Pursuing Purpose, Finding Impact: A Leap of Faith from Concert Hall to Classroom and Deeper Purpose
Jade Simmons, RSG '25
World-renowned concert pianist, transformational speaker, published author, 2000 Miss America runner-up, and former 2020 Independent presidential candidate Jade Simmons has added another major milestone to her extraordinary career. On May 10, 2025, she received her Master of Arts degree from Regent University’s Robertson School of Government (RSG)—and immediately set her sights on a Ph.D.
Jade continues equipping herself to help reshape the world, but this time, it’s through the lens of public policy, leadership, and her abiding Christian faith. Her success—as well as every other Regent student’s—is made possible through the generosity of donors, who she says can “know that the resources God has blessed us with will be used for His purposes here.”
But her path to Regent was far from conventional. Jade studied at Northwestern and Rice University to become a classically trained pianist, launching a dynamic career that fused music and motivational speaking. She’s delivered her “Keynote Concert Adventures”—unforgettable blends of music, inspiration, and purpose—for companies like Google, Hershey, Dell, NBCUniversal, and more.
Even with all her success, Jade still feels called to do more. “My purpose, I thought as a youngster, was to play the piano and impress audiences to death. But over time, I realized my purpose is really about impact.”
That shift led to what she calls a “wild leap” in 2020, running for president of the United States as an Independent. “There was so much I learned in the thick of things, so much I learned on the road, seeing Americans who didn’t match up with what I was seeing on television,” she recalls. “It was both rewarding and maddening because I thought, ‘Why aren’t we seeing ourselves for real?’”
It also revealed how much more she wanted to learn. That’s when Regent came into view.
“I wanted to study at a Christian university,” Jade says. “I didn’t always agree with my fellow Christians or evangelicals, and I needed to understand how they were coming to the conclusions they were coming to. So, it was a pretty strategic choice.”
When she discovered the university’s Ph.D. in Government, she enrolled in RSG’s Master of Arts program as her first step. What she found at Regent exceeded her expectations.
“The professors have been so powerful,” she says. “Nothing in the way that they teach felt like it was political. They were just teaching.”
At RSG’s Commissioning Service on May 8, Jade was asked to deliver the Graduate Reflection for the Class of 2025. “God will ask you to make the wildest leaps in the name of purpose and impact,” she insisted.
Jade also shared, “I think we live in a time now where we have the greatest opportunity to actually show the world what true Christian leadership looks like…I believe He has called each and every one of us to make an impact that will be indelible on our nation and, hopefully, on the world around us.”
As a Ph.D. student, Jade plans to explore the role of the arts and soft power in American foreign policy. It’s a perfect intersection of her artistic background, public leadership, and heart for cultural transformation. She also sees the degree as a spiritual assignment.
“I believe Regent has people—faculty, staff, and students—who are being raised up to fill a void,” she explains. “I would love to see faith movements raising up their own leaders and training them not in a way that’s just about the attainment of power.”
Jade believes deeply in the eternal impact of Christian leadership. And she sees Regent University as fertile ground to cultivate it—thanks, in large part, to donor support. “If Regent continues to really highlight itself as shaping people the university wants to send out and commission into the world, I believe donors will see that and feel like it’s something worth giving to.”
To complete her Ph.D. studies, Jade is exploring military-connected scholarships through her husband, a Navy veteran. But she’s quick to note that finances don’t have to be a barrier to world-changing potential.
“When you’re in a position to give…give in a way that’s going to impact and change the world,” Jade says, “people want to know that they are giving to good ground, and I feel like Regent is not a place you have to worry and wonder whether the resources are going to be used powerfully.”
From concert halls to campaign trails, and now from classrooms to the cusp of a Ph.D., Jade’s life is a testament to the power of obedience, excellence, and the quiet generosity of those who give to make it all possible.
“There’s a model of a Christian leader that we don’t always get to see,” Jade explains. “I believe we can have both a powerful witness on the world stage AND see our faith not be hijacked by politics. We can go in and positively infiltrate areas of influence in ways that don’t have to look like division or violence but that really resonate as indelible impact.”