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Speech Transcript

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L. Scott Ferguson: Time to shine today. Podcast versus squad. This is Scott Ferguson and those that know me, , I reside in South Florida, but I have roots in Detroit and I decided that I really need to kind of reach out to somebody that I haven’t spoke to in a long time. I’ve known this person for almost 30 years.

Kind of grew up in our youth together and had a lot of fun, but are also our lines as we got older, ran parallel lifelines kind of ran parallel. We both lost. Our little siblings we both built businesses and she’s got a a program or a company, nonprofit company called the Dre Project. And it’s basically an homage to her little sister that she lost.

She’s feeding a lot of the homeless in Detroit Michigan. And what the huge heart that my good friend Jennifer Jackson or JJ has is above reproach. She’s so giving, so outgoing. Although like myself, , we’re, we kind of are introverts, but we also can get out there and get after it when we need [00:01:00] to.

She dropped some serious life lessons or knowledge nuggets that can really help you see things as you transition out of dark periods. And she gives steps in how she did it. And it’s basically kind of a master class and really working through life and flourishing even after the worst tragedy. So Without further ado, here’s my really good friend, Jennifer J.

J. Jackson. Let’s level up.

Time to shine today. Podcast Varsity Squad. This is Scott Ferguson. I’ve been over the moon stoked to bring this guest on literally we go back. We were talking off my 28 years. We, we probably threw back a few brain grenades back in the day and ate a lot of chicken wings and just, , watched our Detroit feeling teams fail a lot in and laugh about it and had a lot of late night funds and laughs.

And just now, like, both of us have went through a lot of turmoil with losing siblings, but never let it kind of stop us from giving back and leveling up our life. And again, it’s Jennifer [00:02:00] Jackson, JJ. , she’s, there’s a Detroit squad, which I’m rocking the city here. If you’re watching Vimeo or YouTube , it’s kind of like the people won’t they down here on the East coast of Florida, everyone smacks me in the face, Detroit pizza, whatever.

Cause we’re New York and stuff. I’m like, listen, just try it. And they love it. But , her family is involved deeply with the big three. There was a hungry Howie’s little Caesars and dominoes, which I’m sure everybody’s heard of those, but they all come out of the city of Detroit. But, Jennifer’s father, JJ’s father had a lot to do with the hungry Howie’s in which got her involved in the company since she was like 10 years old, helping out at stores, helping out in the corporate office, summer vacations.

She started I believe in probably 1998 as an employee as the fundraising coordinator and was promoted in the year 2000 and named vice president of development. Again, going back to we both lost siblings, she’s lost her little sister, Dre. And basically, so she was really moved by that. She was lost for a good five, six years, but she got moved [00:03:00] to start the Dre project in 2020.

And what they do is they stock pantries and families veterans and the homeless people that really in need in Metro Detroit, my roots. And I, again, Jen and I go way back. We’re probably going to maybe share a few stories. Well, we just had a ton of fun. I mean, she’s absolutely still stunning. Just a beautiful soul inside and out.

And Jen, thank you so much for coming out. Please introduce yourself to the time to shine today. Podcast varsity squad. But I got to ask you first. What’s your favorite color? Oh,

J.J. Jackson: purple,

L. Scott Ferguson: purple,

J.J. Jackson: purple. I’m a purple girl. I actually even have my purple Air Jordans to wear today.

L. Scott Ferguson: And squad today is April 25th, which is not going to air today.

But the draft is in the next year’s super bowl champion, Detroit lions territory here. I swear, Jen, like I would get laughed out the door, like just three years ago. I’m saying, I’m like, we’re on the right track.

J.J. Jackson: I know, listen, we all did,

L. Scott Ferguson: , it just, it just seems like, because again, Detroit really is known as the big three for [00:04:00] Chrysler, General Motors and Ford, but it looks like Dan Campbell walked right off the line at one of the big three grabbed a clipboard and just walked out to the football field.

