Awakened Convos: Deandre Jones Chats on Restoring the City of Grand Rapids, Job Creation

By Destinee Porter / May 10, 2021 / CREATIVES IN ACTION / 0 Comments

Deandre Jones discusses Restoring the City of Grand Rapids, Provide Jobs and Resources for Black and Brown People, Politics and More!

Lior: Can you tell everyone who you are and what it is that you do?

Deandre: My name is Deandre Jones, I am an entrepreneur, an elected official, community activist…I wear a lot of hats. This is actually one of my company hats (he shows it off so that we can see it). Forbes magazine released an article in 2015 and the city that I stay in is the second worst city, behind Milwaukee I believe, for economic development for people of color. So, I started working at this faith based non-profit, I am a spiritual person, but I am not one to knock anyone’s beliefs, but I started at this faith based non-profit. I just started working there, and we were doing snow removal. I began working there on January 1, 2018. I am a natural born leader, and I have always wanted to create something so that I can give back to the world, something that will have an economic impact where I am.

My mentor and I started to connect more, and he mentioned that I was very well spoken, and that he could tell that I was the leader of the crew, and so I was asked if I wanted to participate in a program called, Our Communities Children here in Grand Rapids, MI, and it is located on the 9th floor of the Grand Rapids building where they hold all of their city commission meetings. I went through this apprenticeship program for about 2 weeks, and it had an $800 stipend, so you know that I was automatically like oh yeah, I need that.

I got into job training, I met a couple of celebrities, I ended up getting seminars from people who run companies and end up building their own companies from the ground up, and they win awards, and I just felt like this was what I wanted to do, and as I developed the skills, the last week of the program that I did, we all had the same opportunity, there was this yellow folder in front of us, and l looked through it…personally I am one of those people who come from poverty. I was on social security growing up and everything else, so I looked through it, and I saw an opportunity that talked about $1000 for individuals, $10,000 for non-profits…I never had 10 bandz before, and I never has $10,000 myself so, I did not want to go for the little money, I wanted to go for the big money.

I talked with the CEO of the non-profit that I worked at which was Steepletown Neighborhood Services, Inc., he told me that he liked my idea, and he said that he was willing to be the fiduciary if you end up winning and pitching. So, he gave me the OK to pitch my business idea. I pitched against the biggest non-profits in the city of Grand Rapids, at the downtown YMCA, it was a bunch of major non-profits, and I was one of the 3 winners of this $10,000 prize.

Lior: Congratulations!

Deandre: Yeah, I appreciate it. So, that just led me to creating my youth initiative which was based off a stipend service in special events and workshops. I had 10 kids in my program, they were inner-city youth, impoverished youth…just like me growing up, kids that I can relate to because I do not like to water down my personality. I believe that when you are working with youth, you know how it is being an African American, if you are flodging or you’re faking, people are not really going to want to rock with you, but if you are authentic and can be yourself, then people love who you are.

So, I never watered down my personality or anything like that, I was just always myself, and that is why I feel like a lot of youth related to me, and they kept coming back, nobody missed a day of the program, which led me to further develop the program. We gave them a $450 stipend, we did some service learning out in the community, partnering with the neighborhood organizations, because the neighborhood organizations have direct access to city government, and they actually give feedback on how to change things in different neighborhoods.

So, that is why I wanted to work with a neighborhood organization just so that the youth…young adults, and young Black men, because you know that when you are out there in the trenches, in impoverished neighborhoods, you might hear about your neighborhood organization, but you might know the actual impact that they have on the community, so we worked with the West Grand Neighborhood Organization, and I became a committee member after doing work there. We also worked with a company called Junk King, which is an eco-friendly junk removal company, they will remove things from people’s homes, like leaves and trees, and they reduce and recycle, and they have eco-friendly junk removal trucks that they use. So this was a company that I really wanted to work with.

We work with a family-owned butchery called, Leyen & Son Meats, it is located on the westside of Grand Rapids. We helped him clean out his garage, and he ended up having artifacts from WWII, like motorcycles and helmets, it was a crazy experience, everybody enjoyed it. We did some special events, I wanted everybody to be on the same page, because you know that in the workspace everybody is not always on the same page, everybody likes to think differently, and do their own thing, and so, one of the things that I was able to do was for every special event that we went to, if we had one “no” then we were not going to go to that event, everybody had to agree that it was what they wanted to do, because as a collective…in the city government, you get more noes than yeses, then most likely whatever business or anything that you want to do, might not get passed.

