A Matter of Giving and Growth: Idaho Leaders Cultivating Success with JESS FLYNN, Red Sky

With her family, Jess Flynn moved to Boise from New York as a senior in high school, eventually going on to study journalism at University of Texas at Austin where she graduated in three impressive years. Then, she won an Emmy for crisis communication work after covering a mass shooting that happened in Pittsburgh in the late 1990s. She was the producer of the noon newscast when the shooting broke out—she was only in her early 20s.

“Most journalists agree that you win awards for the most difficult things you have to handle,” Flynn said.

Soon after, Flynn moved back to Boise to work as an executive producer at KIVI, embracing Boise by realizing its potential and her potential within it. On Leap Day of 2008, she, with others, founded Red Sky PR when she recognized the opportunity to offer strategic PR services. Flynn’s experience with media and crisis communication set her and her firm up for success.

Since those earlier days, the landscape has changed. Across industries, questions about artificial intelligence pepper the conversation, raising ethical quandaries aplenty. Flynn and her team at Red Sky have equipped themselves with internal policies in order to keep up with this ever-changing tool responsibly. “It’s something we’re talking about every week,” Flynn said. “We can’t stay stagnant in the communication world because there’s constant innovation in how people connect and communicate…A.I. requires a human touch and human oversight.”

Along with keeping up with universal challenges presented by modern technology, Flynn keeps in touch with her local community, which provides the human touch she values. She serves, and has served, on numerous boards including that of the Women’s and Children’s Alliance, First Federal Bank, Boise Valley Economic Partnership, and the National Women’s Business Council. In this way, Flynn serves the community at large and successfully networks with peers and business leaders, finding that such cross-pollination is key to her continued professional growth.

In addition to her own growth and success—and that of Red Sky—Flynn advocates for the credibility and availability of talent in our valley. “Communication strategy is a core business need,” Flynn said. “And the amount of talent here can compete with coastal entities.”

Boise is impressive for various reasons, which keeps people coming to our area. Leaders like Jess Flynn help establish the echelon that keeps us on the up-and-up.