Jess works on feasibility studies, business plans, pro formas, strategic plans, master plans, and custom research, bringing clarity and perspective to client decisions through detail-oriented and tailored research and analysis. She has contributed to projects for the Dallas Museum of Art, the Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum, the WNET Group, the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs, and the National Black Theatre.

Before joining AEA, Jess worked on private equity due diligence and corporate growth strategy, conducting primary research campaigns, creating research-driven market models, and building insight-based narratives to guide investment and strategic decision-making. She also managed local music venues in Chicago, where she developed an understanding of how arts and culture spaces develop audience and community relationships, balance financial sustainability and accessibility, and shape their identities through programming, branding, and communications.

As a researcher, performer, and former music venue manager, Jess is interested in how cultural spaces sustain themselves financially and organizationally, how they cultivate meaningful communal experiences, and how gathering places reflect and reshape societal structures. She is drawn to projects that connect institutional strategy to the lived experience of audiences and communities.

Jess holds a B.A. in Economics from the University of Chicago. She is fluent in English and Italian, speaks conversational Spanish, and has studied and immersed in Catalan.