Winning Together
Jezzibell Gilmore is passionate about the internet as a vehicle for communication and collaboration. In this inspiring #NomadFuturist podcast, she shares an inspiring and entrepreneurial story that took her from fine arts to technology and the co-founding of PacketFabric.
Gilmore hails from Beijing, China where one side of her family was deeply rooted in theater and the performing arts, and the other side was involved in academia and the sciences.
As a teenager Gilmore came to the United States and was dropped off by her mother at a boarding school with her suitcases and dictionaries and told “I’ll see you in six months and I hope you will be able to speak English.” In retrospect, Gilmore appreciates how this challenging experience increased her resilience.
After studying fine arts in college, Gilmore worked at a law firm. In the late 90’s a friend invited her to join AboveNet, a fledgling internet company, describing the internet as “the printing press of today’s world…allowing us to distribute information and proliferate it worldwide.” Gilmore was hooked.
“I knew nothing about technology. I didn’t know anything about the internet but what could be better than allowing people to gain access to information! I just jumped in with both feet and started in the industry.”
After AboveNet, Gilmore worked at several tech companies in the networking space, in operations and then in business development.
She immediately understood the tremendous potential of the internet to provide information and empower people throughout the world. This understanding has inspired her throughout her career.
In 2015, Gilmore co-founded PacketFabric and received support for her Network-as-a-Service vision.
“I felt that the Internet needed to be global, to be accessible for everyone…that access to infrastructure needed to happen automatically, flexibly, and on demand.”
The company now operates in three continents with Gilmore serving as Chief Commercial Officer. She discusses the passion that drives her and her colleagues.
“I’m very lucky. I surround myself with people who are equally passionate about what we are doing…my spouse and all my friends and the people that I work with, we all circle around the axis of making the internet and the world a better place.”
Gilmore is always engaging with new technologies and platforms, reading, and listening, learning, and absorbing information.
She encourages others to reach out, to not be held back by self-doubt. Despite being a natural introvert, Gilmore has pushed beyond her natural proclivities and is constantly communicating with friends and colleagues.
“Pushing your boundary as an individual is really important…We’re not alone. Nobody succeeds by themselves. Again, it goes back to collaboration, communication, exchange of ideas. When we win, we win together!”
Her advice to the young:
“Believe in yourself. Whether you think something is right or wrong, follow your instinct.”
Jezzibell Gilmore, co-founder and Chief Commercial Officer at PacketFabric, has over 20 years of experience working in the telecommunications industry. PacketFabric redefines how companies build and use network services. The PacketFabric Network-as-a-Service platform provides instant connectivity between colocation facilities, to major cloud providers, and internet exchanges. Prior to co-founding PacketFabric in 2015, Jezzibell was an early-stage employee of AboveNet Communications and Akamai Technologies. She has also previously served as VP of Business Development for GTT, and as a NANOG board member.
