Jess Ross is the Executive Director of the legacy non-profit Austin Free-Net. When not dedicating her passion and efforts to digital equity and inclusion, Jess is a singer-songwriter who enjoys performing live in Austin, Texas. Her voice transcends a variety of genres, including blues, soul, pop, rock, jazz, Latin, and country.

Inspired at an early age by her public grade school music teacher and strong female artists like Selena Quintanilla-Pérez, Whitney Houston, and Alanis Morissette, Jess Ross has been performing for audiences since 1995. She attended Berklee College of Music in 2003 and was later employed by Berklee to manage academic performance facilities across various campus locations. Her shows offer a variety of musicianship, including full band, trio, and duet compositions.

Jess Ross moved to Austin, Texas in 2011 to immerse herself in the music scene of the Live Music Capital of the World. She later worked alongside executives at the iconic local establishment Strait Music Company before shifting gears during the 2020 pandemic to help marginalized community members access digital resources through Austin Free-Net. Jess Ross was selected by Austin Free-Net's Board of Directors to serve as Interim Executive Director in 2021 and accepted the role of Executive Director in 2022.

She created and launched the Learn & Earn Program in March 2022 to great success and was recognized by the Texas State Library and Archives Commission that same year. Austin Free-Net was named a finalist for Best Non-Profit in Austin in 2023, and their digital literacy programs were nationally recognized by the Community Broadband and Digital Equity Awards in 2023 for Digital Equity Project of the Year. Jess was also selected to co-chair the National Digital Inclusion Alliance's Digital Inclusion Week Committee in 2023.

Jess Ross is committed to improving the quality of life for everyone by empowering them through technology, creating and performing music, and reconnecting communities so we may all thrive together.