Doesn’t he? I mean, he’s a handsome man, but he looks like gruff and like, Like ready to rock, right? He

J.J. Jackson: is. And you can tell he loves the city. The city loves him and the city’s needed something like this for a long time. So.

L. Scott Ferguson: Well, speaking of the city. And our roots and stuff. Let’s get back to a little bit of the roots of, of Jennifer, , ’cause I know you are always driven, but again, you and I really known each other off the clock when we were young.

We were 21 to 24 years old. Right, right. The best years . So the best years, . But , it’s funny because some of my, sometimes I ask a question, if you can go back time, where would you go just to observe, but come back to today. And I would always say there’s a really good kegger in like 1995 or 96

This is from the night that. But yeah, also

J.J. Jackson: nineties for a blast.

L. Scott Ferguson: Yeah. And squad, both Jen and I are followers of Christ. We’re unabashedly. So God is our light. God is our [00:05:00] spirit. So, and, and I’m, I’m glad that we both walked that walk, but Joe, let’s get to the roots a little bit. Let’s let’s get rocking and rolling and kind of where you’re from, kind of coming up through the business world.

And also. To what happened to kind of really start this awesome, the, the Dre project.

J.J. Jackson: Sure. Absolutely. Well, , being in the pizza industry, I kind of grew up and started in the stores at 10 years old. I actually, when I was super little, wanted to go to work with my dad all the time, because he would go at night and I never understood why he would leave.

And so I always wanted to go with him. And one day he just to kind of shut me up. I was like, all right, when you’re 10, well, my birthday is in August. So I was so excited on my 10th birthday. I came running downstairs and I was like, let’s go. And he’s like, what are you talking about? And I’m like, you said we can go, I can go work in the stores.

And he’s like, oh my gosh. So we went to store two. I remember my uncle was there and he, they were like help, helping me take orders and making the pizzas. And it [00:06:00] was so, so fun. And then flash forward. I just. Kind of grew up doing that most of my life, went to college to be in the pizza business to come back and, kind of jump into the family business and, and move forward.

And I did that for probably about 20 some years. In that interim, I lost my sister in 2013 and pretty much just went to the dark side at that point. I had been raised Catholic but I had always thought I was a really bad Catholic, my whole. whole life and went to Catholic schools and just always thought that I was in trouble.

And so I, I really struggled with Catholicism. And then when I lost my sister, I was like, this is all crap. Nothing exists. It’s, , it’s just a lie. And so I actually, in 2018, my daughter had an exchange student here from Paris and I had been wanting my daughter to go to this non denominational church and so.

Finally, because the exchange student [00:07:00] was there, they were all like, Hey, let’s take the girls to church. So we went in, I had seven 15 year old girls with me in Kensington and I sat down

L. Scott Ferguson: and

J.J. Jackson: I started sobbing and literally like, I felt like the, the priest was talking to me and that really just became like my full Awareness of realizing that I was wrong and that there was something and I just needed to look into it more.

So that kind of started my journey was that day walking into Kensington.

L. Scott Ferguson: So it was five years after Dre passed.

J.J. Jackson: It was, yeah.

L. Scott Ferguson: Gotcha. It’s almost kind of like you write a lot in her bio and. Other things you’ve written. It’s like, she still has quite an impact on you, but I want to kind of go back and hear about kind of the big sister, little sister dynamic that you guys had.

, growing up.

J.J. Jackson: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, she was my best friend. We were three years apart. , when [00:08:00] we grew up, my dad wasn’t this, , big pizza guru, right? He was getting into the pizza business. And so , we grew up and, , blue collar family and Canton and, , just had a great time and hung out with all of our friends and, , didn’t really start to get into the real pizza world until like high school.

And so, , we just. Had an awesome childhood of playing outside and, , we had a pool in our backyard and I swear back then it was like the whole neighborhood where your friends, right? Like you were outside, outside every day. I mean, from summing up to sum down and we had a big park in our backyard and we would just run around that and just had so many friends.

And so my sister and I grew up super, super close. My brother too, , he was six years younger than me. So we grew up a really, really. really tight, close knit family. And , it just we were the best of friends. So we were just always a really good close grip grip group.

