We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Dr. Jessica Reed-Thomas. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Dr. Jessica below.
Dr. Jessica, so good to have you with us today. We’ve always been impressed with folks who have a very clear sense of purpose and so maybe we can jump right in and talk about how you found your purpose?
I believe purpose has an evolutionary quality within it, because it should evolve as the individual grows, experiences life and completes various chapters in their life. Although one’s purpose may change based on the chapter they are living at the moment, or their circumstance or current calling, the theme however I believe can still be the same. Therefore, my thematic purpose has been service. I have watched people in my life show acts of selflessness, unconditional service and dedication to causes dear to their heart and community. I have watched how those individuals have illuminated their life and found joy in helping others with authenticity and without expectation of return. Therefore, I have adopted that as the theme of my life’s purpose.
I have had the honor of having people serve as mentors, advisers, supporters, advocates and so much more in my life. This includes my parents, my Bubbie (maternal great-grandmother), teachers, family members and friends. So much so, it placed me on a trajectory of diverse opportunities and exploratory life experiences that cultivated me into the adult I am today. However, if I could pinpoint a moment in time that I knew service was part of my DNA it would be in high school, back in 2002/2003. I had been serving as a tutor for various after school programs and on many occasions tutored two young brothers; Isaiah and Malcolm Johnson, both under the age of 10. However, tragedy struck in my hometown of Anchorage, Alaska, in March of 2003, when the boys went missing. I decided to join the search parties, but soon realized adults did not understand how kids get curious and can travel and play in the strangest of places. Therefore, I reached out to various youth groups and peers and started youth search parties before and after school and on the weekends. This went on for 2 weeks, until March 26, 2023, it was discovered they had drowned in a bond less than 2 miles from their house, that had frozen after a huge snowfall. While there was a memorial/funeral for the boys, it was soon after that business returned to usual for our town, which did not set well with me. The boys had been playing in a man made pond created by housing developers that had no bridge or cautionary infrastructure to deter youth from using the pond as an extended play area.
Therefore, I felt that if I could rally the youth of my hometown to participate in a search party why couldn’t I have them help with a service project to build bridges to create a safe space in that area and set precedence for similar building precautions to be set. So from 2003 to 2006, I worked with the Mayor’s Office of Anchorage, Eagle Scouts, Alaska Points of Light Youth Leadership Institute, Anchorage School District, state representatives, local construction companies, civic associations and many more partners, but most importantly fellow young people to raise $10,000+ in donations to erect two bridges in honor of the Johnson Brothers and dedicated them to their family in October 2006. While I was glad I could honor their memory, my heart felt this warmth and soul felt this calling to continue to engage in service and pour into the communities I had been welcomed into and supported by, no more the location.
Hence, when I moved to Philadelphia, the same theme of service followed with me but how I defined my purpose was relative to the communities I was now serving; Philadelphia students, North Philadelphia residents and the Temple University community. In each of these communities people continued to put their arms around me as a young girl from Alaska trying to navigate her way around the big city of Brotherly Love and Sisterly Affection. Individuals cooked me hot meals for my dorm, gave me rides to the grocery store, helped me secure real summer clothes to survive the Philly summer heat, styled my hair for special events and provided me with parent-like advice knowing my biological guardians were 3,000+ miles away. And at the same time, I found myself pouring that service right back into the Philadelphia community helping residents register to vote with the NAACP, starting supplemental breakfast programs in the neighborhood, starting college-to-high school mentoring programs and fundraising for local causes.
Now with almost 15 years of service in the field of education, I have closed and opened so many new chapters in this Book of Jessica, but I continue to stay true to my purpose, which has always been to serve unconditionally and pay it forward, no matter what shape it takes, it is still the purpose I live by.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
Currently, I serve as the Co-owner of 5 Tribe Vending, with my husband Joshua Thomas. We started the company part-time in 2023, while my husband was serving as a Paraprofessional for elementary students with special needs and I served as an adjunct professor and school leader in Philadelphia. With both of us coming from underrepresented communities, and having to witness our families struggle financially, due to not having the financial awareness to thrive and only survive, therefore we wanted to re-write our narratives. We wanted to make better financial choices for our family and build generational wealth for our 5 children. Hence, our company name is inspired by our children and the logo includes the palm tree which is a West African Adinkra symbol known as Abe Dua which means “wealth, resourcefulness, and self-sufficiency.”
As a family of African descent we recognize that true success cannot be achieved without the help of a tribe or community. Therefore, our company is committed to creating opportunities for community success by building strong, reliable and sustainable relationships with our clients. Our goal is to inspire individuals and organizations to join our tribe and adopt an entrepreneurial mindset, support generational wealth and expand the skill sets of our future generations.
Our industry niche allows us to operate as a family-owned vending machine business and workforce development company based in Philadelphia. For businesses, the vending machine company provides snacks and beverages that are convenient and quality tasting. For schools, our educational services offer contextualized learning experiences and curriculum that empowers students to learn about entrepreneurship, life skills and various career pathways. We felt the second core service integrates our educator background, but also fills a gap we observed was missing in the learning environment, especially for youth with disabilities. Two of our children have disabilities; one with autism and another with a learning disability, and in many conversations with them they shared their disconnect with learning in the classroom, its purpose for their lives and the little joy they gained from being present at school. Therefore, as a K-12 educator, I decided that I wanted to not only start a company that provided a direct service, but also could encourage communal entrepreneurship within my networks, educate young people and families on financial literacy and entrepreneurship, offer learners with disabilities life skills experiences and employability training.
