Jessica Stempien Think Clearly. Work Collaboratively. Make Progress Together.
Achieve your biggest goals with guided meeting facilitation and training from Rooted In Process
Meaningful Engagement Is Rooted In Process
When your group has an effective process to think together, you can build more informed solutions for the communities and environments you care about.
Rooted in Process facilitates processes that bring people together, improve collaboration and communication, and spark more inspiration, innovation, and forward progress.
Our Services
Build a Better Tomorrow Together
Develop better conversations between teams, organizations, and communities. By incorporating productive dialog and active listening, we help to build stronger understanding, goal setting, and strategic planning.
Community Engagement
Bring people together around what matters most.
We create meaningful, human-centered spaces for communities to connect, learn, and collaborate. These engagements build trust, strengthen relationships, and generate the alignment and momentum needed to move forward.
Strategic Planning & Meeting Facilitation
Align people. Build buy-in. Move into action.
We design and facilitate planning processes that engage all stakeholders, surface diverse perspectives, and create shared direction. Whether for a strategy, initiative, or program, these workshops turn input into clear, actionable plans people are committed to.
Team & Leadership Development
Unite teams with better shared understanding.
Using Everything DiSC® and customized retreats, we support teams and leaders in improving communication, collaboration, and culture, so they can work more effectively together and lead with confidence.
Facilitation Training
Build the skills to lead better conversations.
Through the Technology of Participation (ToP®) methods, develop practical facilitation skills that improve how your organization communicates, collaborates, and makes decisions. Because facilitation isn’t just a skill, it’s a leadership capacity.
Offered in partnership with FloToP Facilitators, a growing network strengthening facilitation capacity across Florida, providing not only training, but opportunities to practice, learn, and grow through a community of peers.
Meeting Facilitation and Team Training Rooted in Community and Nature
Jess Stempien is the founder of Rooted in Process and a meeting facilitator who helps groups get unstuck, get aligned, and get moving.
With roots in environmental work, leadership development, and community engagement, Jess designs processes that bring people together to listen deeply, think collaboratively, and move forward with purpose. Her approach is grounded in Technology of Participation (ToP®) methods and the principles of the University of Florida’s Natural Resource Leadership Institute.
Jess has worked with agencies, nonprofits, universities, and communities across the country on issues such as conservation, public health, green infrastructure, and other environmental and social issues.
Testimonials
Successful Projects & Strong Outcomes
“Great job driving our group across the finish line of implementing a strategic plan - this is necessary, important, and difficult work, and Jess and her team made the experience fun and worthwhile. I would highly recommend Rooted in Process to others trying to organize a strategic plan, thank you!”
Melissa Fultz, Environmental Specialist
Suncoast Sierra Club, Executive Committee and Environmental Justice Committee
“Jess was very high energy and got us thinking in different ways and keeping our attention throughout the process.”
Training Employee
DOH
“Jess is like the glue that holds us all together”
Tabitha Biehl
Polk County Parks and Natural Resources Director
“I found this to be the best organizational experience I’ve been involved in (and there have been many). Categorizing and prioritizing the mission, goals and actions of the group, throughout the process, enabled a real structure and focus for launch. Real volunteers stepped up to provide committee structure to move the process forward. Thanks Jessica!”
Cathy Harrelson, President
St. Petersburg Sustainablity Council
Untangle The Path to Your Goals
Build collaboration and participation within your organization or initiative. Schedule a discovery call to see how meeting facilitation and training can help your group grow roots together.
From the blog
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Jessica Stempien 
Jessica Stempien Alignment and Action
Jessica Stempien Moving from Reflection to Action
Our Projects
Growing Roots
Meeting Facilitation – Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission
Rooted in Process was hired to facilitate a daylong meeting for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWCC). This was a biannual meeting for their Gopher Tortoise Technical Advisory Group to explore and understand roles and responsibilities, present information related to Gopher Tortoise species, and decide on next steps for the Technical Advisory Group. […]
Strategic Planning Sessions – Florida State Agricultural Response Team
The Florida State Agricultural Response Team (FL SART) is statutorily authorized by the state of Florida as a multiagency coordination group consisting of governmental and private entities dedicated to strengthening all-hazard disaster capabilities through partnerships. FL SART supports an effective and coordinated incident response for the animal and agricultural sectors in the state of Florida. […]
Visioning with Action Planning – Pinellas Conservation Coalition
Rooted in Process partnered with the Pinellas County Sierra Club’s Conservation Committee to launch a new countywide conservation coalition. We designed and facilitated a 3-hour virtual visioning workshop—supported by a pre-session stakeholder survey and collaborative tools like Trello—to bring together partners from across the county, region, and state. This was followed by four, one-hour virtual […]