Black History Today: Kitisha Jones, carrying a legacy of servant leadership

Black History Today, created by Marcus Harden in honor of Black History Month, pays tribute to the living legacy of Black history in our community and beyond and recognizes the people among us who are boldly shaping the future.

“Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave, I am the dream and the hope of the slave.”

— Maya Angelou

By Marcus Harden

Hustle culture has come under critique lately — sometimes conflated with a lack of substance, sometimes confused with an inability to center humanity because it’s rooted in capitalism, and sometimes positioned as the antithesis to one’s own liberation. Those critiques may (or may not) be true.

But when I think about hustle culture, I think about the power of matriarchy in the Black community:

Nurturing
Tender
Faith-filled
Strong
Courageous
Tenacious
Resilient
Dynamic
Culture-building

And so many more.

When a person’s culture — when their very being — is the ability to “hustle” for themselves, and maybe more importantly for the community around them, every community around them, that is a culture of service that cannot be ignored. Kitisha Jones is someone who embraces and builds culture wherever she goes and hustles — without cease — to make sure community is formed and sustained.

While she has deep Southern roots, her feet and her impact are firmly planted in the Seattle/King County region. I’ve had the privilege of knowing her since our middle school days at McClure. I joke that she was the assistant principal at a young age. Her maturity and stewardship of space showed even then when she was a student office assistant. (I really did think she was an employee early on — until I saw her in my classes, lol.) Not because of how she looked, but because she always led from a place of calm and vision.

That spirit continued years later as I watched her serve as a true “do-it-all” educator with Seattle Public Schools. Need someone to lead extracurricular activities? She was there. Need someone to coach every sports team and club imaginable? She was there. Need a student and family advocate? Someone to run intake processes for students furthest from educational opportunity — or harmed by the very systems meant to serve them? She was there. Someone to showrun graduation, to be a shoulder for students and parents to cry on and celebrate with? Call Ms. Kitisha.

She is, without question, one of the most passionate and steady advocates I know.

Now, in her role as a Student and Family Liaison at Community Passageways, she doesn’t just “work with” young people and families — she shows up for them. Fully. Especially those navigating trauma, instability, and systems that don’t love them.

She stands in the gap. She makes sure students aren’t processed, but truly seen. Not just heard, but understood. Her work is trauma-informed, yes — but more than that, it’s heart-informed. She knows how powerful it is when someone genuinely believes in you, because she carries that belief into every room she enters.

And if that wasn’t enough, she built her own table, too.

As the Founder and CEO of A Plan Of Purpose (A.P.O.P.), she created something deeply intentional — a space where young people and families can heal, grow, and rediscover who they are. Through mentorship, life skills work, and healing circles, she creates environments where people can exhale. Where they can be vulnerable. Where they can rebuild trust — in themselves and in others. This isn’t just work for her. It’s calling. It’s legacy. It’s lived.

Her ability to show young people what it means to live life, whether traveling, serving in church, traveling the world, supporting any major event in life and leading beauty days at her job to ensure every child feels good and looks good on picture day, youth resume days, job fairs, the seeds she continually plants blossom.

As a wife to a supportive husband, the sister and auntie to so many, and the proud mother of two adult children (and three or four unofficial more as “Auntie” or “Gigi”), and a strong, grounding presence in her community, she brings wisdom that can’t be taught in a classroom. She understands systems — but she also understands people. Especially those who’ve been mislabeled, overlooked, or misunderstood. She has a gift for reminding people of their strength when they’ve forgotten it themselves. She doesn’t judge where someone starts. She honors it — and then helps them move forward with clarity and purpose.

Because of our “Martin and Pam” dynamic, I rarely tell her this to her face (and I’ll deny it even now), but…

I’m proud of her — not just for what she does, but for how she does it. With compassion. With courage. With consistency. Her unwavering commitment to service, her constant desire to be better for her family, her selfless faith in service to her community, her hustle for the culture — it’s truly inspiring.

Those attributes, and so many more, are why she is indeed Black History Today!