Meet Jalessah Jackson of Jackson & Marshall Consulting Group & The Black Mecca Project (TBMP) in Westview

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jalessah Jackson.

Jalessah, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I’ve been passionate about issues that impact marginalized communities for as long as I can remember. I was the only Black girl in my school growing up in a small rural town in southern Vermont, and my early experiences of racism propelled me into what will likely be a life-long commitment to eradicating oppression at various intersections. In high school I decided that I would study African American studies in college, and I received a lot of pushback primarily because people were unable to connect my course of study to how I’d find work after graduating. I went on to study Gender and Cultural studies in graduate school at Simmons University in Boston, MA all while single parenting and working full time. Soon after graduating, I was offered a teaching position at my alma mater, Kennesaw State University and that was the beginning of my teaching career, and when I first began exploring the possibilities of bringing what I teach in the classroom to both community as well as organizations through anti-oppression consulting.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It was an incredibly bumpy road. I came from a working-class family background, and I unexpectedly got pregnant with my daughter during my freshman year of college. I regularly found myself taking 15-18 credit hours and working as a server 40+ hours a week to support myself and my child. I had incredibly supportive friends who I now refer to as my daughter’s aunties. They would regularly offer to babysit for me, to hold space for me, and cheer me on so that I could finish school. All of this required community and I’m eternally grateful for my chosen family.

Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Jackson & Marshall Consulting Group & The Black mecca Project (TBmP) – what should we know?
Jackson & Marshall Consulting Group was founded in February of this year. We are a team of passionate, committed, and experienced educators dedicated to equity and social justice. With this shared vision, we have partnered to create systemic cultural and social change within agencies, organizations, and educational institutions. We offer a wealth of resources, workshops and consulting services, and scholarship grounded in advancing equity and social justice in schools, organizations, coalitions and communities. We’ve facilitated racial justice, gender justice, reproductive justice, and disability justice workshops and trainings. We also support program and curriculum development and design.

I’m also helping to launch of The Black Mecca Project (TBmP) – Atlanta’s Black liberation lab. TBmP serves as a platform and a resource for Black womxn (and our accomplices) to cultivate the conditions for Black liberation and self-determination in Atlanta, Georgia. TBmP offers a shared workspace, transformational workshops, communal healing activities, and event space to put our values into action.

I am known for the work that I do both in and outside of the classroom. I teach within the African and African Diaspora Studies program and the Gender and Women’s studies program at Kennesaw State University, and this past year, I lead SisterSong’s state and regional advocacy efforts to support mainstreaming the reproductive justice framework. I spent a lot of time at the Georgia State Capitol this past legislative session fighting back oppressive bills and advocating for self-determination of vulnerable communities.

I believe one of the things that sets me apart from others is my commitment to ongoing learning. I use a co-intentional approach to teaching and training that is borrowed from Brazilian educator, Paulo Freire “… Problem-posing education, breaking the vertical patterns characteristic of banking education, can fulfill its function of being the practice of freedom… through dialogue, the teacher-of-the-students and the students of the teacher cease to exist… the teacher is no longer merely the-one-who-teaches, but one who is him [or her] self-taught in dialogue with the students, who in their turn while being taught also teach. They become jointly responsible for a process in which all grow…”

Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
Success is relative. I feel that I have a purpose while I’m here. I am deeply committed to the collective liberation of all Black people, and in order for that to come to fruition, I must be grounded in my values, beliefs, love, and committed to ongoing political education. I also believe that one must be disciplined because our struggle toward freedom is not a sprint, it’s a marathon. Every day I recommit to the work.

Contact Info:

• Website: jmconsultinggroup.org
• Email: jalessah@jmconsultinggroup.org
• Instagram: jmconsultinggrp
• Facebook: jacksonmarshallconsulting
• Twitter: jmconsultinggrp

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