The story is rarely just one person’s
Keynotes on what people carry, how it ripples through teams and families, and what leadership looks like when the path isn't clear.
Or send an inquiry below.
Hi, I’m Jessi
I'm an entrepreneur, marketing strategist, and author. For nearly a decade, I've run a marketing consultancy serving founders and growing companies, and most of my career — twenty-plus years across agency and client sides — has been spent helping leaders tell the truth about complicated things in ways people can actually hear.
The Story We Share isn't told in one voice. Alongside mine, it includes written perspectives from my husband, my family, and my friends, and from medicine, the courts, and law enforcement: a layered portrait of how trauma travels through a whole system rather than one person.
When I speak, I sit at the intersection of strategy and lived experience. I'm warm and direct on stage. I don't traffic in clichés or motivational shortcuts. I'd rather tell the truth and trust the room to do something with it.
Speaking Topics
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What We Carry With Us: How Stories Shape Us Even When We Don’t Tell Them
The stories we don’t name don’t stay dormant; they live in our bodies, our relationships, our leadership, and our decision-making. This talk explores how unprocessed experiences ripple outward, surfacing in behavior and culture long before we have the language to describe them.
The Perspective: Reframe trauma responses (like dissociation or fractured memory) as adaptive survival tools rather than signs of weakness.
The Goal: To understand how personal history quietly shapes responsibility and service without requiring forced public disclosure.
Takeaway: An honest look at what we all carry, and how naming it changes the way we lead and care for the people around us.
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Doing the Next Right Thing: Leadership When the Path Isn’t Clear
We lead with a list. We make the calls, send the emails, check the boxes, and trust that working the plan gets us to the other side. Then comes the season where it doesn't. This talk is about leading when the list stops working, when the path isn't clear and the answers haven't arrived, drawn from years of running a business, navigating therapy, and showing up for a family in the middle of healing.
The Perspective: Avoids "motivational clichés" in favor of real-world application—from starting a business to navigating therapy.
The Goal: To empower leaders to move forward even when answers remain incomplete.
Takeaway: What it looks like to keep moving when nothing has been resolved yet, and why that matters more than waiting for clarity.
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Presence Over Perfection: How to Show Up When You Don’t Know What to Say
Many people avoid showing up for others in crisis because they are terrified of saying the wrong thing. This talk dismantles that fear, replacing it with an honest, human model of presence that applies to managers, partners, and friends alike.
The Perspective: Good intentions can either help or harm. What actually matters is the consistency of showing up.
The Goal: To move from paralyzing perfectionism to active, supportive community.
Takeaway: Practical ways to support someone through trauma, grief, or workplace harm without needing the "perfect" script.
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The Cost of Silence: When Safety is Mistaken for Protection
Silence is rarely neutral; it is an active force that shifts burdens, isolates individuals, and shapes organizational outcomes. This talk examines the gap between intent and impact in families, faith communities, and workplaces.
The Perspective: Challenges the idea that "not telling" protects the group, highlighting the instability silence creates in jobs and relationships.
The Goal: To expose how silence is often mistaken for safety and how to build a culture of truth instead.
Takeaway: Insight into how belief and presence influence the people around us more than curated silence ever could.
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When Systems Fail, People Still Lead: Leading in the Gap Between What Should Happen and What Does
Institutions often promise clarity and justice but frequently fall short. Drawing from interactions with law enforcement and the legal system, this talk examines how true leadership emerges in the gap between what a system should do and what it actually does.
The Perspective: This is a talk about decision-making and taking back control, not about victimhood.
The Goal: To position listeners as thought leaders capable of navigating broken systems with responsibility.
Takeaway: What leadership actually looks like when the structures around you are failing, and why that gap is where most real leadership shows up.
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Author Conversations and Group Q&A
For book clubs, reading groups, advocacy organizations, and survivor-serving teams, Jessi offers conversational formats — virtual or in-person — built around the audience's questions and the book's themes. These run 45–90 minutes and pair well with a group reading or staff training.
Who I Speak To
My talks are designed for audiences where what people carry is part of the work, even when no one names it. Recent and upcoming audiences include:
Leadership programs and executive teams — keynotes on resilience, decision-making, and what shows up under pressure
Women in business, founders, and entrepreneurship audiences — on building when the path isn't clear
Advocacy organizations and nonprofits — survivor-serving teams, coalitions, statewide conferences
Professionals who work with trauma-affected people — attorneys, advocates, SANE nurses, Title IX coordinators, EAP staff, HR
Universities and Title IX programs
Mental health and helping professionals — therapists, social workers, counselors
Law enforcement and prosecutorial training
Book clubs, faith communities, and reading groups (tailored conversation format)
If your audience isn't on this list and you think the work fits, send an inquiry. I'd rather have the conversation than miss it.
The Experience
What the audience takes away
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Vulnerability with a purpose
I don't share to share. I share because specifics — the kitchen, the hand, the call — help audiences feel less alone and more equipped.
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Clarity you can act on
Every keynote ends with the next right thing. Concrete steps your audience can take on Monday morning.
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A safe room, even for hard subjects
I create a regulated, trauma-informed environment for listeners, so the weight of the material doesn't land on the audience without a way to carry it.
What People Are Saying
Investment
Explore our range of services designed to help you move forward with confidence, wherever you're headed next.
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starting at $3,500
45–60 minutes, in-person or virtual. Includes a brief Q&A, custom adaptation for your audience, and a pre-event planning call. Travel and per diem additional for in-person events.
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starting at $750 (virtual) / $1,500 (in-person)
45–90 minutes, conversational format. A facilitated discussion around The Story We Share and its themes, designed for staff readings, book clubs, and small organizations.
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Half-day sessions, multi-session series, fireside chats, and panels available on request. Investment varies based on format, audience, and travel.
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I'm based in Kansas City, Missouri, and available to travel anywhere in the U.S. (and internationally for the right fit). Travel and per diem are billed separately from the engagement fee.
Every paid engagement includes:
Copies of The Story We Share for attendees (folded into the engagement fee or invoiced separately, depending on your preference)
Pre-event planning conversation
Custom adaptation for your audience and outcomes
Conversation?
Ready to start a
I am currently booking keynotes, author chats, and book club Q&As (virtual and in-person) for 2026 and 2027. Send me a few details about your event and I'll be in touch within 2 business days. If you'd rather hop on a quick call, book here.