But if you are able to get more yeses than noes, then you have a better chance to get things passed. So, I wanted everyone to be on the same page, and the guys really liked it. Right now, I am at the point in my business where I am working on the operations side. Most people are like, “you have been working on this for 3 years, and all that you did was buy some hats, where is the building and everything else?” I always tell people, Covid-19 happened, so that definitely slowed down a lot of different things for people.

I am one of those people…I am a July baby, so I am into astrology, I am a Cancer, and so I am one of those people that actually focuses on the operations side of things. I want my business to run without me having to run the business so that I can focus on building the business, a lot of people that build businesses, they spend a lot of time building the foundation then having to work on the operations side. My goal is to work on the operations, finding the best resources possible that I can find to help my corporation move effectively and to be as efficient as possible.

I have gotten the groundwork done, and now I am working with a financial adviser on my 5-year projections. I just talked to a company, because I would like to offer 401K, I want to offer real equity, I feel like equity is something that a lot of city governments use, and a lot of people use, but they do not really do anything that is equitable. That is one of the things that I really wanted to do, and so I wanted to be able to offer people a 401K, I want to be able to re-invest, because I’m a L3C (low-profit, limited liability company), (L3C Jump Ahead is the name of his company) we are different from your traditional non-profits…usually when a non-profit gives money to another non-profit, it is a tax write-off, but when a non-profit gives us an investment, it is not a tax write-off, we can give them a return on investment (ROI) for those dollars.

So, they can get money back, and give that money that they were going to give to that non-profit, but also see a return. We can give them a return on investment instead of a tax write-off, so the market for investment for L3C is like a trillion dollars, it is pretty high, whereas in the non-profit pool, it could be a couple billion.

Lior: I am glad that you brought that up because that was going to be one of the questions that I had for you to speak a little bit more about ‘Jump Ahead’. So, what is the plan…what is it that you wish to do with that organization?

Deandre: Well, my plan is to develop the economic spectrum, I would say the economics here in the city of Grand Rapids, I would like to create jobs for people of color, especially with climate change, and reducing carbon emissions. A lot of these factory jobs that African Americans work at cause health hazards. I believe, and I may be wrong on the exact number, but I believe that it is between 5-8 million people who die a year from air pollution, and it costs 5 trillion dollars for all of that air pollution, so just imagine if we had eco-friendly jobs, green jobs, clean jobs that are able to help people stay healthy and alive. Imagine what we could do with that 5 trillion dollars from the government, and pouring that back into the community, into infrastructure, public education, employees, and the youth, other non-profits, and organizations that do-good work.

Lior: That is amazing. You have your hand in so many things, do you feel that with this organization if there is something that you know is a need, is this something that you really want to do, or is this a specific passion for you, and that is why you would like to do it?

Deandre: No, this is something that needs to happen, this is something that needs to…I believe that it is my life’s purpose. It’s crazy because I looked at my birth certificate, I was born at 1:11 in Chicago, IL, and July 15, 1994 is when they published my birth certificate. When I filed for my company, it was July 15 when I filed my company through the state of Michigan. I was looking at the divinity and the synchronicities of my company, so I believe that this is my life’s purpose, there is definitely a need…a serious need because I am trying to buy a school that was closed down by Grand Rapids public schools in 2012, it has been boarded up, and it reminds me of riding through Detroit or Chicago, just seeing the boarded-up houses.

If I can develop a community center, I can create jobs, I can do work-force development, and I can have job training. I just received an email from Express Employment Professionals, they are partnering with over 50 corporations in West Michigan, and they are offering jobs from $16-$32 an hour. So, that is something that I would like to tap into, I want to make sure that African Americans and Latinx…Black and Brown people are getting those job opportunities, because we do not always get those good jobs.

We might see the flyer, and it might say $16, which is what we may get, but we might not get the $28 or $32 an hour job. So, I want to make sure that when I partner with these corporations or when I reach out to them that we are training people the proper way, that we are giving them the skill set that they need to develop to get those salaried jobs and then making sure that we are taking people out of poverty.

Lior: Absolutely. That is beautiful, and you kind of answered one of my questions, I was going to ask if you felt that this organization would fulfill a part, if not all of your life’s mission, and you answered by saying that this is what you were called to do, so that is amazing. So, speaking of missions I noticed that you have started a collection of awards for your ambition, can you tell us a little bit more about that?

