When Systems Fail, Caregivers Lead with Jessica Guthrie

Nicole Will
Nov 12, 2025
3 min read

Best caregiver podcast caregiver support dementia alzheimers

When Systems Fail, Caregivers Lead with Jessica C. Guthrie, M.Ed

Founder, Career & Caregiving Collide™

Founder & Principal, Jessica C. Guthrie Caregiving Consultancy

Caregiver Advocate, Educator, and Thought Leader in Family Caregiving Equity

What does it mean to hold space for love and justice at the same time, to care for someone you love while challenging a system that was never built for you? Today, we explore the courage it takes to care for a parent with early-onset Alzheimer’s and the systems that often forget the families holding it all together. This is a conversation about caregiving that begins long-distance and becomes full-time, about representation and equity in dementia care, and about how real stories, not handouts, teach us how to keep showing up.

Today my guest is Jessica C. Guthrie, M.Ed, a leading advocate reshaping the conversation around caregiving and career. Drawing from more than a decade as a primary caregiver for her mom, Constance, Jessica founded Career & Caregiving Collide™ to empower family caregivers navigating dual responsibilities. She partners with companies, healthcare organizations, and brands to build comprehensive strategies that validate and amplify diverse caregiving experiences. Jessica’s thought leadership emphasizes collaboration between caregivers, families, and professionals to create sustainable caregiving ecosystems and her work is transforming how organizations see and support the people behind the care.

In this episode, we talk about the first signs and diagnosis, the decision to age in place, and what it means to center dignity in every choice. Jessica opens up about being 26, Black, and caregiving, how support groups didn’t fit, how social media became her classroom, and why she decided to “create the thing she needed.” We dive deep into equity and representation in dementia care, the importance of visible Black and brown caregiver voices, and how organizations can build with, not for, families. Jessica also reminds us that self-care isn’t selfish, it’s how we stay human. This is a story of love, purpose, and in the end, caregiving isn’t only what we give, it’s what transforms us in the giving. Every visible caregiver becomes a doorway for another voice to be heard. That’s how change starts.

Listen to our episode HERE.

To learn more, visit: https://www.jessicacguthrie.com/

To connect with Jessica, visit:

@CareerCaregivingCollide

LinkedIn: Jessica C. Guthrie, M.Ed

Thank you to our Sponsor

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About Jessica Guthrie

Jessica C. Guthrie, M.Ed is a leading advocate in the caregiving space who transforms the intersection of career and caregiving through lived experience and professional expertise. Drawing from her journey as a primary caregiver for over a decade for her mother with Alzheimer's Disease, Jessica founded Career & Caregiving Collide™ to empower family caregivers navigating dual responsibilities. Her newly launched consultancy, Jessica C. Guthrie Caregiving Consultancy partners with companies, healthcare organizations, and brands to develop comprehensive support strategies that validate and amplify diverse family caregiving experiences. With over a decade in the field, Jessica's thought leadership emphasizes collaborative approaches between caregivers, families, and healthcare professionals to create sustainable caregiving ecosystems.

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We are not medical professionals and are not providing any medical advice. If you have any medical questions, we recommend that you talk with a medical professional of your choice. willGather has taken care in selecting its speakers but the opinions of our speakers are theirs alone. Thank you for your continued interest in our podcasts.