Number 192 October 14, 2022 St. Louis
Justine PETERSEN Teams with SBA and Nonprofit Partners to Assist Returning Citizens in KC
Shawna Collier, JP’s Chief Partnership Officer, recently attended a signing ceremony in Kansas City of Strategic Alliance Memoranda (SAM) between the SBA and nonprofit partners Determination, Inc. and Reaching Out from Within (ROFW) to advance the delivery of microenterprise products and services to returning citizens.
JP will provide access to SBA microloans by working through a referral network supported by both Determination, Inc. and ROFW. Determination, Inc. is a KC-based nonprofit organization that assists returning citizens in obtaining the skills, funding and technical counsel to start and grow small businesses. ROFW is active in prisons across Kansas, providing small business know-how to those interested in pursuing entrepreneurship post-incarceration.
Pictured is Shawna Collier of JP along with KCMO Mayor Quinton Lucas and local KC stakeholders.
Justine PETERSEN Welcomes Suzanne Iovaldi
Justine PETERSEN welcomes Suzanne Iovaldi to the team as Director of Quality, Policy, & Advocacy. Suzanne will begin with a keen focus on process infrastructure and implementation, ensuring successful client outcomes across the organization. Previously Suzanne worked in the technology space for both scaleup and high growth companies in cross-functional capacities touching marketing, sales, and operations.
Suzanne is also the creator of the Instagram account @WhatIfStl, which probes her passion for urban revitalization and “seeing the possibility in reimagining open spaces.” It’s that deep interest tied in with her career experience of growing companies that kept her engaged with wanting to become part of the JP team. When not harping on her love of data integrity and process journeys within the walls of JP, Suzanne finds great joy in consuming nearly all content then going out to experience it herself with family and friends.
Welcome aboard Suzanne!
JP’s Yolanda Nelson Provides Healing through Writing
Yolanda Nelson, Business Assistance Associate with Justine PETERSEN’s Business Assistance Team, never intended to be an author. However, after going through a deeply personal experience and receiving healing through journaling, Yolanda ultimately arrived at authorship. Yolanda’s first book, Singletude, was published in 2013 and explores finding purpose through faith in one’s personal journey. It was while on speaking engagements for that book, engaging with readers who were inspired by her story, that she knew the next purpose in her writing journey was to layout the groundwork for others to do the same. Thus, Writeable became Yolanda’s second published book. Her work is driven to inspire others in asking “what would happen if we helped each other with our purposes?” That drive can also be found in Yolanda’s work, where she is exposed to opportunities in maximizing the business potential of Black women. Yolanda currently has several other projects in the works, including a children’s book! Stay tuned for more on them by visiting her website, YolandaNelson.com.
