Softball Olympian and Inspiration
By Stacy Holand
One of my first memories of Jessica is when we invited her to the 2006 Annual Salute in New York and she couldn’t make it. She was completely distraught 
and said she did everything she could to rearrange her schedule, but this was the only time her husband and her could fit in their HONEYMOON! There she was a newly wed and more concerned with making it to a Foundation event and keeping her 100% attendance record in tact then getting away with her new husband. I told her not to worry and we’d let this one slide. And wouldn’t you know it even before she took off for her trip, she remembered to send me an autographed ball for the auction with a note saying that she’d be thinking about us on the beach! And…I didn’t doubt it for a second.
That is the kind of person Jessica is off the field, a compassionate, dedicated, caring individual that wants to make this world a better place and is found most often putting others before herself. If you sit down with Jessica for just five minutes and hear her talk about what she wants to do in her life and what she has done already, there are very few people in the world that speak with such passion and enthusiasm. And the Women’s Sports Foundation is one of those passions!
Long before I became a member of the Women’s Sports Foundation team, Jessica Mendoza was already here taking part and doing everything she could to help young girls and fellow female athletes. She came to her first Annual Salute to Women in Sports Gala in 2002 and instantly fell in love with the Foundation and with what it stood for. Three short years later she was elected to a be a Foundation Trustee and starting in 2009 she will take the reigns as the next Foundation President. She has been an integral part in making the Foundation what it is today and will only continue to make it even stronger in the future.
To see what amazing accomplishments Jessica has made on the field, check out her Women's Sports Foundation bio.