Team One Future I Jessica Xalxo

Jessica Xalxo, Assistant Editor, The Thought Project

Tell us about yourself!
I thrive on books, particularly YA Fantasy fiction, especially the ones which have their settings and characters intersect across gender, ethnicity, sexuality, ability, language, culture and so on. It aids me to visualise what the world could be like and it gives me the courage to to be allies to people whose struggles I might not be able know or understand. I love history too and tend to find connections between history and literature in my free time — when I’m not sleeping — and will conduct research to the ends of the earth if it helps in writing a piece of magic that lets even one person in the world know that they are not alone.

Tell us about what you do at One Future Collective.
I used to be the Assistant Editor at One Future Collective. My days consisted of learning from the wonderful, new, dynamic and intersectional ideas and realities that the writers presented in their articles. I shall be eternally indebted to all the words and lessons the writers and the OFC team had been kind enough to share with me.

Why One Future Collective?
One Future Collective is fun and revolutionary! There’s never a dull moment at OFC and the lives and will of the team members and all the people whom I’ve had the privilege to meet and interact with — from college students to professionals — have never failed to leave me with a positive yearning to build a reality where intersectionality, justice and kindness not only sustain, but also thrive. There’s no burnout at OFC. Vandita once shared a sentiment she swears by, with me, “When you’re tired, don’t quit. Rest.” What’s especially amazing about OFC is that it primarily works with the youth and this creates such hope in me because I see the want for a better and equitable future in their eyes too, and with hard work, empathy, courage, kindness and maybe even some luck, I strongly believe that we’ll get there.

Your favourite One Future Collective memory.
At an OFC Youth Meetup, while discussing masturbation and sexual health, I remember feeling like a blank page because the room had opened up to the realities and experiences of different people from age groups that were different and the same as my own. I did away with a lot of shame that day.

What inspires you?
Books. And characters that refuse to leave me even after they’ve spoken their final words.

Top three book/song recommendations or both.
Books: Wolf by Wolf by Ryan Graudin, The Doodler of Dimashq by Kirthi Jayakumar and the Illuminae Files by Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff.
Songs: King & Lionheart by Of Monsters and Men, Lo Malo by Aitana and Ana Guerra, When I Kissed the Teacher by ABBA.