Jordan Jerome Harrison

Introduction and Choosing Purpose Over Corporate Offers

Taryell Simmons: Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to another episode of Rise Urban Nation. When I say this one is my brother, this is really my brother in the house: Mr. Jordan Jerome Harrison. We were always in similar circles, from Reality Changers to the Umoja event at Mesa College and the African American Achievement Summit, so we're overdue. Students feel enormous pressure to pick a major. How did you figure out what you wanted to do?

Jordan Harrison: I was bitter my first two years at San Diego State, because I got into USC, my dream school, but didn't get enough money to attend. I was working part time at Foot Locker because my parents said if you want a cell phone, you pay for it yourself. I took a practice LSAT and said, that's not for me. What always fascinated me was human behavior: what motivates people and how you bring people together for a cause. I ended with a major in marketing and a minor in social and personality psychology. But then my career didn't even go there.

Jordan Harrison: When I graduated I had twenty-four job offers in the corporate world. At twenty-one, people were offering six figures and a company car. I'd interned at 3M, a phenomenal Fortune 100 company, and by the end of the summer I had platinum status on every travel program. But I remember waking up in a nice hotel room two blocks from the White House and thinking, I don't know if I could commit my life to this. The path felt too linear. My final four were Amazon, Salesforce, Nielsen and 3M. Then the CEO of Reality Changers asked me to speak to his students, and when I graduated he said, I can't offer you nearly as much money, but think about whether you'll make half as much impact as you would working directly with these first-generation students here in San Diego. That line got me. My first paycheck was $972 for two weeks of work with a bachelor's degree, and I thought, I made a mistake. But instead of being mad at my job, I asked how I could make extra money on the side. That led to speaking and consulting, which has grown locally, nationally and internationally.

Taryell Simmons: We have a similar story. My corporate career at Ashford University paid very well, but being let go was a blessing in disguise. It wasn't fulfilling, and some things didn't align with my values.

Jordan Harrison: My mentors said do nonprofit after you get successful in corporate. I understand it. But I met a man who had been at a Fortune 100 company for 40 years, and when I asked if he was happy, he said it paid the bills. Too many people described life as happenstance. Time is precious.

Taryell Simmons: I challenge people: what if you can have both? I followed my purpose and started getting referral calls for speaking and consulting.

Jordan Harrison: And we have to steward our gifts with excellence. Some folks want the glamour of the outcome but hesitate to put in the hard work. A side business is selling, but it's also relationship building, the follow-up and the follow-through.

First Job, Mentorship and Harvard

Taryell Simmons: What was your first job?

Jordan Harrison: I was selling candy in middle school and high school, but Foot Locker was the official first job, at fifteen and a half. I might not be the smartest person in the room, but I will outwork anyone. I stayed about five and a half years and left as an assistant manager. My first manager saw something in me and another young Black man, Joshua Beverly. He demanded excellence, but he'd say, if you have a test, don't come in. Y'all will not be lifers at Foot Locker. Now Joshua is a doctor at UCLA, and I'm getting my doctorate.

Taryell Simmons: Then, like LeBron going to South Beach, you announced you were going to Harvard. How did that happen?

Jordan Harrison: Grace and God. A colleague who had gone there kept telling me to apply. I thought Harvard was for a different type of folks, and it took me two years. I felt I needed more theoretical grounding in education and its systems, and I only applied to Harvard. I got in, and I was one of seven students out of 750 to receive an Urban Scholars Fellowship that covered my entire tuition. When you align with what makes you come most alive, it makes room for you in spaces you'd never imagine. Now I get to tell the community Harvard is accessible. Let's bring Harvard to the hood and bring the hood back to Harvard, because Harvard needs it more than it knows.

Jordan Harrison: I also saw how different the networks are. Once I told a friend I might know a manager at an organization, and he said, hey, we're at Harvard now. We just talk to the CEOs. You drop the H card, doors open and people listen. But it's a responsibility to steward the knowledge, and for the young people I work with, seeing a young Black man who went to Harvard makes it feel accessible.

Belonging, Truth Telling and Brave Spaces

Taryell Simmons: What does belonging at those tables feel like?

Jordan Harrison: For so long you hope for a seat at the table, and when you get there, there's impostor syndrome. I sit on boards and committees and wonder, who did I trick to get into this meeting? But I won't squander the moment. It's about owning that you belong, even in spaces that might not have been made for you. In DEI, our work is truth telling for the sake of progress and shared humanity. A mentor told me people need to get better not at finding the answer but at asking the right question. It's easier to let life happen to you without questioning what we've allowed to be normal.

Taryell Simmons: When I was a kid in the hoods of DC, my world was pretty much that block. What broke me out was a mentor who had grace, patience and persistence, and who tried to understand me rather than change me. Small paradigm shifts lead to the next one. And I don't like the term safe spaces anymore, because they're not always safe, especially for LGBT people and people of color. How do we create brave spaces?

