Particle physicist · Author · Quantum griot
I build universes where more of us get to belong.
I translate science, systems, and lived experience into stories, spaces, and futures that change who gets to imagine what comes next.
One body of work · Multiple portals
Every project is part of the same universe.
Science is the method. Story is the bridge. Oyanova is where the ideas become environments, experiences, and systems people can enter.
Our Queer Universe
A book blending particle physics, memoir, and wonder to ask how a scientist becomes—and who gets to belong in the future of science.
Enter the universeQuantum Looking Glass
Jessica and Emily Esquivel bring physics, psychology, culture, and lived experience into the same conversation.
Look through the glassSpeaking
Rigorous science, honest storytelling, and ideas that move audiences from inspiration toward institutional and cultural change.
Bring Jessica into the roomOyanova
A Black, Brown, queer, and woman-led social enterprise building liberatory systems through science, wellness, storytelling, and community.
Explore OyanovaForthcoming book · MIT Press
Our Queer Universe
The book is the cosmos. The Substack is the lab notebook.
What can particle physics teach us about identity, uncertainty, collision, transformation, and becoming?
Our Queer Universe brings the reader into the laboratory and into Jessica’s life, revealing not only what scientists know, but how a scientist learns to see.
The revived Substack extends that inquiry in real time—with field notes from the book, science, and the work of building more liberatory futures.
Subscribe to Our Queer Universe
Now listening · An Oyanova podcast
Quantum Looking Glass
Jessica and Emily Esquivel look at the same human questions through two different disciplines—particle physics and psychology—and ask what becomes visible when science, healing, identity, and culture reflect one another.
Jessica in action
Science that moves a room.
Jessica equips audiences to think like scientists without leaving their humanity at the door. Her talks make complex physics legible, expose the systems shaping who participates in discovery, and turn wonder into a mandate for change.
Why book Dr. Esquivel
Wonder is the opening. Transformation is the point.
Jessica brings the authority of a particle physicist and the imaginative reach of a world-builder. Audiences leave with complex ideas made human, new language for belonging, and a clearer sense of what change requires.
“Her ability to weave together her personal experiences in STEM and technical information about her scientific research was truly remarkable.” — Keynote organizer
The Oyanova ecosystem
Where ideas become infrastructure.
A social enterprise building spaces, stories, and systems where Black, Brown, queer, and historically marginalized communities can thrive.
Co-founded with licensed clinical therapist Emily Esquivel, Oyanova brings together science, care, storytelling, and sensory design. From owned cultural platforms to nervous-system-centered spaces and client environments, each expression turns a belief into something people can enter, experience, and carry forward.
Oyanova-owned platform
Queer Quest
Our award-winning flagship gathering brings quantum science, healing, and cultural storytelling into a living environment for Queer BIPOC communities. The 2025 launch welcomed 150+ people, earned a 95% average experience rating, and left 100% of respondents feeling affirmed.
Enter Queer QuestCare infrastructure
Rest + Regulation Lounge
Rest is not outside the experience; it is part of how people stay present. Tea, nourishment, soundscapes, biofeedback, and space to pause support regulation, reflection, and choice—helping reduce stress and increase the ability to engage.
See care in practiceClient experience design
Oyanova Environments
We do not simply decorate rooms. We choreograph environments through florals, candlelight, texture, scent, sound, hospitality, and ritual—creating spaces of beauty, belonging, and dignified care.
Explore Oyanova Environments