In 2015, Jess was elected to the highest level in The Explorers Club, the world's foremost professional society for the advancement of field research and the preservation of the instinct to explore. As a Club Fellow, she joins the ranks of legendary explorers Sir Edmund Hillary, Tenzig Norgay, Thor Heyerdahl, Neil Armstrong, Jane Goodall, Sally Ride, James Cameron, and more. Club members have been first to the North and South Poles, first to summit Mt. Everest, to the deepest depths of the ocean, and the first to the moon.

Jess has shared her scientific expertise and love of exploration on the Discovery Channel's Trailblazers docu-series, the Discovery Channel Shark Week program Devil Sharks, and in the ongoing Science Channel series What On Earth? Every piece of the world that Jess explores drives her to see more. Her mission is to bring knowledge of distant lands home to everyone she touches, and inspire the next generation of explorers to follow their own inner curiosity. Exploration always has a purpose. It is not about records or personal glory, but instead is about expanding the collective knowledge of humanity. Jess is always ready to share the excitement and joy of exploration.