Jess Novesteras

Asst. Bullpen Manager. Senior Research & Sense Editor.

“I spent most of my life trying to specialize myself. I went to theater school, film school, music school, mime school … Finally, I was able to gather enough knowledge to build the confidence to create my own work, that goes utterly against the sense of specialization.” – Nuno Roque

With a diverse, robust work experience in financial departments spanning multiple industries from hospitality to publication, few at The Unconventional can match Ms. Novesteras’ work ethic and attention to detail. Her multifaceted background transcends her professional CV, as she’s been varying degrees of multiclass nerd in almost every venue, forum, and scene she can squirrel herself into. When not consuming digital media as fast as her thumbs can blister, she is an avid cosplayer, a convention staffer in her local steampunk scene, a card carrying 90’s goth and is avidly looking for a D&D group. No, really. What’s more, she’s deeply invested in the firm’s mission statement to bring academic credibility and depth to these ‘nerdy worlds’ despite how wide the floodgates have opened as “pop culture”. 

Jess is a geek, like her parents before her. One with a deep affinity of all things Star Trek, Star Wars, and other assorted fantasy, as her appreciation for fiction in all forms runs deep. As an Air Force brat, she had the opportunity to travel all over the world, engaging with other cultures and picking up their languages. This instilled a deep love of history, both fascinating and tragic, with far more investiture than academia could provide. With a family background of theatre and performance, she spent her formative years behind a sewing machine. Another SFS member who was a proud honor’s student taking the maximum Honors and AP classes, Jess has always been an overachiever. She graduated Lebanon High’s class of 1999 and fled Ohio, running for the damn hills.  

Enrolling in Wisconsin’s Beloit College, She pursued a Bachelor’s program in Archaeology and Russian Language, with a minor in Art History. Her strong academic record stand as a testament to her abilities to perform under pressure. This was tested by her extracurricular career, working at the college theater and tending bar to finance her schooling. Higher education was not just classes and languages. Jess became active in the LARP and gaming scenes on campus and in multiple neighboring towns. Active in BSFFA (Beloit Science-Fiction and Fantasy Association), she has always been a social butterfly amongst geeky circles. She graduated as the class of 2003. 

Following college, Jess migrated to the East Coast and settled in the greater Boston area, where she took up work at a stationery company. While at said firm, given limitations of staff and management bandwidth, she taught herself graphic design and accounting. This would prove a watershed moment, as these talents would serve her the rest of her career. She would supplement this with part-time summer work at Renaissance Faires all around New England. 

After years of this, she settled in New York and was given the opportunity to become managing editor for a small publishing company in Jersey.  As a New Yorker, her love of fantasy and gaming was given a great outlet with the myriad of conventions and shows in the local scene. Meeting her new employers through said scene was par for the course. Relocating to Ohio a decade later, Jess became active in the local Steampunk Community, blending her love of speculative fiction with fanciful costuming. This led her to provide her unique organizational skills to Cincinnati’s International Steampunk Symposium, where she runs registration, the box office, as well as a certain degree of vendor and guest relations. Her love of spreadsheets has become invaluable as she pulls “engineering shifts” with the workings of the Con and verifying all have their necessary logistics and miscellanea. 

No stranger to significant work, toil, and mission-creep generated in fan-related firms, Jess has risen through the ranks of SFS and The Unconventional with style. Her experience in the software and logistics of running a company, in addition to her years in finance, are significant assets. These were put to the test in numerous ad hoc projects, entailing image sourcing, and ‘preliminary edits’ for each series, as fodder for the marketing site. Promoted to senior staff, her contributions have been significant and varied, altering and updating procedures up and down the editorial assembly line. She assists the bullpen and senior management in weekly book-keeping and running meetings, as well as Operations.