The air in the kitchen at the Inter-Faith Food Shuttle smells of onions, thyme, and possibility. Lori Jones moves through the stainless-steel landscape with a practiced economy of motion. She is showing a student how to properly hold a chef’s knife, her hand guiding his. Her voice is calm and direct, her instructions clear. Here, among the clatter of pans and the hum of industrial refrigerators, Jones is in her element. She is not just teaching someone how to cook; she is providing a map for a new beginning.
To the outside world, Lori Jones is a two-time international award-winning entrepreneur, the founder and CEO of Black•ology Coffee Company. She is a keynote speaker and a transformational coach. But in this kitchen, she is a teacher, a mentor, a leader who understands that a second chance often starts with a single skill. This role, managing the Culinary Apprentice Program for individuals facing unemployment and other life challenges, is the heart of her story. It is a full-circle journey for a woman who once found her own career in ashes, only to build a new life from the embers. Her work now is to hand that blueprint to others, showing them that a crisis is not just an ending, but a space where a new life can be built.
The First Course
Long before she built a coffee empire, Lori Jones built communities around a dinner table. Her passion for food took root early, and she channeled it into a culinary career. As a head chef, she found purpose in creating meals that did more than just nourish the body. Food, for her, was a medium for connection. This was most evident during her time as the head chef for a sorority house at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
For hundreds of young women away from home, she was more than a cook. She curated seasonal menus, led a kitchen team, and created an environment that felt like a sanctuary. She blended tradition with new ideas, transforming the dining hall into a place of comfort and community. She learned how to manage a team, how to plan and execute complex operations, and how to serve a community with intention. This experience was her first real leadership laboratory. It taught her that service was not about subordination, but about anticipating needs and creating spaces where people feel valued.
The Unraveling
In 2020, the world shut down, and the foundation of Lori Jones’s life cracked. The COVID-19 pandemic swept through the food service industry, and she lost her job. The layoff was more than a professional setback; it was a personal crisis. As a single mother of two boys, she found herself at a crossroads, the path forward obscured by uncertainty. The career she had built, the community she had served, vanished almost overnight.
Many would see this moment as a definitive end. For Jones, it felt like a profound and unsettling silence. The daily rhythm of the kitchen disappeared. The purpose that had driven her for years was gone. Yet, in that silence, she found a different kind of direction. She calls it a divine redirection. It was a forced pause that compelled her to look inward and ask a fundamental question: what next?
A Kitchen Table Epiphany
The answer began with a morning ritual. For Lori Jones, coffee was never just a beverage. It was a quiet moment of peace and prayer before the day began, a symbol of warmth and a medium for reflection. With no job and a deep well of purpose, she turned this personal ritual into a professional vision. From her own kitchen, she started to build Black•ology Coffee Company.
The idea was to create a luxury minimalist coffee brand that celebrated Black culture and low-acidity brews. It was an extension of her identity: intentional, rooted in service, and unapologetically authentic. The beginning was humble. She started at local pop-up markets, her brand growing organically through word of mouth. But Jones was a quick study. She threw herself into learning the mechanics of digital entrepreneurship. She learned web design, search engine optimization, branding, shipping logistics, and grant writing. It was a crash course in building a business from the ground up.
She did not just survive the pandemic; she built an international brand from its chaos. Black•ology expanded beyond premium beans to include merchandise, coaching programs, and digital resources for other aspiring entrepreneurs. She turned the crisis of her layoff into a calling, building a company that was not just a business, but a testament to her resilience.
Brewing a Movement
Lori Jones did not just create a product; she built a platform. Black•ology Coffee Company became a vehicle for her larger mission of service and empowerment. The brand’s success is intrinsically linked to its purpose. A portion of its proceeds goes to nonprofits that support survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, and cancer research—causes that resonate with her deep sense of empathy.
Her commitment to community extends beyond her own company. She serves on the Board of Directors for the Reintegration Support Network, an organization that works with youth impacted by substance use, mental health challenges, and the justice system. In this role, she helps guide efforts to promote wellness, self-advocacy, and healthy relationships. It is a natural extension of her work, creating safe spaces for transformation for those who need it most. Through her business and her volunteer work, Jones demonstrates that legacy is not measured in profit, but in impact.
The Daily Grind
Leading a company while raising two boys demands a unique blend of structure and grace. Lori Jones navigates this complexity with fierce intentionality. Her life is a carefully orchestrated dance between boardroom strategy and bedtime stories, between customer calls and carpool duty. She serves as the PTA Vice President at her sons’ school, seamlessly integrating her leadership skills at home and in her business.
Discipline is her anchor. She uses digital planners and time-blocking techniques to allocate her energy to the tasks that matter most. Her day still begins with that sacred coffee ritual, a quiet moment of grounding before the whirlwind begins. But perhaps the most significant evolution in her leadership style has been her decision to stop doing everything alone. For years, she wore her ability to carry the entire load as a badge of honor. She has since learned that true strength lies in delegation and trust. She now hires virtual assistants and leans on her community, drawing clear boundaries to protect her peace. Her children witness not just a mother who works hard, but a leader who leads with a full heart and a clear mind.
The Full Circle
Her work today brings her journey into sharp focus. As the Culinary Apprentice Program Manager and Instructor at the Inter-Faith Food Shuttle, she stands before people who are exactly where she was just a few years ago: unemployed, underemployed, looking for a second chance. She developed the program’s entire curriculum, a comprehensive course that earned accreditation from the American Culinary Federation. It is the only program of its kind in North Carolina.
This achievement is not just a professional milestone; it is a profound personal one. In that kitchen, she does more than teach knife skills or plating techniques. She mentors with compassion, fosters self-worth, and opens doors to careers that once seemed impossible. She sees the transformation in her students as they land their first culinary jobs and reclaim their futures. Their wins are her fuel. “Helping others believe in themselves is my real job title,” she says. It is the thread that connects the chef, the entrepreneur, the mother, and the mentor. It is the work of building a legacy, one person at a time.
