What Rev. Jesse Jackson taught me about leadership

Rev. Jesse Jackson took a chance on me as a 19-year-old college student, hiring me as an intern at the Rainbow PUSH Coalition in 2009 and putting me to work on college affordability, youth violence prevention, and immigration reform. Nearly two decades later, I was able to visit him in the hospital before his death on February 17; Progressive Supranuclear Palsy had taken his voice, but he remained present.

He taught me to lean into hard moments. Jackson moved closer to problems—negotiating the release of over 200 hostages across Syria, Cuba, Iraq, and Serbia, flying into war zones, and confronting corporations during discrimination scandals—rather than creating distance when crisis hit.

He also never stopped investing in people. He put a 19-year-old on meaningful policy work and on air, betting on growth rather than perfection. That approach shaped how I look for and develop talent: not to find flawless people, but to build potential in imperfect ones.

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