Meet Jessica Chang Irish: Finding the Courage to Use Your Voice

Jessica knows how to command a room. She has spent years in communications, including working as a TV reporter, and today she coaches entrepreneurs, business owners, and community leaders to become stronger, more confident speakers. What I love about Jessica’s story isn’t that speaking comes easily to her, it’s that she understands what it feels like to be scared and do it anyway.

This summer, Jessica, her husband, and their son packed up their lives in California and moved to Utah. They left behind a close-knit community they had been part of for 14 years, a custom home she loved, familiar friendships, and the comfort that comes from knowing exactly where you belong.

Starting over is difficult at any age. Making a change that big in your 40s takes a different kind of courage. But they took the leap. Now, Jessica is building a new chapter in Utah, growing her business, making new friends, and once again proving something she also teaches her clients: sometimes growth requires us to get uncomfortable first.

Treat the Scary Things Like an Experiment

Jessica knows that feeling well in business too. Like so many entrepreneurs, she has found herself caught in analysis paralysis, wanting to have everything figured out before putting a new idea or offer into the world.

Her advice to other women in business is something I think many of us could use:

When something scares you, treat it like an experiment.

Instead of believing that every new idea has to succeed, Jessica has learned to approach it with curiosity: Let’s try it and see what happens.

I love this perspective because entrepreneurship can make everything feel so permanent. We convince ourselves that the offer has to be perfect, the presentation has to land, or the new idea has to work exactly as we imagined. Thinking of business as a series of experiments takes some of the pressure out of getting everything right the first time. More importantly, it gets us moving.

Helping People Own the Room

That philosophy fits beautifully with the work Jessica does through Jessica Chang Consulting.

She coaches entrepreneurs and business and community leaders who know they have something valuable to contribute but may not always feel confident communicating it.

Through one-on-one coaching and group workshops, Jessica helps her clients take the ideas in their heads and turn them into clear, compelling presentations and stories people actually remember. She uses her own speaking frameworks along with practice, encouragement, coaching, and accountability to help people feel confident, look polished, and sound like the experts they already are.

Right now, Jessica is preparing for her free October masterclass, Own the Room: 4 Secrets to Speaking with Confidence, Captivating Your Audience & Making a Bigger Impact.

Her goal is to help participants become the kind of speakers who can command attention, connect with an audience, and use their voices to create greater opportunities and influence.

But Jessica’s definition of powerful communication goes much deeper than sounding polished.

Your Story Doesn't Have to Be Extraordinary to Matter

One of the biggest lessons Jessica has learned as a public speaking coach is that the stories we dismiss as ordinary may be exactly the stories someone else needs to hear. We can convince ourselves that our experiences aren't significant enough to share. We haven't climbed Mount Everest. We haven't survived some extraordinary adventure. Who wants to hear our story?

Jessica has learned to challenge that thinking. Part of that realization came through sharing her own IVF journey.

“It’s not always easy to talk about. But when I pull back the curtain and let people see that my life hasn’t always been smooth, easy, or “perfect,” WE CONNECT on a deeper level.” 

When Jessica allows people to see that part of her life—the disappointment, uncertainty, fear, hope, and resilience—something happens. People connect not because their experiences are necessarily identical, but because the emotions are familiar. Her vulnerability gives someone else permission to be vulnerable too.

I think there’s an important lesson here for women in business. We spend a lot of time learning how to make ourselves look professional. We polish our websites, perfect our LinkedIn profiles, prepare our presentations, and carefully choose what parts of ourselves belong in the room. Sometimes the story you're hesitant to tell because you think it's too ordinary is the story that makes someone trust you.

As Jessica puts it, your story doesn't have to be extraordinary to be meaningful. Sometimes, you just have to be brave enough to tell it.

Finding Your People Wherever You Go

Maybe that’s also why community has played such an important role throughout Jessica’s life.

In 2001, at just 22 years old, she left Los Angeles and moved to Odessa, Texas, for her first television reporting job. It was a major culture shock. She was far from home, and working in television meant holidays weren't necessarily holidays. She couldn't simply fly home for Thanksgiving or Christmas, so the people she worked with became much more than coworkers, they became her community.

Since then, Jessica has lived in Virginia Beach, San Diego, Turlock, and now South Jordan, Utah. Each move has required her to rebuild that sense of belonging. Rather than waiting for community to find her, Jessica has intentionally looked for it. She has joined organizations, met people with shared interests, learned about her new communities, contributed where she could, and created relationships along the way.

Her experience has taught her that belonging isn't necessarily about where you live, it's about finding the people who see you, support you, challenge you, and cheer you on. And that's ultimately what brought Jessica to Ember Women.

After moving to Utah, she wanted to connect with supportive, like-minded women entrepreneurs in her new community. She has already attended an Ember Women painting experience and two panels, building friendships and meeting women who are also creating, growing, and figuring things out along the way.

Her story reminds me of something I hope every woman entering a new season remembers:

You don't have to start over alone.

Whether you're moving to a new city, starting a business, changing careers, or simply realizing you want deeper relationships in your life, your people are out there. Sometimes you have to be brave enough to go find them.

And Then There's 90s Hip-Hop Jessica

There is one more thing you should know before introducing yourself to Jessica at an Ember Women event. The polished public speaking coach has another side.

Put on “Poison” by Bell Biv DeVoe and apparently there’s a good chance you'll see her doing the Running Man. She's a huge 90s hip-hop fan and proudly claims she can rap every word of “Baby Got Back.” And honestly, I love that almost as much as everything else about her story.

It's allowing people to see the accomplished professional, the woman starting over in her 40s, the mom, the entrepreneur, the woman who has experienced disappointment and resilience—and the woman who will absolutely hit the dance floor when the right 90s song comes on.

We don't have to edit ourselves down to one version in order to be taken seriously.

Thank You, Jessica

Jessica, we're so glad your newest chapter brought you to Utah and to Ember Women. Thank you for reminding us that confidence doesn't mean being fearless. Sometimes it means treating the scary thing like an experiment and seeing what happens.

Thank you for reminding us that vulnerability can create connection, that our stories are worth telling, and that there are people waiting to hear what we have to say. And most importantly, thank you for bringing your voice to this community.

If you see Jessica at an upcoming Ember Women event, introduce yourself. Ask her about public speaking, storytelling, starting over, or what song will get her onto the dance floor. You might walk away thinking a little differently about your own voice—and the story only you can tell.

Learn more about Jessica and her work at Jessica Chang Consulting, or connect with @jessicachangirish on Instagram and Jessica Chang Irish on LinkedIn.