Finding Grace in the Deep End – Jessie Sun’s Journey to Veterinary Medicine
When Jessie Sun moved to the United States from China at just 14 years old, she didn’t expect that one of the most powerful lessons she’d ever learn would be so simple: “Most people don’t know what they’re doing.” The advice came from a mentor, and it landed like a lifeline—one that reshaped the way Jessie viewed herself and the world around her.
“I’ve carried imposter syndrome for as long as I can remember,” Jessie says. “Whether it was my accent, my vocabulary, or just feeling like I wasn’t enough.” But those words reminded her that even the most confident people are often figuring things out as they go. “I realized I don’t have to be perfect to belong—I just have to keep showing up and learning.” That shift changed everything. Jessie began to give herself more grace and started to appreciate the incredible distance she had already traveled—geographically, emotionally, and professionally.
Today, Jessie is a veterinary student at the University of California, Davis—one of the top vet schools in the world. But her story isn’t defined by one single passion. It’s a mosaic made up of unexpected detours and deeply human moments.
Like the time she found wonder again, underwater.
It was in Mexico, during a scuba diving trip where she earned her advanced open water certification. “The moment I sank beneath the surface, the world went silent, and the only thing I could hear was my own breathing,” she recalls. “You’re no longer bound to the ground. You can go up, down—wherever. It brought back a feeling I hadn’t felt since I was a child—pure wonder.”
That same wonder is what led Jessie to pottery. During a gap year after college, she took a ceramics class at San Francisco Community College as a break from vet school applications. It quickly became an obsession. “Instead of working on my personal statement or studying for the GRE, I was in the studio for hours,” she laughs. (Spoiler: she still got into Davis.)
Pottery, like life, doesn’t always follow the rules. “You can do everything right, and still, something will go wrong. The kiln temperature, the humidity—anything can change the outcome,” Jessie explains. For someone with a Type A personality, ceramics taught her how to embrace imperfection. “What I love most is that it feels like you’re creating life. Not biologically, but spiritually. These pieces carry time, thought, and emotion. They’re not just mugs or bowls—they’re pieces of me, quietly existing in the world.”
Her perspective extends far beyond the studio or the classroom. Jessie is acutely aware of the challenges facing the veterinary profession, particularly the heartbreaking lack of access to care in rural communities. One moment that struck her deeply was learning about the Covelo Clinic at UC Davis, which serves a remote area with no other veterinary services.
“Not one vet clinic,” she emphasizes. “People have to drive hours just to get basic care for their animals—if they can even make the trip. It’s not just a vet shortage. It’s a public health issue. An animal welfare issue. It’s systemic inequity.”
Jessie believes the future of vet med lies in expanding mobile clinics, community outreach, and investing in veterinarians who serve where they’re needed most. “Every animal and every owner deserves access to care—regardless of where they live.”
So what drives someone like Jessie? What’s her mission?
It’s not a flashy one—and she’s okay with that. “It’s kinda shameful to admit that I don’t have grand dreams of curing cancer or ending poverty,” she says with a small laugh. “But my mission is to find inspiration. In the quiet moments. In stories from people whose lives look nothing like mine. In traveling, in listening, in learning.”
For Jessie, those seemingly small moments have shaped the kind of veterinarian—and human—she hopes to be. Someone who listens without judgment. Who connects across differences. Who cares deeply, even when no one is watching.
“I want to live curiously, learn constantly, and become someone who can truly care for others,” she says. “Not just with medicine, but with presence.” It is no wonder why Jessie was selected as one of the 2025 Vet Candy Rising Stars!