L. Scott Ferguson: Did she kind of worship JJ a little [00:09:00] bit?

J.J. Jackson: No, she didn’t. And that’s what was so great. We were complete like opposites, right? So between like, I would say my brother and I probably got along more and my sister and I didn’t, and my sister and my brother didn’t write, she was a total typical middle child. Always causing problems. , I was the overachiever, I was the perfect one.

I never wanted my mom to be mad or anybody to be upset. , she was the one that was always doing stuff. And then we had, , the baby that was, that was the boy. So he can never did wrong either. I

L. Scott Ferguson: was just going to say,

J.J. Jackson: he can do no wrong, ever. Even today. Yeah. I know that. So. Yeah, so it was just kind of, , it was fun.

It was different back then. It’s so different than these kids have now.

L. Scott Ferguson: So, during that kind of five years, between 2013 and 18, And you’re kind of in that fog and I’ve been there, which we talked off the mic and other my listeners out there know about my story with that, but like, [00:10:00] what was that time like?

J.J. Jackson: Yeah.

L. Scott Ferguson: Like, what do you remember from it?

J.J. Jackson: It’s like, what do you, what do you allow yourself to remember? Sure, sure. Yeah, no, I mean, it was very tragic. We got a phone call that she was unconscious and she was in LA at the time living, cause she was in the film industry. And so we had all jump on a plane and get out there.

And once we got out there, we had to make the decision to take her off life support. And, , it was a, it was a really, really trying time for my family. Like it would be for anybody’s family. I felt like it was a complete dream. I mean, from the time I got the phone call. All until probably that time I walked into Kensington completely seems like a blur.

Like it just, it was a lot of darkness for me. It was just a lot of like, why would God do these things? Like, that was where I just got to the point where it was, , I was a single mom. My daughter loved my sister more than anything. And so [00:11:00] that I struggled with why would God do this to my family and, and hurt us in this?

Particular way. And so instead of dealing with it, I chose not to deal with it. Right. I just pushed it down. And the more you push it down, the deeper and deeper into that darkness that you’re going to go and you just take everybody with you. And, it was hard as my family was there too, right?

We were all in the darkness and then it was , my mom popped out real fast cause she’s a very, very strong Christian, but she’s not it took me five years, I’m not sure if my dad and my brother are out yet, , but it’s kind of just a journey that you kind of all have to go through together.

And at one point, and it’s funny that you say, cause you reminded me, I did write something. It was actually, I think in 2019, I had woke up because I had realized I stopped counting the days that it had been that I lost my sister. And I was like, Oh my gosh. Cause if you remember that you’re like, Oh, I made it a week.[00:12:00]

I made it a month. I made it a year, ? So I would keep those days. And then all of a sudden it was like, how many days has it been? How did I stop counting? And guilty, guilty, like what am I doing? And that really kind of took me into an area to look at. would she want me living like this? Like she would not want me doing this.

Like she was the life of the party. Like she was a tornado. We called her, like she would come into a room and it would just be like, totally like take control of the entire room, flip it upside down and then leave. And none of us knew what hit us, ? And it was just like, I made me realize that she had this light that She would just spread everywhere she went, like, I mean, that was another thing that was incredible.

The amount of people that were at her funeral, right? Where you’re like, the amount of lives that she touched. That’s what started to come [00:13:00] into my memory as I kind of started to come out of the darkness and realize that, yeah. Yeah, the world is a dark place, right? We’re here. It’s a dark place. We’re up and down all the time, but it’s what we do with our time here.

L. Scott Ferguson: Yeah.

J.J. Jackson: And would she want me sitting here and crying? She wouldn’t. She’d want me to celebrate. And so I need to start

L. Scott Ferguson: it. That’s, I mean, like, I don’t ever, I know maybe you don’t, but I don’t want you to ever sell yourself short because right. Yeah. When we all hung out you were kind of that person too.

