Hello
I'm Jess--the founder of Starling Leadership; a Higher Education & Student Affairs professional, a wife and mom of three, and your go-to guide for making leadership development feel practical, attainable, and energizing.
My Mission
I started Starling Leadership because I saw too many local business owners in the Lehigh Valley, Poconos, and beyond struggling with the "people side" of running a team, basically feeling like their business was running them rather than them running their business. These struggles can make or break a small business, and without any access to big-budget leadership programming, they can feel particularly overwhelming and soul-sucking.
Utilizing these models and tools in Higher Education, I know that most of them can be scaled to work for smaller organizations and teams. For some reason, that idea doesn't seem to be making it's way to small and mid-sized business owners as often as it can be. I can bring those proven tools to your doorstep with needs-assessments, tailored program development, and affordable deliverables by way of workshops, coaching, and consulting services.
What sets my approach apart is a knack for boiling down big problems into solvable tidbits, and turning complex ideas into clear and actionable insights. With a background that includes years of designing and delivering trainings on dense, high-stakes topics (like policies, procedures, and fair decision-making in the adjudication of cases of serious misconduct), I've honed the skill of making "dense but impactful" material accessible (and often surprisingly engaging.) No death-by-PowerPoint here: I focus on interactive, relatable strategies that allow you to discover the a-ha moments in real time. My job, then, is simply to provide the right environment and tool to make it happen.
One of my super-strengths? Reading the room, deciphering in-between the lines, hearing what's not being said, and sparking authentic group dialogue that uncovers hidden stumbling blocks. Just as an example, in my strengths-based workshops, I'll often invite volunteers I've never previously met to share their top talents as revealed by the assessment. Within minutes, I'm able to point out who may work best with who, where conflict probably arises, what aspects of any person's role falls within their zone of genius, and even the inner workings of folks' sense of self—all with spot-on accuracy that leaves participants thinking (and sometimes saying) "Wow, that's actually kind of creepy." Once I spark that intrigue and curiosity, we're able to get some work done together.
It's not creepy, per say; it's the culmination of years of diverse educational and professional work experiences that positioned me to uniquely hone this skillset.
How We Got Here
My foundation starts with dual Bachelor's degrees in Psychology and Behavioral Neuroscience from Lehigh University (hello, local roots! My husband is also an alum and we now have three little Lehigh babies!) There, I delved into the biological basis of human behavior, the science of social interactions, and the very building blocks of concepts like personality, success, motivation, and mindset. I then pursued a Master's in Higher Education Administration from the University of Delaware and subsequently spent over a decade in student-facing Student Affairs roles ranging from Student Conduct & Title IX Investigations to formal Leadership Development roles to serving as Adjunct Faculty in a credit-bearing course.
Most folks in Higher Ed felt that I "jumped around" between wildly different functional areas. I respectfully disagreed and would often respond, "Eh, if you're doing conduct well, it isn't that different from leadership development."
What did I mean?
Interestingly, I found incredible overlap between my "leadershippy" program development initiatives and my "behavior modification" ones. My conversations with a student facing suspension actually had a lot in common with my career exploration conversation with an "Emerging Student Leader." Training faculty and staff to be excellent conduct advisors involved a ton of technical, policy-minded, process-driven details, but also training on active listening, providing feedback, motivational interviewing, and communicating with empathy and clarity.
I spent every day navigating tough accountability conversations in high-stakes situations that, by the very nature of them, also required sensitivity, gentleness, highly individualized support, and big-idea coaching on things like values, priorities, and goal setting.
This left me realizing that (1) these pivotal themes and skills apply nearly universally to, quite simply, humans being human; (2) that they're impactful "mind-and-skill sets" regardless of vocation or application, and perhaps most importantly, (3) that they all can be learned.
My network gradually expanded to include offering professional development programming to faculty and staff which then led to business and corporate partnerships outside of Higher Education. For 15 years now, I've lived and breathed what I can coach others to do.
Let's Work Together
Whether you're ready to boost team cohesion, reignite productivity, troubleshoot sore spots, or even just reclarify your own strengths, values, and visions, I'm here to make it happen—all tailored to your business and delivered with engaging, collaborative & straight-shooter energy.
Let's get your team soaring. Book your complimentary Energy Audit today—it's risk-free, and I can't wait to see what we discover and develop with you!