Jordan Harrison: A facilitator can create group norms, but there's also individual responsibility to do self-work before entering. Conflict is great, but what are the principles of care when someone says something harmful, without throwing them away forever? As Desmond Tutu says, our humanity is bound together. If we keep saying this space is only for these people, we build a society where folks go to their corners and stay there. I know I still have beliefs that aren't the most transformative, and when I'm informed, I'll do what I need to do to be better. We have the capacity to be excellent, and it will require work from all of us. Cancel culture is horrible, because all of us could be canceled for something. Grace, forgiveness and the human experience are real, and all of us are a work in progress.

Doctoral Research and Holding Institutions Accountable

Taryell Simmons: Tell me about the PhD program.

Jordan Harrison: My research looks at how DEI efforts are impacting Black male belonging on high school campuses. Since George Floyd we've had a reckoning about being more intentional, and I want to see if it's actually working. My faculty advisor is Dr. Makeba Jones at UC San Diego. It's a lot of reading, but it's necessary to be excellent in our craft.

Taryell Simmons: After George Floyd, companies made all these pledges, and I haven't heard much since. The podcast is Rise Urban Nation, the acronym is RUN, so my team wants to do a campaign called Run the Receipts. Show us the progress report, and if you need help, we'll connect you to the leaders I've interviewed.

Jordan Harrison: I love that. One of my favorite professors said accountability is not the enemy. Holding institutions accountable makes sure statements aren't just said to feel good because you have a Black Lives Matter poster up. Let's not be performative.

Life Lessons and a Legacy of Courage

Taryell Simmons: A lot has happened in the past two years, including losing a parent, rest in peace. What's one good lesson life has taught you?

Jordan Harrison: These two years have been extreme highs and incredible lows. The lesson is not losing faith in the things that matter and being convicted to the compassion you have. My father wrote on a note that we have to face the conditions and change the conclusions. My great-grandfather ran the NAACP and fought segregation in Jackson, Mississippi. When he went to vote, two white men pulled a gun on him, and it led to a national court case that helped desegregate voting. In Tougaloo, Mississippi, people told me how he walked the streets in the Jim Crow era with death threats but stayed convicted to his calling. Second, relationships matter. Take care of the folks who take care of you. And with work at home and home at work, have the grace to know life happens, and care for one another.

Jordan Harrison: I also have to honor the Black women responsible for me being here. My grandmother, Ethel Bender, did civil rights work in Alabama. My grandfather, Jonas Bender, was one of the Montford Point Marines, the first Black men to join the Marines, and he received a Congressional Gold Medal. I come from a lineage strong in faith, strong on social justice and committed to family. Take my family stories and add them to your own, because this isn't just a Jordan family story. It's part of our collective Black story.

Taryell Simmons: You are who your ancestors prayed for. My stepfather is Nigerian, and African culture is grounded in its history. Many Black Americans only trace our history back to slavery, but go further and you realize we were kings and queens. The truth will set us free from the mental slavery of the narratives we've been fed about ourselves.

Building a Speaking and Consulting Business

Taryell Simmons: Give people tangible steps. How did you build your businesses?

Jordan Harrison: I started my speaking company around twenty-three because people kept asking me to speak and then to pay, and I needed an EIN instead of giving out my Social Security number. I figured out my main message, set up my DBA and bank accounts, kept an Excel workbook of every place I'd spoken and every referral, and stayed big on follow-up. Later I hired a part-time assistant for the back end. For consulting, which I started about three years ago, you have to be excellent at something or have deep experience to add value. I built a business plan, defined my target audience and sent cold emails. Then George Floyd happened, and it's been referrals since.

Taryell Simmons: What advice would you give someone who wants to start speaking or consulting?

Jordan Harrison: Speaking is saturated, so figure out what you speak about and who you resonate with. Don't pass up free gigs, because you don't know who might be in the room. I still do about thirty percent of my speaking for free for schools, nonprofits and companies that can't afford it. On the DEI side, proceed with caution. If you've gone to one workshop or read two books, this may not be for you yet. You don't have to be perfect, but be excellent and committed. If your thing is bias, stick to bias. Start specific, and don't expand prematurely, because saying something incorrectly in this space can really hurt your business.

The Future of DEI and Education, and Where to Find Jordan

Taryell Simmons: What does the future hold for DEI, consulting and education, especially for people of color?

Jordan Harrison: In education, I think we'll change standardized testing and move from suspension and expulsion to more restorative approaches. Right now it's almost like if you've ever worked with a Black person, there's a DEI role for you. In the next five to ten years, companies will have clearer benchmarks and understand what it means to be accountable, values-driven companies.

Taryell Simmons: What projects are you working on, and where can people find you?

Jordan Harrison: You can find me at jordanjharrison.com and on Instagram at jordanjharrison. I'm consulting on DEI strategy, including for a few international companies, and still working with my boy Austin Martin at Rhymes With Reason, making education accessible to young folks through hip-hop music. And I'm still speaking.

Taryell Simmons: I'll put all his links in the show notes. Any last words?

Jordan Harrison: Face the conditions, change the conclusions, and let's make some deep impact every single day. Appreciate you, Taryell.

Taryell Simmons: Always make deep impact wherever you go. That's it for this episode of Rise Urban Nation.