J.J. Jackson: Really? Yeah, see I’d love to hear that cuz I don’t remember because

L. Scott Ferguson: Right, but you would be like, oh, where’s Jen or , where’d she go? Like seriously, that’s I remember that about you I remember I journal about it, , but and that was almost 30 years ago. So you did mention something that , life is not extinguished.

It just transitions, right? So you mentioned a lot about the dark, you mentioned a lot, , about that time, like when [00:14:00] you went to Kensington, okay. You, you, you had the emotional it kind of hit you like, what did you start doing after that time to really honor Dre and yourself and your family? But what was the steps that you started doing?

Cause this I’ll tell you, JJ, this can help somebody. That is in that dark time coming out.

J.J. Jackson: Absolutely. No, it can’t. It can. And that’s why I try to tell my story and talk to as many people just to know that, , they’re not alone, that we all are in that darkness. And sometimes the most unexpected person around us is going to be the light.

And we just need that spark of that light. Right. So from hearing you, I guess I did have that light all along. I just lost it for a really long time. Right. And so it was walking back into Kensington kind of re ignited that light. So my journey started super easy, right? I, I. I literally would make myself go to Kensington every week.

That was the first step. And that’s probably [00:15:00] all I did for a while. And I probably didn’t even go every week at that point, if I want to be honest with myself. And I just kind of started the journey, but then I started listening more at Kensington and they had classes that you could take or courses that you could do.

So I took like the. The alpha course, which was like answer, get all these questions answered about Jesus. And so I met in these small groups and started just really talking more about it. I then actually took a training class was called live training, and it was all about trying to figure out.

Almost like what your own superpowers are and what you’re good at and what you can take into. And again, this was all through Kensington, so it was really evaluating to look into your hands and see what you already have in your hands that you are good with. So I knew I was good with food. I knew I was good with helping people and I just, where could I [00:16:00] start from there?

So I actually started with kids in the three, four, five year olds. And I still teach them to this day because they’re my peeps. I love that age, but it was like just getting into it because I was really scared. Like I had always felt I was this horrible Catholic and that, , I was always, so I was very hesitant.

Going back down this road of being into another system of, of faith, because I, what if I wasn’t good at it? Right. I had screwed up Catholicism so bad I could screw this one up too. And I had, now I was an adult and all these people were looking at me, right. And I was active in the church. And so it just kind of all happened.

COVID hit and I I saw, so I actually went and saw Mitch Albom. Talk in 2020 of February, right before COVID hit I had grown up in the hungry Howie system. And , I just, I never was really super happy. Like I made it [00:17:00] my passion. I always was there. I did everything that I could. I wanted to be involved, but it was just always kind of like, now what, like, what else is there to do?

So when COVID hit, I had a lot of, people in my church at Hensington start losing family members. And one of my girlfriends had started up a catering business. And so it was this funny, I don’t cook whatsoever. I literally don’t even boil water. And so I would have to go to my girlfriends every day to pick up food during COVID because she would be making these home cooked meals.

So I started picking up extra ones for families that I knew that had sick, like, Unexpected losses, specifically when one girlfriend at Kensington lost both of her mom and dad to COVID within like four weeks and they were in Atlanta and she kept having to go back and forth and they had kids and so I started like throwing, , dropping some meals off at her [00:18:00] house and then it just kind of escalated from there.

And by the end of. Of 2020, my girlfriend was like, I think I was raising funds to deliver like 18 meals a week at that time. And my girlfriend’s like, you got to incorporate this, like, just do something out of it. 2020 was such a horrible year. I’m going to force you to incorporate it because I want you to do something with this.

And I was like, okay. We incorporated January 4th of 2021 and it just kind of exploded from there. The ball just started rolling. When we first started, we were serving two home cooked meals a week for up to 12 weeks to families that were grieving.

L. Scott Ferguson: So

J.J. Jackson: if they had heads, because that’s where my, my, my niche was, right.

 What it’s like when you have that. After the funeral and everybody goes back to life and you’re sitting there like what life is there to go back to you, right? You just kind of start [00:19:00] going through the motions. You don’t even know that you’re getting up and driving your kids to school and doing things, right?

