Accountant by Day, Denver Nuggets Dancer by Night
By Aaron J. Lopez
Nuggets.com
The misperceptions of an NBA dancer are incalculable.
Few people know this better than Denver Nuggets Dancer Jessica. After all, when it comes to crunching numbers, she can calculate just about anything.
While talk of amortization, balance sheets and zero-based budgeting would make the average person’s head spin, it is a way of life for Jessica in her job as an accountant for Vail Resorts.
“I love accounting, which is so odd,” she said. “Ever since I was little, my dad and I have been doing math problems. All the numbers just always made sense to me.”
Jessica, 24, joined Vail Resorts almost immediately after graduating from the Metro State School of Business last spring. Working out of the company’s Broomfield office, she has found a nice balance with her practice schedule with the Nuggets dancers.
“I know how lucky I am to have two awesome jobs,” she said. “They are both things I love and they balance each other out.”
Jessica first joined the Nuggets dance team in 2008-09 but spent the following season focusing on earning her accounting degree. The year away from the team gave her a better appreciation for the thrill and excitement of being part of an NBA game.
“When the lights go down and we’re standing under the basket, I still get chills,” she said. “My eyes tear up. There are thousands of girls all over the country who want to do this, and I get to do it. That is still so unreal to me. I’m very blessed.”
There can be a fine line between blessed and embarrassed.
During her first season with team, Jessica felt like hiding when she looked into the Pepsi Center crowd and noticed four oversized cardboard signs spelling out J-E-S-S. Her teammates were puzzled, thinking the Nuggets had signed a new player. It turned out to be a proud father paying tribute to his daughter.
“My parents have never missed a game,” Jessica said. “It’s awesome.”
Though born in Colorado, Jessica grew up in the three-stoplight town of Newton, Kan. Her only experience on the basketball court was brief and forgettable. While playing on a YMCA girls basketball team in third grade, she walked off the court when the referee mistook her for a boy because of her short haircut.
“I never played basketball again,” she said. “I literally set the ball down and said, ‘I’m done.’ I was scarred forever.”
Jessica found comfort through dance, and there’s never a case of mistaken identity when she and her teammates make dozens of community appearances every season.
“It’s amazing to see how excited people get – kids and adults,” she said. “If I was to go in regular street clothes, nobody would care. To see the impact that the uniform has, it’s incredible. To have that power, it would be silly not to use it, so we do as many community events as we can. It’s so rewarding.”
The impact, you might say, is incalculable. Even for an accountant.
