About The Author: Hey Y'all Jason here

So I don’t think I’ve done this yet, a full piece about me in context to The Wave, but the timing seems fitting. It’s early in the year, some of you may be new here and I’m refreshing my website and blog www.jasonfromthewave.com and these pieces will live there in addition to other writings that don’t fit here (ratchet experiences, event reviews etc, I’ll link them here anyway). I identify as Jason from The Wave but Jason Kelley has been a lot of things over the years, let’s get into it.

My WHY is US. I was about 9 when I realized that Black people needed space and things to do. I’m now 39 and since I was 19 my life has always revolved around Black community. I went to a high school for hippies, nerds and negroes in Richmond called Open High school and the focus was community. Our homerooms were “families,” everyone went by first names from the principal to the janitor and we’d do school wide service efforts. My father was also a local elementary school teacher, so community is a value ingrained since the beginning of my life.

In college I was Jason From Mason from my first day on campus. I was THE Black guy at my PWI and as the brochure Black bro, I was the orientation guy, the RA, the bartender and I worked for every office that could push money to Black stuff, I was an Alpha at 19 doing service work (in addition to NAACP, BSA and our campus-specific Black stuff). In my PWI, we built our entire Black community experience and it was there I learned that individuals can create memorable group experiences that last beyond the individual.

I lived in Atlanta from 2008 to 2015 and in that time community for me became digital and physical. I was a CNN tour guide, pitching Black stories at CNN.com and interviewing video models at Hiphopwired.com by day and an underling promoter at Black owned bars by night.

Since 15’ I’ve been in DC and since 17’ everything I do centers around Black business, Black communities and Black entrepreneurship. My goal is to be wealthy from serving Black people, not because I hate anybody else (I even have white family members), they just don’t need my energy and effort.

Professionally, I’m on my 5th life. Currently, I do whatever it takes for a living and operate multiple companies to do so. I do consulting, experiential marketing, graphic design and a bunch of other things. In my prior lives my favorites things were in my jobs in Atlanta because the CNN work inspired the business of The Wave and the events helped refine my events. I also was acting back then, look close and you’ll see me in some Tyler Perry movies lol.

Personally, I’m my ancestor’s wildest dreams. I’m from Richmond, where my parents met at Virginia Union with my greater family being from Philly and Chicago. I do a lot of the things my family members did, but well and for money, including partying, traveling and making clothes. Nothing I do is actually unique to me, last year at a family BBQ, I met a little cousin in Philly who throws illegal rave parties for thousands of people every year. They’re proud of what I do and my dad’s sign off for me is, keep the party going.

I’m special and not at all. So here’s the thing, if I don’t do what I do, the world is more boring. I also know 15 other people across the country who do similar things with similar impact and we have similar journeys and every community needs all of us. In general, every person has gifts and purpose and we need all of them to make the world better. I’m well aware of mine and I’ll keep pushing forward with full awareness that I’m special in my purpose, but not more than you in yours.

I’ll see you outside!