You’re originally from Florida, what brought you to Charlotte?
I came up for school at Davidson College in 1999 and had a chance to play football there. Actually this year is the 20th anniversary of our undefeated 2002 team. I loved it at Davidson and stayed in Charlotte ever since.
What experiences and studies at Davidson College helped shape your career path?
I was a Political Science major and Spanish minor. Learning another language had a big impact. Even more so, Davidson nurtured a mentality of service and instilled how much our community matters. Every time I’ve made changes personally and professionally, it’s been because of getting more proximate to problems and challenges that I might not experience personally, but a lot of Davidson people got me engaged. This goes back to volunteering with public libraries and helping start the Rock N’ Read 5K Race to raise funds for libraries after the 2008 recession. That led to involvement with Communities in Schools and public education. Davidson College, because we’re small and close-knit, is where I learned the most about engaging with the community.
Tell me about your work through the Circles Community.
Circles Community was informed by many personal experiences and discussions with a variety of people. After eight years in leadership development at the Center for Intentional Leadership, I gained knowledge around challenges in the public education system and broader community, particularly while working with Project LIFT. I saw residual effects of 400 years of oppression and lack of accountability in our nation for failing to confront the history of enslavement, sabotaging wealth creation, and intentionally concentrating poverty.
At the same time, I started meeting once a month with two friends, one Black and one White. Our time together brought me more proximate to others’ experiences and things I otherwise might not know as a White male in America. Even though I grew up around different dimensions of diversity, I realized if we’re not in regular conversation with each other then we miss opportunities to discuss our feelings and experiences, day to day.
The Circles Community is grounded in connection, creativity, and courage and was born from a desire to remove barriers to change. It is a community of creators, changemakers, and caring humans. We operate under the philosophy of Ubuntu—that I’m only a person through other people. The sooner we cast a new vision of what we’re capable of the more we might enjoy everyday life.
The Circles Community is unlocking potential through connection and creativity. I partner with a violinist, recording artist and rapper, called LP7. Our signature offering is the two-day Catalyst experience. Through small and large group dialogue, inspiring film clips, writing, poetry and music, we bring together people with different backgrounds to unlock new possibilities that lead to change. We believe the more people are speaking, sharing, and creating with each other the more we become an interconnected community and move society forward. We ultimately want a world where everyone feels at home.
What’s your happy place and why?
My happy place is in the morning. I have a practice where every day I write some poetry, but I start with three Morning Pages, a practice from Julia Cameron’s book, “The Artist’s Way.” I put on some good headphones and listen to beautiful music, mostly classical. It’s cello. It’s violin. It’s piano from various cultures. When I listen to that music, away from a computer, using a fountain pen or pencil to write from the soul level I am at most in my happy place. It’s the power of connecting at the soul. Writing and poetry does that for me.
What stirred your interest in poetry, and how and why does it serve as a form of expression for you?
I had traveled to Paris for a writing course. Of all the things I was learning, the thing that felt most natural to me was writing letters to words. I’d write these snippets that I didn’t recognize as poetry. During this time, I attended an event where a pianist had individuals read aloud a passage from something meaningful to them and she’d play the piano. I read a piece I’d written, titled “I See You”—which is the essence of Circle—and she said, “Jon, you’re a poet.” And I said, “What?!”
That was less than a year ago, and I had never thought of myself as a poet. I have kept writing and creating. I feel a calling to write and now it’s my most natural state. Sometimes it rhymes, sometimes it doesn’t. My writing dates back to fifth grade when I won 3rd place in a writing contest with a piece about my grandfather. He was one of the first people in my life who saw me and was a champion for me. But I didn’t pay attention to my writing practice for almost 30 years. Now that I have re-connected to it, I absolutely love it.
