Jess’s Story

My parents married in their teens, left school, and forged their own path. They pledged to never work for someone else. This commitment, coupled with the lack of an "entry-pass" to opportunity from formal education, sometimes meant the bill collectors were calling. But my parents taught me of the abundance that exists in what really matters, and to remember that money is just a human invention.

My father was strongly influenced by his experience of living off and from the ocean during his childhood, learning how to communicate underwater with schools of fish in order to hunt. He educated me in an animist worldview, in which all things —animals, plants, rocks, rivers, and human handiwork—are alive with being-ness and therefore worthy of our notice, participation, and care. My mother comes from a long line of preachers, sharecroppers, and wool workers in the rural U.S. and Scotland, and she instilled in me a commitment to justice, seeing the hard to see, and taking risks for things you believe to be important. 

In the first years of my life, my family ran six businesses: from deep-sea fishing to a video store, to selling wax hands at the carnival.

At times they dabbled in the informal economy to survive, and I developed a strong north star of ethics unassociated with those mandated by the State. I learned, alongside my family, that what I felt was right or wrong, was not necessarily bounded by legality but rather was rooted in my own understanding of care, concern, and love. I learned that you can imagine and infinitely re-imagine your perception of reality. 

Eventually my family began to organize sci-fi conventions, primarily for Star Trek fans. Although I did not watch Star Trek myself, I came of age surrounded by speculative-fiction enthusiasts from all walks of life who were inspired by the progressive future Star Trek portrayed. We lived on the road in a converted moving van with a group of roadies, much like those in concert promotion. It was against this backdrop—traveling and seeing the intense inequality of my country from city to town, yet being immersed in sci-fi’s future-visioning— that my early approach to activism took shape.

I began my own career in the environmental justice movement as a youth organizer.

At 16 I became a mentee of Dr. Jane Goodall and her staff. As their Youth Correspondent, I became embedded within the 'social change sector' and was quickly exposed to the good, the incredible, the bad, and the ugly of the nonprofit community, inspiring me to closely examine ways of working in pursuit of social justice.  

I immersed myself in the democratizing strategies of Myles Horton, Paolo Freire, and labor organizing lineages and became involved in movements that upended the violent power dynamics of white supremacy, colonial control, and Global North hegemony. From these learnings, I formed an education collective in 2004 with 20 practitioners from 17 countries, which marked the beginning of my work today. 

I have always been driven by a deep desire to live in a future of liberation, where I can fully and truly be free because all others are free. I believe our collective liberation is inextricably bound with one another.   

I have a strong connection to my ancestors, the land, and possible (versus plausible) futures. I have cultivated an ability to listen for the possibilities wanting to emerge while strongly holding a mirror to the needs for historical reckoning, including my own accountability to repair, truth and reconciliation because of my white-settler identity. 

My work focuses on building the ‘not yet’ by midwifing liberatory futures through practices that weave the present with the possible.

I use tools of imagination, and concrete, research-backed methods to create accessible resources for those wanting to step into alternatives.

Having come from several generations of small-business leaders, my sweet spot is helping awaken businesses to the fact that they can become part of more just and beautiful economies, one practical step at a time, without having to wait for whole-scale policy change.