would you like to meet me?
I’m Jess Janz, a tender-hearted writer, community facilitator, and the creator of With Strangers.
I started Dinner With Strangers in 2017 with my friend Ryan at his hair studio to invite people who didn’t know each other to get past small talk and get inspired by each other’s stories. We wanted to create spaces where people could slow down, speak honestly, and remember that they weren’t alone.
Since then, I’ve hosted sixty-four dinners (which is over 1000 people and counting), plus gatherings, workshops, and events for Altea Active Club, Pinterest, lululemon, OpenTable, The W Hotel, Staub, and Wealthsimple.
What began as a simple dinner series grew into a larger body of work rooted in conversation, reflection, and intentional connection.
The point has always been this:
How can we create space — in rooms, in relationships, in our own lives — for people to show up more fully?
Today, my work lives in a few different forms:
Public talks & facilitation
Mentorship & guided conversations
Writing that tries to name what many of us are quietly navigating
Across all of it, I return to the same questions:
How do we stay present in a distracted world?
How do we build belonging instead of assuming it?
How do we move forward without losing ourselves?
if you’re here, you might be:
In the middle of a personal or professional shift / building something meaningful and unsure how to sustain it / leading others and wanting to do so with depth and care / looking for language for what you’re experiencing…
If so, you’re in the right place. Let’s go together.