jordyn says.
Build Your Foundation
Though Jordyn admits there were times when she was unclear about her career path, she knew where her passions lied, and that it would take work to make a professional career from them.
“You don’t just get to do the thing you like. The best strategy is to focus on the thing you are passionate about while you develop other skills to support it and make yourself marketable. I think there needs to be a balance,” she explains.
While Jordyn built her foundation she also grew her network. Long before Jordyn started her career at Human Rights Campaign, she asked Margot Rosen, then director of membership, to be her mentor.
“I was so impressed by her and thought to myself, ‘how did she get here?’ No one grows up saying, ‘I want to be the director of membership at the Human Rights Campaign or any other nonprofit,” Jordyn explains. “I was very curious about picking her brain and learning how she came into such a unique role.”
Adding Margot to her village was crucial as Jordyn continued to navigate her career path. As she rose through the ranks at the National Academy of Sciences she found herself in an environment that often fell short of supporting her in the ways she needed. While she had been used to being the only Black and/or queer woman in a room, she decided she no longer wanted that to be her norm; she needed more holistic support in her professional village.
“That was when I realized as much as I like this work, I need to be doing it somewhere where people understand intersectionality and live it,” she says.
All of her experiences led Jordyn to her current position with the Human Rights Campaign. Now Jordyn works to provide the support she needed to others.
“At the end of the day, even people that are confident about being in challenging spaces need a safe place to land,” she adds.
Stay True to Yourself
In the midst of starting her job with the Human Rights Campaign, Jordyn and her wife were also growing their family. Jordyn prides herself on maintaining her professional and personal identity while being a mom of two.
“I was very intentional about wanting to strike that balance, both for my benefit and my sanity and for my daughters’ benefit as well,” she shares.
Whether it’s winning a gold medal on the USA Women’s tackle football team or navigating a career path that combines all of her varied experiences, Jordyn is purposeful in everything she does. And as a mom, Jordyn exposes her children to different opportunities so they will grow up curious about the world.
“You get one life to live, what are you going to do with it?” she says. “I’m just really happy with the experiences that I’ve been blessed to have both professionally and with my family.”