Deandre: Yes, I won an award last year from my company, Jump Ahead L3C. I am a member of For(bes) The Culture, so when I went to Forbes 30 under 30, I was going to the city commission meetings, and it is a funny story. The city government in hearing some of the commissioners have said that I attend more of the meetings than the commissioners do, that lead me to attend the Forbes 30 under 30.

When I was growing up, I felt like I was going to be a wealthy, rich famous person to be honest, I have been telling my family that since I was a kid that I would be rich and famous, and wealthy…I do not know how I am going to do it, but I know that I am going to get there. When I hear the city government talking about the Forbes article and everything, then the Forbes 30 under 30 came up, I was like, I need to get to the For(bes) 30 under 30, I ended going there, and meeting some people, I met the guy who I collaborated with in making this hat (that he is wearing).

They have this hat patented, a lot of people do not know about these hats, but they have strings on the hats because the hats tie around your head because when people do extreme sports, like kayaking, or snowboarding, dirt biking…the hat ties around your head so that you so not lose your hat (for those sports where you might do a 360-trick in the air). They also have a pocket on the inside, so it was just a creative, and innovative idea that I liked, and I like the company, the CEO, and I let them know that I wanted to collaborate with them, and so I started selling hats at the Bridge Street Market, which is where hats are available right now. I started selling them in September and in the beginning of the year, I only sold 20 hats, but I am very optimistic because Coke-Cola only sold 19 bottles the first year that they were a company, and I sold one more hat, than they sold a bottle of Coke-Cola.

I stay optimistic, and just think about things like that, and I know that eventually, I am going to be world-wide in just moving things, but I am always optimistic. I won an award last year, ‘The Respect the Hustle Community Hustler of the Year Award.’ It is crazy because when I went to the Forbes 30 Under 30, I found out about For(bes) The Culture which is a branch of Forbes, but it is for Black and Brown entrepreneurs, and people that aspire to be world leaders, and be able to contribute, Forbes is a very upscale, well known worldly magazine, and some of the riches people in the world are always in there, and so that is a platform that I always wanted to be on. I got into For(bes) last year and I had my first feature last, year on the election, and I was talking about small businesses, and how Covid-19 has affected small businesses, and I talked about African Americans and how we might get banking loans, and have a higher interest rate, and that interest rate will not help us, but it is so high that it definitely makes us more prone to be in debt with the bank, and to possibly go out of business.

I was able to talk about problems in the Black community, problems with the financing systems, and policies.

Lior: I am trying to keep up, because you have a lot going on (he laughs), but it is awesome…I know that you are very heavily involved with politics, what sparked you interest there?

Deandre: Well, I have always been politically smart, but not politically correct (Lior Laughs). I like to say things as they are, and so when I was younger, I always wanted to know, because I used to stay in Kentwood, Michigan, and I wondered where the city commission was, and where did they have their meetings…I never knew.

So, when I started to work at Steepletown Neighborhood Services, they brought me to the city commission, and that was how I was able to find out where the city government was, and where I stayed at, and I thought okay…this is how I get involved, this is how I meet the mayor, this is how I talk to the commissioner, this is how I get my voice heard, this is how I get everything up and going. I have always felt like I could be an influential person in politics, that is where the power is. I would be lying to you if I said that I did not want to be powerful, and influential and use that power for the greater good to help people, but also to have power. I would be lying if I said that I did not want that, but I surely do want that, but I want to use that power for good. I definitely want the admiration from my peers.

I have always wanted to be in politics, I worked with a woman last year, her name is Lily Cheng-Schulting, and she ran for State Representative for the 72 District in Kentwood, Gaines Township in Wayland. I helped her with her campaign from the day that she said that she was going to run, I was literally her ace-boon-coon, I went everywhere with her, I was her bodyguard, I was that ride or die friend for her. I rode it out with her to the end, and she ended up losing, we have some billionaires here, Republicans…I am an Independent, but I affiliate with both parties, right now I am a Democratic Precinct Delegate for Precinct 17. I run my Precinct, and I run my little side of town, and the 2,000 people that I delegate for, and so I do a lot of good work. I have always been politically smart, and I have always wanted to be in politics, and have found people that like me and let me be myself. That was the thing that I really liked about her, she let me be myself 100%.

