Jess Huddleston

Reporting on Canadian Music

After writing her first music story for her local newspaper when she was 16, Jess was hooked — knowing that she needed to scrap her original plans of pursuing an English degree, and go to Carleton Journalism school. While at Carleton, Jess would walk to the Unicentre store every second Thursday to buy the latest issue of Rolling Stone Magazine, which she would study as closely as she would her textbooks. Jess became a staff music writer for The Charlatan during her time at Carleton, and found a way to angle almost all of her Journalism school assignments into music stories. After earning her Bachelor of Journalism in 2010, Jess officially began her career in music media by starting her own music blog, becoming Ottawa Life Magazine’s music editor and also contributing regular music features to VICE, Complex, CLASH, Sharp Magazine, Fashion Magazine and more. Jess went on to work as digital producer for MuchMusic and the MMVAs, before becoming the managing editor of cbcmusic.ca where she now oversees CBC Music’s cross-country editorial team. Jess joins CBC Mornings each Thursday to highlight the best new Canadian “song you need to hear,” and is the newly appointed host of CBC Music’s The Intro — a music talk show dedicated to showcasing the brightest new stars in Canadian music. Nothing thrills Jess more than discovering great music and telling the stories behind it.

On the side, Jess is also a Polaris Music Prize and Prism Prize juror, as well as a Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (CARAS)/Juno Awards delegate.