Jessica Staheli has two passions in life – one is her work for Scherzer International, helping to provide reassurance for businesses across the world, and the other is Victorian literature.
She may live in ultra-modern California, but there will always be a part of Jessica forever dedicated to Victorian-era London.
She is a long-time lover of literature from that period and took her degree and a masters in English when she was younger. While she finds it difficult to pick a favourite author – she likens it to picking a favourite child – she loves classic writers such as Charles Dickens and the Bronte sisters, but one figure that stands out for her is Geraldine Dewsbury.
She may not be a well-known name but Dewsbury was an influential and fairly radical figure on the Victorian literature scene, something that was uncommon for women at the time.
“I looked at her life, she was a publisher’s reader so she read novels that had been submitted for publication and recommended whether they should be printed,” Jessica says. “She was also a reviewer, so she was a woman in business and it’s no wonder I’m really into her, she’s fascinating and there are a lot of similarities with me.”
As Jessica says, there are similarities with her role at Scherzer International. While Jessica and the company are involved in many private equity and M&A deals both domestically in the US and internationally, their work is often done in the background, yet can prove significant and be the difference between a deal completing or not.