She had a couple of side conversations with me about a couple of things that I was posting on social media because I was very bold, but she definitely let me be myself, and she will definitely run again. What I learned about politics is, and I always like to say this because it is very true, Caucasian people love to get Black votes, but they do not like to see people of color in politics, that was something that I wanted to change, and that is why I ended up running, so now you have a person that is going to be honest, and you know that you cannot run game on me, because I already know.

I have worked with someone on a state level campaign, and have seen how people did not support her, and she still almost won with no support.

Lior: Wow! That is awesome.

Deandre: The thing about it, the people that lost, she did better than every single person that lost, and she was the closest one, but she really did not have the support or the funding that they did.

Lior: Wow, that is crazy. Well, moving forward, I wish her the best of luck. One of the things that you mentioned that you definitely want to see some changes happen, so in the near future, politically, do you see foresee a lot of changes happening for the Black and Brown community?

Deandre: Oh yeah, for sure. I was just in a Kent County meeting, that is a Democratic party that I affiliate with, and they have a committee for diversity inclusion, I should have been on the fundraising committee, because you have to…there are a lot of Caucasians on that committee, and that is where the dollars go to, that is who they choose to support with their dollars within the party that they can give to. I probably should have gone that way, but I wanted to influence the inclusion, and diversity of Black people, because like I said, they do not want to see people of color in politics, but they want our vote.

I was one of those people that was going to let Black people know if you are a Caucasian candidate that is for Black people, or you just want our votes, and then they will disregard us once you get into office. I do hold people accountable; I am a person of high morals and integrity. One thing that I do not play about is character, so I always like to meet people who have high upstanding moral character. I like to hold people to a standard, and make sure that they are not forgetting about us once they get into office.

I am working with a woman right now, her name is Emily Bridson, and she is running for mayor of Kentwood, so I am working on a Mayoral campaign right now, I have been doing some work with her, and people have been telling me that I should run for Mayor of Grand Rapids when Rosalynn Bliss is done. She is the first female mayor. The woman that I am working with right now is Caucasian and if she wins that seat in Kentwood, she will be the first female mayor there. I am definitely still involved in politics even though I am a Precinct Delegate, I am still working with the other levels of politics just so that I can get that experience.

Lior: Absolutely. Listen, I do not know how you do it, but you know that when you are passionate about something, it is a small thing to a giant (Deandre nods in agreement), so I get you. I know that last year was really heavy, it was a very difficult year, especially with a lot of the killings of Black people, and so how was your energy at that time?

Deandre: You know what, my cousin…I am from Chicago, my cousin was killed by the state police in Illinois. I did not go to his funeral…I wanted to go to his funeral, but there was a Donald Trump rally in Muskegon that day, the same day as my cousins funeral, and I felt like I was supposed to go there just because, I knew that I was not going to be able to do anything about that, but I just felt like my energy, and my presence needed to be felt in that space, where I could get on national television, and talk about that, so I actually got an interview from MSNBC Detroit, and I got to talk about my cousin getting killed by state police. I am all about defunding the police, or re-imaging police departments, and re-investing that money into resources or a community, or housing. I am definitely about defunding the police, and it is not just because of my cousin, but just the amount of African American people that have died at the hands of the police officers, and nothing really happens, they get a couple of days off, and they still get to keep their job.

You have police unions that makes sure that the police are protected, and it just seems that they are more worried about protecting the police and their jobs, then the citizens. Their job is to protect us. I really want to bring education to people of color, because we are actually supposed to be policing the police. The police are not supposed to be policing us as much, we are supposed to be helping to run the police department. So, that is one of my goals, to eventually run for Mayor…I might, but it depends on who is actually going to run, because I do not want to step on the toes of commissioners that were born here, that have already been paving the way, who want to do that, but I feel like with the economic impact that I am going to have with my company, that I can show them that I can do it a little bit better than them.

Lior: Absolutely, absolutely. I understand that, and that is amazing work that you are doing. I know that you have posted a couple of pictures where you have joined a few protests around that time, what was the energy like there, and what would you say the overall goal is?

