Featured Written Resources
A collection of featured written interviews with leaders who are successfully transforming our workplaces so that everyone can live up to their full potential and thrive. From corporate executives, to workplace consultants, to mental health professionals, to owners of small businesses, there are bold individuals all around us who are challenging the status quo, strengthening our communities, and transforming the world of work. In these featured written resources, workplace leaders join Jessica for deep and meaningful conversations about reimagining our workplaces, sharing both their personal stories, and their insights on what it takes to catalyze positive change.
Featured Written Resources
Kristen Powers is the Executive Director of Benevolence Farm, which provides housing, employment, and wraparound services to women and gender expansive people who are exiting incarceration in North Carolina. Its central tenet is that we are more than our worst mistakes and that we all have the right to safety, housing, food, healing, and connection rooted in dignity and self-autonomy. Kristen addresses the genesis of Benevolence Farm, its mission and programs, the impact it is having, and what is in store for 2025, including the construction of a new tiny home community, scheduled to open in Spring 2026.
Father-son duo Mark and John Cronin co-founded John’s Crazy Socks in 2016 with a mission of spreading happiness. The company is the brainchild of John, who was born with an entrepreneurial spirit and Down syndrome. On the company’s eight-year anniversary, Mark and John reflect on the low expectations many people had for John when he was born, the challenges that people with disabilities face when they turn 21, why John wanted to sell socks and go into business with his father, the company’s dual business and social purposes, strategies for creating a great place to work that is conducive to spreading happiness, and why hiring people with different abilities makes good business sense.
Valerie (Val) Jensen founded the Prospector Theater in 2014 with a mission of providing competitive, inclusive, and meaningful employment to people with disabilities. With its ten-year anniversary coming up in November, Val reflects on the Prospector’s evolution from beloved local movie theater, to exemplar of integrated, inclusive employment, to educational teaching facility for schools, businesses, and other groups, to “sparkly beacon of hope” for people with disabilities around the world. Val also addresses what lies ahead for the Prospector Theater, and the pivotal role that technology and artificial intelligence (AI) can play in vastly enhancing the lives of people with disabilities.
As part of her mission to bridge the technology gap in her hometown of Jackson, Mississippi, Dr. Nashlie Sephus founded The Bean Path in 2018. With its six-year anniversary on the horizon, Nashlie reflects on how The Bean Path has evolved from hosting free tech office hours in local libraries, to becoming the centerpiece of downtown Jackson’s Tech District. Nashlie also addresses the various influences that led her to pursue a career in computer engineering, what ignited her passion for artificial intelligence (AI), how creativity and technology intersect, and the important role that technology can play in leveling the playing field for individuals who are often left behind and forgotten.