Jessika Buell

I am an entrepreneur, the current mayor of Durango, an athlete, a spouse, and- most importantly- a mom. I first moved to Durango in 2001 to attend Fort Lewis College, where I would ultimately get degrees in English Literature and English Education.  I have two boys that were born and I am raising here in Durango: a sixteen-year-old son, Sawyer, and eighteen-year-old son, Connor. Both are the biggest sports fanatics and love all things about cars. They play hockey, lacrosse, golf, BMX, mountain bike, snowboard and ski. You could say they love to stay active. They both currently attend Durango High School and are turning into the coolest young men! I am engages to Erick who is a business owner as well. He owns Pirate Backcountry Adventures in the Silverton area and you can usually find us all in down time up there on snowmobiles or RZR's enjoying the outdoors! He has two boys as well; Henry who is 11 and Robert who is 7. Henry loves to read, play baseball, ski and is enjoying the youth theater programs at DAC and Robert loves to try anything new! He is currently trying out snowboarding for the first season, hockey, and is loving his art class at DAC. We are a cray and fun blended family of 6 who are up for any adventure and sure do love this amazing community we get to live in. I love to workout, enjoy watching and cheering all the boys on in whatever sport they are playing, I'm an avid reader, enjoy time with friends, and love working on anything business related!

I have lived and worked in Durango for over 23 years. Starting my professional career as an English and Math teacher in the Durango Schools; I then transitioned into a marketing, business development, and project executive role for one of the largest construction firms in the country. In 2016 I opened my first business here in Durango, Lucky Services. I have over 50 employees now at Lucky, two locations in two different states, and meet locals and visitors everyday that use our services. In 2018 I saw a huge need for digital marketing services for small businesses and opened Marketing Concepts Squared (MC2). We manage social media pages for small businesses and through MC2, I have been lucky enough to meet and work with some amazing businesses in the region. In 2019 I had the opportunity to buy into one of my favorite places on earth to go, a gym, The Vault. I became co-owner of The Vault and was lucky enough to train, workout with, and get inspired daily by some of the greatest people in this community. When I was elected to city council in 2021, I sold The Vault to have a bit more time. Through the years I have witnessed the community go through a dynamic pace of growth and change.

Durango offers the best possible combination of features for an outstanding family-oriented community. It is situated in arguably the most beautiful setting in all of the United States, and offers ‘out the back door’ access to world-class fishing, four-wheeling, hiking, climbing, skiing, mountain biking and a host of other pursuits. Preserving the quality of life in our area is of critical importance to me.

I have also worked in this community as a server and bartender in local area restaurants, a surgical assistant for an oral surgeon, a figure skating coach, tennis instructor, and a coach for my boys' hockey and soccer teams.

I am the co-founder of The Professional Women's Network of Durango (PWN) and served on the board for 4 years. I was a part of The Durango Chamber of Commerce's Durango Diplomats that are the goodwill ambassadors for the Chamber of Commerce and the Durango community as a whole. I was honored to be awarded The Durango Chamber of Commerce's 2018 Entrepreneur of the Year "Ed Morlan" Award. In 2020 and 2021 I was named Durango's Trainer/Instructor of the Year in the Best of Durango.