We recently connected with Vicky Jocelin and have shared our conversation below.

Vicky, appreciate you joining us today. Crazy stuff happening is almost as certain as death and taxes – it’s technically “unexpected” but something unexpected happening is to be expected and so can you share a crazy story with our readers

Waking up on Friday, March 13, 2020, I had no idea that the world as I had come to know it was shutting it doors. Stay at home orders were issued in attempts to fight the invisible attack our planet as under. Reforum Consulting was in its infancy stages, emerging onto to the scene to show the world what we had to offer. It seemed as the calls and contracts were beginning to come to fruition, we wouldn’t see them to actualization. On the verge of a looming pandemic, How could we give the people the immersive, engaging, interactive experience that is Reforum Consulting.

Our work identifies challenges and develops strength-based strategies to support the change process. ReForum’s mission is to support individuals, teams, and communities in developing their strengths, affirming differences, and cultivating a culture of emotional, physical, social, occupational, spiritual, intellectual, environmental, and financial wellness.

Reforum Consulting, business structure is a for-profit LLC; What sets us apart from the masses is our ability to deliver a dynamic curated in person experience, however with the world shutting its doors with no end date in sight, we feared our budding business would not bloom.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Born to Haitian immigrants parents, during the height of the crack epidemic in Harlem, NY, my path has always been riddled with obstacles. One thing that was evident in my daily travels were the supports that were embedded in the community. From the laundry attendants, and candy store man who help create safe passages from school and home, I realized at that moment I wanted to be a safe “Community Cousin.” With a limited view on the careers of the world I knew the people of my community were suffering and struggling, and needed a “cousin” they could count on. The vision led me to working with various social services agencies and eventually, the pathway to obtaining my Master of Social Work from the esteem Lehman College School of Social Work.

Obtaining my social work degree was led by my passion about mental health awareness and my belief that my purpose is to build a culture of wellness. My motivational life quote is: “If you come to help me you’re wasting your time, but if you’ve come because your mission is bonded with mine then you’ve come to the right place”.

In 2014, I was introduced to the word Japanese word “Ikigai” which meant “Life’s purpose” .From that day on 4 questions help shaped my path, What does the world need? What Am I good at? What can I get paid for? What am I passionate about? I began to realize that my passion for talking to people and connecting them to resources never felt like work. I became affirmed at my ability to make people feel seen, heard, and valued the best part, was I can get paid to make people smile. After assessing that the internet was the newfound Wild Wild West, I knew the world needed a space where they felt seen heard and valued.

After graduation, I had to make a decision whether I wanted to make a micro or macro impact on society. In 2018, I founded Reforum Consulting along with my former colleagues and we choose the latter. ReForum Consulting has emerged as lead facilitators and consultants, supporting corporations and communities seeking to reform their organizational culture and climate through curated conversations in various forums. Our work identifies challenges and develops strength-based strategies to support the change process.

ReForum’s mission is to support individuals, teams, and communities in developing their strengths, affirming differences, and cultivating a culture of emotional, physical, social, occupational, spiritual, intellectual, environmental, and financial wellness. Whether we’re curating a workshop, training, or event we operate knowing that “when you feel good you do good”.

Can you tell us the story behind how you met your business partner?

My mom use to say “you don’t go to school to make friends” that remark was made after the parent teacher conference revealed I enjoyed chatting in class on and off the subject matter. It came as no surprise to her when I shared that the friends I made in college that had become more like family, and we were starting a business together. My partner Javonia Smith and I met during undergrad at the State University of New York, University at Buffalo. After graduation Javonia and I started working at a NYC community based organization to serve the runaway and homeless youth population ages of 13-24.

During our tenure we were able to identify our passion of facilitating immersive and engaging workshops. After graduating school from esteem schools of Social Work we set our sights on taking our talents and skills to the companies and organizations that value climate and culture with a mission of change. Armed with a passionate idea, we enlisted the expertise of a strategic organizational leader in Ti-me Gadsden and together we birthed Reforum Consulting.

We’d love to hear the story of how you turned a side-hustle into a something much bigger.

Not every job is a bad idea, bureaucracy and red tape are what make some jobs unbearable. Most companies have a great concepts and ideations and its the employees that bring that idea to life and make the company what is. For example, people who have never had chick-fil-a are aware of the costumer service, rarely do people mention the actual sandwich. We came to understand that concept and knew that if we took our passions, purpose, talents and skills. we could control over intellectual properties. One snowy day in February 2018, the light bulb went off, the city was shut down and I was still expected to go to work, and it was in that moment I realized without me the job couldn’t exist. After my moment of omnipotence I realized that if I wanted to make the decisions and the dollars I had to be the boss.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.reforumconsulting.com
• Instagram: @reforumconsulting
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vickyjocelin/

Image Credits
Kye Bayne, Peak Aspect Photography Davey King, Shoott Photography