Your body’s just going through stuff. And what is the easiest thing right there is to be able to walk in with a couple home cooked meals for these families. Like it gave them just kind of the hope, ? Like I’ll never remember this one guy had lost his wife and he had like three young girls and I kept dropping off to him.

And finally I was like, how’s it going, Bill? And he was like, well, just day by day, Jen. And I was like, that’s awesome. Because number one, it was minute by minute.

L. Scott Ferguson: There was

J.J. Jackson: that it’s almost like that survival mode where you don’t even think you can get through that. And so again, it was just kind of be in that beacon.

And so we got up, we were serving 220 meals a week when my chef was like, I am done.

L. Scott Ferguson: When you say 220, is that total meals or is that. per day or like, that was,

J.J. Jackson: that was 220 individual meals per [00:20:00] week that we were doing. Yeah. So granted, some of them would be like four to a family or absolutely. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

But it was, it was a lot. And so we actually also started to pivot into the underserved areas. Real quick. How

L. Scott Ferguson: did you fund this?

J.J. Jackson: I did it through friends and family. I literally did a Facebook Fundra fundraiser when I first started. I was paying out of pocket for myself. It’s so

L. Scott Ferguson: badass, dude. Wow.

J.J. Jackson: Well, I just wanted to help people and I always, at that point, I was really into Kensington.

I know that we’re supposed to tithe, right? So I was just tithing the money that I was spending on these. Meals into my donation, , on tracking and saying, this is what I’m giving people. And and then I did a Facebook fundraiser and then once I incorporated, I actually had a huge kickoff in January of.

2021. I rented out social in Birmingham. We partnered with them and we did a big [00:21:00] event. We raised 50, 000 that first night. That’s awesome. And that kind of just set us up and we’ve been going nonstop ever since.

L. Scott Ferguson: Amazing. Amazing. So who, who would be a great. Like introduction for you. If I was networking, press and flash or whatnot, like, , what is somebody saying that would be like a really good introduction or referral to the Dre project?

J.J. Jackson: So the Dre project delivers groceries and a home cooked meal, the family’s facing hardship. So with that being said, we will deliver to. Anyone that comes to our website, we first originally partnered with humble design Detroit, which I’m a huge fan of humble design. They are interior decorators that furnish the homes of families that are transitioning from homelessness.

And they literally staged the home, like an extreme home makeover and like four hours. It is the coolest. thing you ever [00:22:00] see. So I had been wanting to hook up with, with humble and I finally did. And so at that time we pivoted from doing the fresh, the home cooked meals and we did the groceries. So we came up with 60 pounds of groceries that we deliver that would be good for like anybody’s transitioning to start your, your new home, right?

Flour, sugar condiments, , just all those necessary things that you’d need to be able to prepare meals. meals for your family. And then I still have my chef. So we still provide a home cooked meal alongside of that. And so we actually partnered with humble design, I think in 2022 of May and of 2022, in the first year, we did 91 houses alongside humble design.

L. Scott Ferguson: And

J.J. Jackson: then last year in 2023. We did 151 houses with Humble Design, but we did 263 houses, a total on our [00:23:00] own. So once I partnered with Humble and realized that we had this need that we could fulfill, I started reaching out to like social workers and stuff. Cause I thought, how many people are still securing, transitioning to homelessness, don’t have Humble Design coming in, they can still get that.

So we did that and then we started getting calls from nonprofits that serve cancer patients and they’re like, would you be willing to serve our cancer families? Absolutely. Listen, we deliver one time, so we’ll deliver to anyone. So if people are having a hardship, they go to our website, but if they’re facing cancer, if they just lost their job, we don’t really ask any questions.

So we’ve stayed private fundraising because I went to go into the grant process. And guess what? You’re restricted on who you can serve when you take grants. So you got to stay private then, or to make it work the way you want it to work. Yeah. We’ve got two more years to get into our public charity [00:24:00] status so we’re going to just keep crushing it until then.

