A few years ago, Jessica Campbell made a snap decision while waiting in a Starbucks drive-thru that would alter the course of her career. 

As soon as she pulled out of the parking lot, Campbell quit her job coaching hockey to teenagers and began plotting the launch of her own power skating business, she told Canadian sports blog theScore.

Campbell, then in her 20s, saw that business as the first step toward fulfilling a childhood dream of working in the National Hockey League, coaching the sport she loved at the highest level. 

On Oct. 8 — the opening night of the NHL season — that dream came true: Campbell made her debut as the first full-time female coach in the league.

The 32-year-old was hired to be an assistant coach of the Seattle Kraken back in July by incoming head coach Dan Bylsma, who she coached with previously on a Kraken minor league team.

Campbell's appointment is the culmination of decades spent on the ice; the Saskatchewan, Canada, native played boys' hockey until she was 17 years old then spent four years on Cornell University's women's ice hockey team before playing professionally in Canada for three years.

"It fuels me every day just knowing that I'm a part of something way bigger than myself and my job and my coaching," Campbell told NHL.com. "By doing this, by showing up every day, by keeping my head in the right space, I know that only good can come of it." 

She added: "Hopefully, somebody else will have a door held open for them versus them having to push it open and find ways to unlock it." 

Breaking the ice

In the spring of 2020, with most of the world shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Campbell got her lucky break.

Her business, JC Power Skating, was still new — launched in 2019, a few years after Campbell retired from playing hockey professionally — but it took off that spring.

The NHL had suspended its season and dozens of Canadian players were looking for somewhere to skate ahead of the league's return to play that August. 

One of Campbell's childhood friends, NHL star Damon Severson, reached out to her as she was continuing to run small training sessions on the ice in Kelowna, British Columbia, according to the Athletic. 

Word spread, and soon enough, Campbell was training dozens of NHL players, the Athletic reports — and her dream of coaching within the league started to feel within reach. 

"It definitely catapulted me into this space," she said. "The guys in Kelowna, they showed up for me and almost gave me permission to believe in this dream."

In 2022, after several months of coaching professional players in Sweden and Germany, Campbell was recruited to be the assistant coach of the Coachella Valley Firebirds, the minor-league affiliate of the Seattle Kraken.

'Success usually trumps all negativity'

Campbell isn't immune to the pressure that comes with being the first woman to hold a coaching job in the NHL's 107-year history.

But heading into her first season, the milestone isn't her primary focus. 

"I have to continue to do what I've always done, and that's to do my job to the best of my ability," she told the Athletic. "I wake up every day, I put my shoes on, and my skates on, and my tracksuit in the same way as my counterparts."

Plus, Campbell's been here before, being the first woman on an American Hockey League (AHL) bench.

"I did feel that extra layer of pressure because I did feel the extra eyes and people look at me differently because I am different and that's to me not a negative," she told ESPN while she was working with the Firebirds. "To me, hopefully, eventually it will be old and just knowing that success usually trumps all negativity."

Campbell traces her work ethic back to her older brother, Josh, who played hockey and died in a car accident when he was 18. 

"That mindset of really not holding back and just going for it has always been inspired by my brother and the way he lived and in the athlete and person that he was," she told theScore. 

She continued: "I think every day about how I get to live out my brother's dream of working or playing at the highest level on the men's side. I do feel a sense of pride and honor with my family that they get to also experience this with me, and there's just so much joy around the game."

The ultimate goal is to be a good coach and help the Kraken have a winning season. If she can do that, Campbell said she's hopeful she can help pave a new avenue for women working in sports. "It's about keeping my mind fixed on the job," she told the Athletic. "And hopefully only good will come of it."

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