The Unexpected Way Jess Janz is Building Community

If you went to dinner with 20 strangers and couldn’t talk about work, what would you talk about? What would you reach for first to describe who you are, to create conversation, to connect? This is the concept behind Dinner With Strangers - the dinner series created by Jess Janz, that brings together a group of strangers for one night to be guided in thoughtful conversation. To do away with the small talk and dive deep with others.

Her last dinner…sold out in under 5 minutes! (umm hello #TaylorSwift)

In this episode, we dive, tangent and fall into:

  • Her TikTok video that hit half a million views and launched her business

  • Lighting her life on fire to get back to a creative life

  • Being changed by the stories of others

  • Surprising answers she’s heard

  • Declarations for living a slow life

  • Her advice on living 10% more connected

Plus, she reads us one of my favorite poems of hers: You Don’t Have to Know What You’re Doing With Your Life (love this permission!)

Also friends, I wanted to kick off the new year with this episode to remind you, and me, that focusing on living a slow and intentional life is a rebellious act of self love. An act you are so worthy of.

About Jess:

Jess Janz is a creative with a brave and wild heart. She’s a poet, a writer and a community facilitator. Her work examines identity, softness, and the communal ache that binds us all together. Jess is the founder of Dinner With Strangers, hosts a monthly Poetry Club for tender hearts, teaches online creative writing workshops, and as she says, she lives with her own company and her worry, for whom she is learning to make a soft bed. 

To find out more about Jess and Dinner With Strangers, you can check out her website at https://www.jessjanz.com/

TIKTOK: @jessjanz

INSTAGRAM: @jessjanz

Zoë Weldon