And, and just partnering with individuals that really people helping people and want to give back in their community. I hope that man, what you’re doing is just, it’s unbelievable. It’s like, it’s not unbelievable. It’s just, it’s fricking amazing, John. Yeah. Well, and I know it’s my sister, right? So now it’s like, I see this light and we used to laugh that she like had this wounded bird syndrome that she would like always.

be like taking people in and I’m like, and now look, right. But again, we go in and we help people in their time of need. And I, I, I can’t help but look at it as being like Jesus now, like I had the ability to, , going to Kensington, I had the ability to meet Jesus and being able to have that face to face and know I’m going to walk with him gave me that ability that, , What?

He’s not going to always be here, but the poor is always going to be with us. And so we need to take care of them.

L. Scott Ferguson: I love it. And I, and again, I’m not saying you’re selling yourself short, [00:25:00] but there’s aspects that Dre had that shine because she was the middle child. You had a ton of pressure on you as the older child.

You couldn’t let that side out as much, what I’m saying? Good grades, this, this, this. You had to be the model. Again, your little baby brother could do no wrong. Like, she just let the hell shine. I think it’s naturally coming out of you and maybe she, obviously she kind of motivated that through you, jj, but let me, let me ask you something.

You, you seen the movie Back to the Future, of course, right? Come on. It’s gonna be 40 years old. I didn’t sink because I don’t even, you and I, I mean, I

J.J. Jackson: think I’ve saw it. I must have saw it just recently then. ,

L. Scott Ferguson: right? Wink, wink, right. So. Let’s get in that DeLorean with Marty McFly, right? Let’s go back to the double deuce the 22 year old Jennifer What would you say to her not so much to change anything because our journey is our journey But maybe to help her shorten a learning curve or blast through maybe just a little bit quicker

J.J. Jackson: So I use our core values, which are dream big, be [00:26:00] resilient and have empathy, because that’s the one thing I always go back and tell that little girl.

Because you’re right. We kind of get in life and we get caught up of who we’re supposed to be. And we get in our own heads and we go, go. And I actually just started listening to everybody else. Right. And it took me a long time to finally realize, , what When I started to do the Dre Project and started to kind of take a backseat from, , how he’s with my dad, , he’s like, What are you doing?

L. Scott Ferguson: You

J.J. Jackson: know, why are you doing this? And it’s like, I don’t know, , most people thought I was crazy. Well, here she is having her midlife crisis, , , And it was like, well, I just realized it’s in giving that I receive, and I love helping these people. Like, I love it. Like, it’s actually hard.

I have a ton of volunteers, and so I’m really, really blessed. So I don’t get to deliver a lot anymore. So I love it when I do, because it’s just being able to go in there, because The families that we’re delivering to are so gracious. They’re [00:27:00] so happy. We don’t ask questions, , they call us. We have a short conversation.

We want their, , their address and how many people live in their household. And then we’re going to deliver them. We deliver 60. 60 pounds of dry goods, a home cooked meal. And we most recently added our birthday kits, which is a birthday pan with ingredients cake mix, frosting, candles, like streamers, balloons, those little blow things.

And then. I learned this this year, you can utilize a can of Sprite in a cake mix instead of milk and sugar or milk and flour or the water. And it will replace it. So we include a can of Sprite in it. So then we have kids assemble them and they make cards and stuff. And so every family is now getting this birthday kit to be able to have a birthday.

L. Scott Ferguson: That’s fantastic.

J.J. Jackson: Who shouldn’t have a party?

L. Scott Ferguson: Right. Everybody. Everybody should be. Yes. I love the acknowledgement that you’re showing. So what do you think, JJ, that [00:28:00] people misunderstand the most about you?

J.J. Jackson: I think that for the most part, people just think I got to where I was because of who I was. Right.

It’s just like, Oh, well, it’s easy for you. And I kind of see that when, as I got into the nonprofit world, but what, I’m so blessed by it. Transcribed Because the nonprofit world is not so organized and getting into it with having this full business background. I look at things so differently.

