While Jesse was still young her father decided that he needed to share his philosophy of self-help and empowerment with the rest of the world. He founded a company called Quickstart Enterprises and became a television star with his lectures, infomercials and product endorsements. He practiced what he preached and was convinced that Jesse had the metagene. As a teenager he trained her and encouraged her to push herself to the limit, this was opposed by her mother who thought that Jesse should have spent more time being a lady. Johnny and Libby's arguments grew increasingly bitter and resulted in a messy divorce. Jesse was pulled between both parents and managed to find the inner-strength to cope by applying her father's philosophies. In the process she discovered that she could also use her father's speed mantra.

Having grown up around heroes and having both parents as ex-superheroes have a large effect on Jesse and for her graduate degree she chose to study the older Golden Age heroes and their social effect. Her work really took off when the JSA returned from Limbo and she was able to watch them from a distance and document their interactions. She got her chance to meet her heroes in person when her father entrusted her to deliver important documents to them that would implicate the Ultra-Humanite in a series of botched genetic experiments. She even got to tag along on the mission and met Wally West (the third Flash) for the first time. Wally and Jesse flirted during the case, but he was seeing Linda Park and they became good friends.

Fighting alongside the Justice Society was a great thrill to Jesse and they agreed to be interviewed for her research. She found herself helping them again when she accompanied them to the island of Badhnesia. She fought alongside Charles McNider (Dr Mid-Nite) while wearing a red and yellow leotard. Upon her return to the United States she altered the leotard and added goggles, gloves and boots to create her first costume. She got her first outing as Jesse Quick alongside her father when they helped Hourman protect the South African Bishop Tumutuu from rightwing thugs. The thrill of working alongside the heroes she was studying was amazing for Jesse and she kept the costume even after she returned to her studies.

So far Jesse Quick had always operated alongside the JSA but she was to come into her own when Wally West gathered the American speedsters together to teach Bart Allen (Impulse). Wally had seen the future through the Speed Force and had seen the death of Linda Park at the hands of Kobra. He knew that Bart would be pivotal in defeating Kobra and had to shock him into getting serious about his studies. Wally did this by naming Jesse as heir to the Flash mantle, she was shocked and honored but accepted his decision. In truth Wally was using her to get a reaction out of Bart. It had the desired effect but Jesse felt angered and betrayed. During the final battle with Kobra Jesse was hit by a laser blast that crippled her leg. She was miraculously healed by residual speed energy left over from Wally's trip into the depths of the Speed Force.

Jesse's relationship with Wally was further injured when the speedster Savitar (who had once fought her father and Max Mercury) returned. He created machinery that stole the power of all the speedsters except Wally and fed it to his own army of ninjas. An assault on his fortress destroyed his machinery returning the speed to Jesse and the other speedsters. Jesse was attacked by the ninjas and was saved by her father. However Johnny was forced to move so fast that he merged with the Speed Force (the afterlife for speedsters). Jesse was devastated by the loss of her father. Wally felt that Jesse blamed him for the death of Johnny and began avoiding her. He even thought that Johnny was haunting him through the Speed Force. It turned out that Johnny's spirit was trying to reach Jesse. Wally reunited father and daughter by taking Jesse on a high-speed trip into the Speed Force, which allowed her father's spirit to make his peace with her and tell her how much he loved her.

Jesse inherited the Quickstart Company from her father and took over as its new C.E.O. When she first started running the company Jesse had only just finished her Master's thesis and was very inexperienced at life outside of the academic or superhero societies. She quickly became a workaholic, running the company in her secret identity as Jesse Chambers and moonlighting as the heroine Jesse Quick. Her business skills improved and she started studying martial arts for use at superspeed. Yet Jesse still relied on the backup of Wally and the other speedsters for support as Jesse Quick. She was recruited by Arsenal to help battle Vandal Savage. However they were captured and she almost died in a booby-trapped Rocket Red suit before being freed by Impulse and John Fox (the Flash with the Justice Legion).

Wally still felt indebted to Jesse and nominated her for membership of the newly reformed Titans. She accepted and found herself working closely with Nightwing (another workaholic). Her confidence from the business world translated and she quickly became a competent field leader. Jesse was involved in the battle against Cobalt Blue and helped alert future members of the Flash Dynasty by time traveling through the next one thousand years. Wally vanished and Walter West appeared in our reality posing as Wally. Jesse was suspicious and kept an eye on him in the Titans and with the other speedsters. When the truth was revealed she helped defeat Kadabra and restore the world's memory of Linda Park.