Jess is a facilitator, mediator, and teacher of communication and leadership. She is a founding partner at Bedrock Culture and Leadership.
Jess traces her career, in part, to a traumatic family event that occurred when she was 12, through which she transformed from a shy girl who never raised her hand in class into someone who started taking risks and pushing her edges.
By the time she was in college, she was speaking in front of hundreds of students at a time, traveling to universities throughout California. Having established her own successful home improvement business, she used her personal success story to inspire and recruit students to start their own contracting businesses – and then to mentor the ten most promising startups at a time.
Over time, Jess discovered that the more transparency she brought in her communication with customers and employees, the more success she had. She committed to speaking with honesty throughout her work, and she became skilled in delivering sensitive communications.
When Jess discovered the Integral Center, a professional development hub in Boulder, CO, she was amazed to find a place that had “Authentic Relating” as a core training offering, and she quickly became one of the organization’s most senior faculty. As Executive Course Leader for the center’s 9-month facilitator training, she designed and taught curriculum as well as managed a team of 20 faculty and volunteers.
Throughout her facilitation career, Jess has repeatedly found herself at the center of high-stakes moments, working with people when tensions run high. She enjoys finding validity in all perspectives and supporting others to do the same, whether mediating a conversation between two people or facilitating a group of a hundred.
Jess has since co-created several independent training experiences around North and Central America, end-to-end from inception to design and delivery. She has integrated Authentic Relating with buddhist teachings, co-leading a three-year training with a monastic nun. In recent years she has focused on supporting executives and founders, helping them to navigate challenging conversations and, in some cases, resolve partnership-threatening conflicts.
Jess has taught thousands how to communicate in more authentic and compelling ways. She has worked with executives, corporate groups, religious groups, middle school students, groups of women, families, and couples. She is known for her ability to deliver feedback in a way that people can hear, and she is often regarded by others, especially women, as a model for humble yet powerful self-expression.
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