As we embark on our 2nd year of business we are excited to report that we now operate 6 vending machines at three client locations. And now we are working to finalize our Transition 360 curriculum, which is part of our workforce development services, and we are open to work with schools to offer these services for the 2025-2026 school year. This curriculum features lessons that leverage the core content subjects in order to learn about online research, budgeting, market research, interpersonal communication, troubleshooting problems, and public speaking. Our goal is to have our curriculum with our vending machines in at least two schools for the upcoming school year.
We also plan to offer for the second summer, our College Internship Program for young professionals interested in Marketing or Business Development, the announcement will go live on May 15th. Lastly, the 5 Tribe Team is already looking forward to building out the other pillars of our services which includes Family Financial Literacy Workshops and Community Outreach programs for Summer 2026. We recognize the struggles we experienced and lessons we have learned to become more financially stable and build our generational wealth.
At the core of 5 Tribe is our children and cultivating a future for them and teaching them how to prepare for a successful and sustainable life. Our children assist with inventory management, product research, social media marketing, outreach and so much more to help the company thrive. They were also the inspiration behind our inaugural youth entrepreneurship event we are hosting on May 13th at Franklin Learning Center high school in Philadelphia. This event will host high school students from around the city to learn from 15 different entrepreneurs representing diverse backgrounds and industries, in addition to participating in a design challenge from our Transition 360 curriculum. We are excited to offer this career-focused learning experience for Philadelphia youth, to help ignite their passion for entrepreneurship and support their ideas and interests.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Over the years my experiences in the classroom and in business have taught me many lessons. I have identified three pieces of advice I would offer to people early in their journey.
Qualities/Leading with Integrity – I believe that being a leader, business owner, educator and overall person that operates with integrity and honesty is essential to building authentic relationships with clients and communities. In our work with new and existing clients they have to believe that they can trust our word, services and products. For schools the stakes are even higher because we are dealing with youth and being able to provide them with a contextualized learning experience to prepare them for their futures and model it with professionals is also how we demonstrate integrity. When it comes down to it, this quality as a professional is essential because integrity most of the time is measured by what people see you doing more than by what you say.
Skills/Resourcefulness – Being resourceful requires one to operate with calculated agility to identify resources (i.e. people, finances, contacts, opportunities) to support a cause or plan. The majority of my success has been achieved based on leveraging this skill, by being aware of who is in the room with me, the power of my networks, being open to cross-industry experiences, and having a keen sense for new opportunities. For example, if I agree to attend a conference or workshop I review the agenda, the speaker list and networking opportunities ahead of time to map out how I maximize my time and interactions, ensuring I am engaging in intentional meet-ups while also making sure I open to informal networking that can also yield new opportunities and partnerships. Or in other instances, if I am planning a youth event and I need sponsors, reaching out to peers of my alma maters, mentors or civic associations I have supported for monetary or in-kind donations, is how I tap into the social capital of my networks and in turn I also reciprocate when they need similar support. Being resourceful requires an ongoing commitment to strategic networking and consistent engagement with the communities you support and participate in.
Areas of Knowledge/Culturally Responsive Mindset – As an educator, operating with a culturally responsive mindset is a quality that has been ingrained in my practice from the very beginning. In 2000, Geneva Gay coined the term Culturally Responsive Teaching. This is based on the notion that by leveraging students’ customs, characteristics, experience, and perspectives, we can make classrooms better spaces for instruction and learning. This approach ensures learning is aligned to student experience and helps them see the transferability of content knowledge to their everyday lives and futures. I believe such an approach should be interwoven in other aspects of life, beyond the academic classroom and can transcend into how we approach any group of individuals; customers or learners, children or adults. Our service to others should always find authentic connections to people’s needs and realities, respecting their diverse backgrounds and framing our services accordingly. As a professional if you can operate with a culturally responsive mindset you can provide more meaningful experiences to those you serve no matter the industry.
Before we go, any advice you can share with people who are feeling overwhelmed?
Making bold moves and chartering new paths is a full-time commitment. You can be consumed by daily tasks, upcoming opportunities, competing needs of career and family, and sometimes limited access to the resources you need to make your dreams come to fruition. These daunting realities of each day, week or month, hover over me at times, and then then coupled with how my own identity as a Black Woman adds another layer of complexity to how I navigate the world and how the world receives me, truly results in feeling overwhelmed similar to being in a rainstorm where you are unsure if it will end in destruction or a rainbow.
However, in my case I have experienced more rainbows and breakthrough sunshines than destruction. Therefore, my advice to anyone trying to make bold moves in their career or life is to: 1) stay the course despite the obstacles or storms, 2) identify your outlets for rebalancing, and 3) advocate for yourself and your needs. I say stay the course, because the opportunities worth fighting for are never easy, convenient or comfortable. They will shake us to our core, expose the truths about ourselves we have been avoiding and even unearth some truths about people in your lives you might have to evict to make space for the next new experience or person.
Secondly, when we are overwhelmed it’s usually because we have veered too far towards one side of our life and abandoned the other parts of our life such as physical health, mental wellness, quality eating, socialization and even fresh air. Therefore, when the internal feelings of overwhelmedness start to bubble up, check-in with a friend, an accountability partner or peer, or favorite pastime, just identify your outlet for recalibrating yourself so you can show up the best version of yourself. Lastly, in your life your professional career and personal life will require you to provide your time, intellectual property, financial resources, presence and so much more. However, you have to know your capacity and be able to practice voicing to family and friends, the word NO. This simple but powerful word will help you better advocate when you have reached your capacity, allow you to attend to your needs and help people respect your boundaries. This is the advice I apply to my daily practice, encourage my village to help stay committed to and work on holding myself accountable to.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://linktr.ee/dr.j.theadvocate
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dr.j.theadvocate/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessreedthomas/
- Other: Business website: https://www.5tribevending.com/
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