Like we’ve been very sustainable, like we got our 501c3 approval before we took step two. , a lot of people, it just kind of falls into place and they’re scrambling and doing all of it. And it’s like, how did I get here? Where I’ve been very strategic. And so, , we started with the CRM program, , we’ve got already a thousand people in there.

We’re able to communicate with people, , we’ve got easy volunteer programs and kind of being able to build this machine because I almost see the Dre project. Becoming this like network of all [00:29:00] nonprofits and because I’m just trying to pull a lot of them to work together. Because if we can house the homes and or we can, , put furniture in the homes and we can feed the homes.

I also do recently just park Or partnered with the Easter Seals Mork. So if we can provide, , mental and physical or disability issue or information. And then I also do the New Hope Center for Grief. Like again, provide, we’re providing all of these resources to families to be able to give them.

Yes. Yeah. I facilitate. Yes. Yeah.

L. Scott Ferguson: She, they, she helped me a ton. Yeah.

J.J. Jackson: They’re a great resource. I just finished facilitating an eight week grief court workshop with them on Monday. I still do that twice a year. And I do an ongrowing group with them virtually every first and third Tuesday of the month.

That’s

L. Scott Ferguson: amazing. Time to shine today.

Podcast varsity squad. We are back and JJ. You and I could talk 15, 20 minutes about each one of these questions, but today you [00:30:00] have five seconds with no explanations. I promise you love. They can all be answered that way. Okay. You ready to level up? I’m ready. Here we go. JJ, what is the best leveling up advice you’ve ever received?

J.J. Jackson: Trust yourself. Yes. Share one of your personal habits that contributes to your success.

I say I read the Bible in a year every single morning and do my Bible study before I even get out of bed and set all my armor on for the day to be able to move forward. That’s

L. Scott Ferguson: beautiful. Well, so you might see me, maybe I’m in my doldrums walking down the street or something.

You’re like, Fergie, what book might you hand me to level me up?

J.J. Jackson: Oh, so I’m trying to think. I just read Atomic Habit.

L. Scott Ferguson: Oh, James Clear. He’s actually a friend of mine. That’s awesome. Oh my gosh, yeah. So, your most commonly used emoji when you text?

J.J. Jackson: The love emoji. So, it’s the heart ones, right? The smiley face with the hearts around it.

L. Scott Ferguson: Love it. So, I have to ask you this. If you could be one age Physically, [00:31:00] physically for the rest of your life,

J.J. Jackson: keep the

L. Scott Ferguson: knowledge you’ve garnered and continue to gain knowledge. But physically, what would you be? 45. All right. Like any hidden talent or superpower that you have that no one knows about until now?

J.J. Jackson: I, my superpowers love. So like, if I, if I love you, I will love you forever.

L. Scott Ferguson: Just checkers or monopoly.

J.J. Jackson: Oh my God. All of the above.

L. Scott Ferguson: Okay. Very cool. Headline for your life.

J.J. Jackson: Dream big. Yes.

L. Scott Ferguson: Go to ice cream flavor.

J.J. Jackson: Mint chocolate chip.

L. Scott Ferguson: Awesome. So there’s the, there’s a sandwich called the JJ Dre. Build that sandwich for me.

What’s on it?

J.J. Jackson: Peanut butter and jelly.

L. Scott Ferguson: Right on. I love this. And So, okay. Is there any other charity organization you like to give your time or money to?

J.J. Jackson: I do it through, with Kensington, the New Hope Center for Grief Easter Seals Mark, the New Day [00:32:00] Foundation, which is Families Facing Cancer. I, I have a hard time saying no to any of them.

L. Scott Ferguson: Me too, I feel ya. And last question, you can elaborate on this one a little bit, but what’s the best decade of music? 60s, 70s, 80s, or 90s?

J.J. Jackson: Totally the 80s, 80s girl. I love it. Everything happened in the 80s. Oh my God. It was the best. I mean,

L. Scott Ferguson: , the introduction of rap with Run DMC and LL Cool J, the invasion from you to invasion from Duran Duran culture club.

