Jesika grew up in Eagle Butte, SD area on the Cheyenne River Sioux Indian Reservation, graduating from Dupree, SD. She attended college at Dickinson State University ultimately pursuing nursing, but always had a heart for business. In college, she fell in love with nursing homes and all aspects of geriatric care. After graduating, Jesika started an Elderly Independent Living Facility in Buffalo, SD, and began servicing home health in Harding and Perkins County. In February 2019, Jesika made the leap and purchased Heartland Home Health. Since then, Heartland Home Health has grown in the services offered and expanded the company to cover Western South Dakota from the Buffalo area to Rapid City. Over time, Jesika noticed a gap occurring as they would build relationships with patients and their families, know the patients’ end-of-life wishes, only to discharge them to hospice, and not care for patients when that time came. This was the inspiration for the expansion of Heartland Home Health into the Hospice realm. Jesika’s vision has always been to service geriatric care in whatever capacity that may be, and that has led to a multitude of services incorporated into the Heartland name, including playing an integral part in acquiring Heartland’s Senior Living in Spearfish, SD where she is partnered with her managers as a team providing assisted living care. Jesika is the 2023 SDCEO West Enterprising Young Entrepreneur of South Dakota.