Deandre: Man, it is crazy, because I stay in the city of Grand Rapids where Breonna Taylor was born. I have sat with her family…I know her family, I am connected with them on Facebook, I have a pretty good relationship with them. I would say that I have always been more like a hood version of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., I am peaceful, I love the protests, I love to speak, I love to enlighten people on how to get involved with city government, so that their voices can be heard. The energy has been crazy, there is an organization called, Justice for Black Lives, and they started to lead the protests, started to march, and rally, and get a whole bunch of troops, and they had Congressman, they had Kent County Commissioners, they had people from all walks of life in politics at their protests, rallies, and marches, so the energy was definitely crazy.

We sat there, and protested in front of the police departments, I have witnessed riots, and everything else happen here in the city of Grand Rapids, so it has definitely been crazy. The energy has been crazy, especially with the fact that Breonna Taylor was born here, and there is a street that has been dedicated to her called, ‘Breonna Taylor Way’ and it was Justice for Black Lives that got the city of Grand Rapids to give something that would honor her memory. The street called, Breonna Taylor Way here in the city of Grand Rapids is right down the street from the police department, they led the way for that.

So, it has been crazy, I have been able to meet her family, I have been able to speak about her, police violence, and police brutality, and just re-investing in the community, and giving us the resources that we need to really flourish so that we can create that economic impact that we want to see.

Lior: Absolutely, absolutely…wow. That is awesome, and it is so crazy, because you keep mentioning Grand Rapids, and at one period in time, I lived there, but it was for 2 years, and now I live in Lansing. Normally I do not get people from Michigan, when we do interviews, it is always somebody in Atlanta, or something like that, so it is really dope to have an interview, and be able to interview somebody that is doing something in this community, because a lot of times I feel like there is not so much done in the state of Michigan. You do not really see a lot of stuff going on in the state of Michigan like that, so what you are doing is absolutely outstanding.

Deandre: I appreciate that, I understand it too, because Michigan is not one of those upscale states. Michigan is behind in technology, and so you have to have those entrepreneurs that are bold, and innovative who want to push for change. I have the same birthday as Nikola Tesla ( an electrical engineer who was once renowned as the prototype of a genius inventor), the man who Elon Musk named the car after. So, I feel like I have that same innovative, renewable energy, sustainability type of mind, and I have definitely been helping people with different projects, going to different seminars, talking about solar energy, renewable energy, and geo-thermal, and just trying to educate the Black community about those same things too. I am definitely about it.

Lior: I absolutely hear that, now to bring it full circle, what would you say…because you seem to work with youth a lot, what would say has been some of your favorite collaborations with organizations geared towards the youth, and why?

Deandre: Well, I would say that my favorite collaboration that I did was working with Junk King, that was the one that I really liked because I was able to get kids from the city of Grand Rapids that might not have…I am sure that some people have left the city of Grand Rapids, and went to other cities, but have they ever really been able to do the work outside of another city. We were able to ride in the eco-friendly junk removal trucks, and go to different cities, and do eco-friendly junk removal work, waste removal work and stuff like that.

That was probably my favorite, because we got to work on removing trees, and helping to build the environment up, and showing kids why helping to clean up the environment is a good thing, some of them got tips, and were paid just for doing the work, on top of the stipend that we gave them, so that was my favorite collaboration. I am also in talks right now with the Champion brand, the Midwest account…since we are in the Midwest, I am looking to get an official collaboration between my brand, and the Champion brand. They showed me how I can use the Champion brand, because I cannot just go to a third-party website that sells Champion, and then slap my logo on it, and try to sell it in stores, I will get sued.

So, I attended a seminar that I saw on Facebook, and I got to talk to the account executive for Champion, and she stays in Chicago where I am from, and she was telling me that she sees a lot of people wearing Champion there in Chicago. I told her that I had a cool logo, and one of my friends who is a graphic designer at Ferris State University, because I used to be a student there, I had her create some new designs for me for clothing. So, I sent the account executive for Champion my new designs, and she said that they were cool, she liked them, and I got good feedback. I cannot wait for people to see my new designs.

There are a couple more awards that I am hoping to win. Retail X, they are in collaboration with another company, and in August, they will be giving out awards, so I am hoping that I can get enough nominations to where my brand is recognized as one of the winners, where I can go into Chicago, because I really would like to develop this in Chicago, where I am originally from, and be able to build up the economy there, and stop the violence there, which is definitely needed, especially with all of the things that I am hoping to do with my community center, which is work force development, and job training skills, but to also offer some amenities, like basketball, e-sports (which is a billion dollar market by itself).

