Hi my name is Jennifer Wardlaw-Stephens, a mental health and human rights advocate, a seeker of truth, an inner alchemist, and a Black woman healing. I grew up in Southern New Jersey and relocated to North Carolina in 2019 after living in the NYC area for about a decade. Before relocating here, my now-husband and I sold everything and traveled to Maui, Southeast Asian countries like Thailand, Indonesia, and Singapore and traveled throughout the West coast of the U.S for about 4 months.
This was a mix of trying to subconsciously escape early childhood trauma from generational abuse I had buried within and also widening my worldview. Growing up in a small suburban town in southern New Jersey, where I was one of the only Black kids (and children of color in general), I dealt with a lot of traumas from the broad spectrum of “racism.” Because of my upbringing, I had a yearning to open my mind and learn from different cultures and walks of life who may not have had the same privileges I grew up with.
Since an early age, I remember wanting to help people. I wanted to be a social worker at the age of 7 and this paved my educational path where I ended up getting a degree in Psychology at Temple University in Philadelphia. I also took many classes on Sociology, African American studies, and Eastern religions. But Life ended up being my greatest (and most ruthless) teacher and taught me to help myself so I can have more space to support others.
I am honored and beyond thrilled to join the Benevolence Farm team as the newest Reentry Coordinator. I find this to be a sacred privilege and opportunity of a lifetime. I am passionate about supporting other women in healing and thriving no matter what has happened in their past. I am so excited to learn and grow in my role here. I am already inspired by the residents of Benevolence Farm for committing to themselves and doing something new like this program. I am passionate about social justice and also working to make the world a fairer and more nurturing place for those who feel voiceless, forgotten, and failed by society. I look to support the residents at Benevolence Farm in empowerment through self- sufficiency and freeing their voice. We all have a story to tell, we all have a purpose and I look forward in my role as a Reentry Coordinator to witnessing transformations – no matter how subtle or drastic. A win, completion of a goal, no matter how small, is a win for me and all of us too.
I was so excited to apply to Benevolence Farm because I have worked on a few flower farms in 2020 and feel my passion for nature and supporting women in healing is blended nicely here. I love how Benevolence Farm and its team not only talk-the-talk but walk-the-walk in regards to helping formerly incarcerated women to securely transition back into society. I deeply believe in second chances or like Susan Burton says “First Chances,” a real chance that many of us didn’t get and the ability for all humans to thrive when in an environment with the right conditions just like any flower. After 12 years of struggling, suffering, and just simply surviving, I finally started to come to terms with my childhood and have been receiving professional and personal help from a team I built in 2021 to begin healing my trauma. I feel like this is also my real chance. A deep thank you to the residents and staff that allowed me to have this opportunity as a Reentry Coordinator and to reach my own self-sufficiency goals.
In my spare time, I am allowing my “inner child” to heal and play. I am usually in nature, dancing, studying astrology and numerology, or spending time with my husband and adopted greyhound named Ankh. I also created an initiative called The Nubian Blooms Project – when in season, I collect donated flowers from several farms in the area and arrange and deliver bouquets free of charge for Black girls and women in the area as a reminder in a world that often wants us unheard and ignored, to “give yourself your own flowers” through radical self-care and self-love.