And then you have big hair don’t care. It’s like everything was in our year. It is. It was incredible. JJ, how can we find you love?

J.J. Jackson: You can find us on the dray project. org. We are on Instagram. We are on Facebook and we also are on LinkedIn.

L. Scott Ferguson: So the dray project. So it’s T H E D R E project. org. I love it.

And not so getting into the about page. It’s just, there’s so much in there. She had me moved when I read a lot through that. And so give me one last favor, [00:33:00] JJ, and leave us with one last knowledge nugget. , something good that we can take with us. internalize and take action.

J.J. Jackson: My biggest thing is always believing in yourself and really trusting your gut instinct. I think for so many years, I was so concerned of what everybody else thought about me and who I was supposed to be, that it took me a really long time to realize that I didn’t have to be who everybody else thought.

It wanted me to be. So what’s super funny is a lot of people would think that I’m an extrovert. I’m a trained extrovert. I’m a total introvert. They know, but they don’t believe it at me either. But it’s like, it’s just, again, I can go into any situation and turn it on. And I guess maybe that’s a good thing, but I’m the best at being JJ, right?

I’ve reinvented myself a million times and just keep doing that. And once you hit rock. bottom, just ask for forgiveness and turn around and keep going because it’s a journey. It’s a [00:34:00] life. It’s our, our our own path and we each just got to live it every day.

L. Scott Ferguson: I love that. And , I mean, two years resolutions every year since Tommy killed himself.

Right. One is make someone smile every day. Yes. And two. Unless I’ve hurt you, disrespect you, owe you, or judge you, I give zero what’s about what you think about me.

J.J. Jackson: Absolutely. Because I

L. Scott Ferguson: can’t. Once I stopped that, I started serving so many people. So much. The people that needed to be served. Yes.

And I’m also open to reciprocation. Yeah. And also for it as well.

J.J. Jackson: Right. Well, it’s the stopping the judging. I think that’s the biggest thing with people. Sure. And it’s kind of funny because a lot of people that think they’re not judging, then all of a sudden you’re like, Wasn’t that judging? And then they’re like, Oh, it’s like, why do you care?

L. Scott Ferguson: Yeah, absolutely. And squad we, I just had like a really fun kind of reminiscing, but also a jump forward conversation with a good friend, JJ here who really got started, , making her bones at age 10, like going with, [00:35:00] with Steve or, , Her dad to the hungry Howies and getting it done. She dropped so many like knowledge nuggets.

That’s really resonating with me. Like life is not extinguished no matter how dark it is. Just remember that it just, it transitions. I mean, when you, when the day starts, it’s midnight and it’s dark and you still don’t have daylight for six hours, but you’re not just going to not live that, that daylight’s coming when you are, , insemination happens.

You’re in a dark womb for nine months. Okay, and certain things have got to happen to that gestation period which means, The mom had to eat right and do the right things and stay healthy for a healthy baby to come out into the light So if you’re in that dark place don’t resort back to doing dark things get know the light’s coming It’s going to come but the more you can that gestation period that you can fertilize it that you can water it It’s going to happen Okay, and another thing I picked up from from JJ is that inch by inch is a cinch, by the [00:36:00] yard It’s hard.

She started doing things little by little one family by one family She wants you to really lean into your superpower in your values because everybody has them And JJ wants you to really really lean into that, , she wants you to dream big , be resilient and have empathy. I mean, that’s something that I know that she lives with.

I work for that every day. And lastly, really believe in yourself. Your instincts are rarely wrong. So really lean into that. And I’m so blessed that I’m, , associated and have a friendship with my good friend, JJ. She levels up her health. She levels up her wealth. She’s still stunning. She’s so much fun.

I can’t wait to get up to Detroit and do a little collaboration or even volunteer and drop off some meals and stuff. So thank you so much for coming on JJ. Absolutely love your guts.

J.J. Jackson: Oh my gosh, this has been absolutely incredible. Thank you so much for having me. It’s been a blast. I’ve loved catching up with you and I can’t wait to hang out soon.

L. Scott Ferguson: Bye.

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