I am in collaboration and partnership with Michigan E-sports High School Federation, which actually has 33 schools across the state of Michigan playing interstate e-sports. So, we have high schools playing e-sports as a sport now, and so I am in partnership with that corporation which is going to help me once I develop my community centers, to build out the e-sports rooms. I am hoping to have e-sports teams where I can have youth playing professional e-sports, and hopefully winning some tournaments. I also want to get e-sports clubs and other schools to participate, and the city of Grand Rapids to eventually become an interstate e-sports players, and then have middle schools have e-sports clubs, because they cannot play at the interstate level, but as long as we get in the clubs, and they have good grades, we can motivate more kids to play video games.

A lot of kids cannot wait to get home, and play that game, but if you have the games in school, and they have to have good grades in order to do that, I know that it will motivate them more. So, that is what I am working on right now. I am excited for it.

Lior: Yass! I am excited for you, that is amazing. So, I know that there are so many things that you are involved in, and I know that in order to make these types of things move, it requires lots of determination, what other characteristics would you say that you have had to develop in the course of your journey?

Deandre: I would say persistence, courage, dedication. I would say benevolence…I would say, patience for sure. Being patient with people just because, you know the African American community, people will bash you, and not support you…they will not even know what I am trying to achieve, or what is going on in the community, like health hazards, and stuff like that, so definitely having the patience, because everybody does not understand the policies or the politics, or how politics affect their everyday life. I would definitely say that patience is something that I have always had, but I had to grow more, and more of it along the way.

Lior: Absolutely, I completely understand. I think that what people really do not understand is that when you are a public figure, doing the type of things that you are doing, you are interacting with people all day long, and people do not understand how draining that is, because you are dealing with different types of energies, and all that stuff, so I can definitely see patience being one of the number one things that is required, especially over a length of time. Like I said, it is outstanding, and I absolutely applaud you for what you are doing.

So, because you have many goals, what would you say is the ultimate vision that you see for yourself?

Deandre: I see myself building community centers across the world. I want to start here in Michigan, if I could have started in Chicago, I would have started in Illinois. I see me building my first center here in one of the worst cities for economic development. Then 3 years after I have been able to show profitability, and the economic impact, I have talked to franchisers, and franchisees as well as people who sell franchises, and people who franchise businesses, I want to be able to get that franchise disclosure agreement, and put everything in there where I can be able to talk to people about having the flexibility of running the centers how they want to, but also having that same structure that I have, because I am very flexible, so I think that everybody will like the structure that I have, and the company culture that I am hoping to create for Jump Ahead L3C.

But I see myself developing infrastructure in countries that do not have infrastructures in third world countries where they do not even have sewer systems, or renewable energy, or sustainable businesses, and so I see myself being in that company that goes across the country and helps them with the proper wages to be able to take care of themselves, because you know a lot of major companies here in the United States expands internationally, or globally, but then they pay the people the minimum, and not even minimum wage, but just the absolute minimum that they can, and they have all of the profits and do not even pour those profits back into those people, they just pour into the corporations, and the CEO’s and everybody at the high end.

I am willing to trickle down all of the profits and stuff like, of course I want to be able to keep some money for myself, because of all of the work that I had to do in order to build the corporation, but I am definitely not selfish, and I am willing to give more than I get to be honest.

Lior: Yes, I agree with that whole-heartedly. Can you please tell our listeners/readers where they can find you…well before we get to that, is there anything that we need to be looking out with you, because you do have so many projects going on?

Deandre: Be looking out for the NAACP Grand Rapids, I am on the Environmental Justice Committee, there is a Grand Rapids Climate Action Committee, so they are pushing for the reduction of carbon emission with the United States Green Building Council 2030. I got the NAACP Grand Rapids to get on there because there was not a lot of Black representation. I would sit through those meetings and would probably be 1 of 2 Black people there, I know that organization was willing to do the outreach to the Black community, but we need representatives in the Black community to do that education, because I know that more people are prone to listen.

So, be on the lookout for that, be on the lookout for me winning more awards, especially in the environmental sustainability space. I just had an interview with the West Michigan Sustainability Forum, they wanted to highlight me on Black excellence in Black History Month, and the work that I am doing. I have been getting a lot of highlights this year, the fruits of my labor are coming back 100- fold, and it has definitely been a confidence booster, also more appreciation for myself, loving myself more. Hopefully getting people to love themselves more, and inspiring people to chase their dreams, and to not be scared, and even if you are scared, do it scared.

