Fast Facts About Jessica

Discipline: Landscape Architecture

Hometown: Centerville, OH

Education: The Ohio State University, Ball State University

Podcast Currently Listening to: The Model Health Show

 

 

She got married on a mountain in Costa Rica, and her itch to travel takes her far and wide. It’s no surprise that Graduate Landscape Architect Jessica Suttle’s love for beautiful places has translated into her work in landscape and site design.

What sparked your love for landscape architecture?

In college, I was unsure of what direction I wanted to take or what I wanted to do as a career. I started out exploring education classes, marine biology classes, and accounting classes but never really felt that I loved any of them. I always enjoyed math and problem solving growing up, which eventually led me to architecture. I took a variety of design, architecture, and engineering classes the following year in college. It wasn’t until one of my early level classes when I was offered extra credit to attend a career fair that I spoke with a firm about golf course design and resort design. I knew immediately that was what I wanted to do. I took a nine-month internship in Austin, Texas, that really started to broadened my horizon on the type of projects landscape architects work on and ended up loving it.

What do you do in your free time?

My husband, Steve, and I love to travel. We spend most of our free time away exploring, but if we are not traveling, we are most likely at a concert, music festival, or brewery somewhere with our friends and family. Our first “date” was a four-day music festival in Okeechobee, Florida, where I got a drum stick from the band Mumford and Sons. Since that day, I have caught (or asked for) eight other drum sticks from some of our favorite bands.

I also work at a local brewery, Fountain Square Brewery, on the weekends which helps support our expensive hobbies. I’m even about to brew my first beer, a peach Berliner Weisse, which is a kettle sour.

 

Where is the most interesting place you have been?

I’ve been to 19 countries in my lifetime. Our most recent trip, prior to our wedding in Costa Rica, was a 2.5-week cruise in the western Mediterranean. We left from Rome, Italy, and ended in Barcelona, Spain, and visited a few cities in Italy, Sicily, Malta, Spain, and France in between! It was so surreal seeing many of the historic buildings and landscapes I studied in college. Steve and I got our engagement pictures done in Rome at the Colosseum and Roman Forum. And Barcelona was one of our favorite cities from the trip because of Antoni Gaudi’s work.

 

Tell us about the wedding!

Steve and I got married in Costa Rica this past May in a Greek amphitheater on a mountain overlooking the ocean. I visited Costa Rica before but found this specific resort on Pinterest and loved it. I originally wanted to elope, but when Steve asked my parents for permission, they made him promise we wouldn’t. Costa Rica it was!

 

Do you have any unique souvenirs from your travels?

I get a rock from all the volcanoes we go to.

What is your dream vacation?

My dream vacation destination changes often because there are so many places we haven’t been yet. Next year, our goal is either Faroe Islands or a backpacking/camping trip in Banff National Park, Canada. Fiji has also always been at the top of my bucket list too, although being in a plane that long scares me. Ironically, I’m scared to death of flying. You probably don’t want to sit next to me on an airplane.

What’s one thing not everyone knows about you?

I haven’t had a sip of soda in more than 20 years! I ran track in high school and was told by the coaches that giving up soda would decrease my time by a few seconds. I always saw this more as a challenge to see if I could go without, but a small part of me also wanted to see if the coaches were correct. I don’t think it actually helped me improve my time, but I’m hopeful the decision is benefiting me now.