Lior: I completely understand, that is so amazing. Please tell everybody how they can find you, and how they can donate to Jump Ahead?

Deandre: You can go to www.jumpedahead.com I will definitely need to get my website updated. But you will be able to go there in about a month or so, the donations page should be available by then. If you are in the city of Grand Rapids, you can go and buy a hat, I am hoping to expand into more stores and in other corporations. We donate the proceeds, so when I sold the 20 hats, and I made…when I started off with the hats, I spent $400, and I brought 40 hats or something like that, and I made my money back from the hats. We actually give the money back from what we sell to other non-profits that is doing workforce development, that is working on infrastructure, and systemic racism, and power and influence, and mental health, which is definitely a big thing in the Black community.

We give a percentage of the proceeds to non-profits that are doing the work that aligns with our visions, and goals.

Lior: Nice, that is so amazing. I am very inspired, and very proud of all that you are doing, and if I ever stop in Grand Rapids, I will definitely pick up a hat.

Deandre: You can find them in the Bridge Street Market, on the West side of Grand Rapids, eventually when I get more merchandise, and a little bit more funding I will definitely have more merchandise. I would like for people to be looking out for the collaboration that I will have with Champion. We will be putting our logo, and branding on Champion clothes, and it will look a lot cooler. I have not gotten any negative feedback on the new designs; I think that people will really like it.

Lior: Awesome! Well I am so honored and thank you so much for allowing us to do this interview with you. Can you remind the viewers where they can find you?

Deandre: You can find me on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter @jumpaheadL3C. You can go on the website, www.jumpedahead.com and you would like to have any merchandise, the hats are available at the Bridge Street Market, and I definitely hoping to expand. I have a connection where I am looking to see how I can expand to Africa. Africa has a lot more people than there are in the United States, and so I have a connection there and I am looking to eventually import, and export goods to Africa to be able to build up the economy there, and to have a footprint there.

Lior: Wow, very commendable. Thank you so much, again I appreciate you so much for allowing us to do this interview, and hopefully we can stay in touch.

Deandre: Yeah, I definitely appreciate you guys for interviewing me, because this is helping me to build my confidence…I am very confident, but this is a platform that I appreciate you guys letting me be on, I would like to keep in touch with you guys, especially with the process of me developing my corporation, and eventually I will be getting the funding, and buying the school, doing the renewable energy, putting in solar panels, geo-thermal, and just showing people that African Americans can honestly…I hate to say it, but African Americans can do it better than Caucasian people if we are given the opportunities to show that we can. I am not saying that in a bad way, but some people do not like to give us that resources for us to show what we can do.

I am one of those people that is pushing to show that we can do just as good or better than people, and I do not mean that in a bad way.

Lior: Understood, yeah maybe we can do a follow-up interview in a couple of months just to see how everything is going.

Deandre: I would like that. I know that I will be further along. I just got highlighted in For(bes) The Culture where I talked about some of these things, it is crazy, I got into Forbes last year, and now I got my highlight in For(bes) The Culture, I believe that they release their newsletters every Tuesday, so I will be the next member highlighted, and I am excited for that, and I will be able to illuminate my ideas, and the economic impact that I want to have in the city of Grand Rapids, in the state of Michigan, and eventually across the world.

Lior: Absolutely. Well congratulations, and we wish you the best of luck, and I am sure that we will be checking in with you in the next couple of months just to see how everything is going. In the meantime, thank you again, and we hope that you have an amazing night.

Deandre: Thank you, you guys too. Stay blessed and thank you for the platform that you guys have created, it is cool to meet people that create platforms, I see that you all have a great following of people. I actually know someone that you all highlighted, the men that created the first Black own brewery here in Grand Rapids, they have helped me with parts of my business, and have given me feedback. So, it was cool to see those guys on this platform too. So I am definitely liking the work that you all do, and the people that you have this platform.

Lior: Absolutely. We look forward to having so many more people like yourself.

Deandre: Thank you, I hope that there are a lot more D. Joneses. A lot of people tell me that we need more D. Joneses, I hope that Jump Ahead L3C creates those “D. Joneses” or the next whoever it is, I just want people to be the best version of themselves without having their creativity blocked.

Lior: You have been such an amazing guest, and as I said, I will be sure that we follow-up in the near future. I hope that you have an amazing future and a wonderful night.

Deandre: You too.