The Economic Development Partnership and North Central Planning and Development District has partnered with the University of Mississippi to extend knowledge of community growth to the next generation.
The two community development entities recently welcomed Ole Miss junior Jhalen Wells to the area to help educate him on the inner workings of business, according to Sue Stidham, Economic Development Partnership director.
“He’s interning with us for about four weeks. He’s from Clarksdale, and he’s majoring in marketing,” said Stidham.
Wells splits his time each day with Stidham and Chris Pope, NCPDD planner, learning about the day-to-day of local business and industry, she said.
“Jhalen is getting a very wide-open scope of what we do on a day-to-day basis,” said Stidham. “We want him to learn as much as he can and be introduced to as many new things as he can.”
Wells, 19, entered the internship program to help him more efficiently run his online clothing business, Jay Marquis, which he launched in July 2021.
“He started his online business,” said Stidham. “He wanted to venture out more to see how bigger corporations actually operate; how they run; what they do.”
Wells said he also entered the program to learn how communities like his worked.
Wells said he started the clothing line, often displaying the phrase “It’s just mental,” to promote good mental health, specifically in young people.
“It started with my own story of mental health and my history with it, going back to when I was 12 years old,” said Wells. “I went through a series of things, experiencing death and being abused at that age.”
He went on to say, “The thing that saved me was being creative.”
Wells began sketching out his clothing design and logo around the age of 12, soon after the death of his great uncle John E. Sumlin Jr. – the male figure in his life who died from cancer while Wells visited in his hospital room.
Soon after, while still mourning the loss of his uncle, Wells faced constant abuse from bullying at school in Marks.
As a student at Ole Miss, Wells has won several awards for his business ideas, but he hopes his efforts reach and improve the lives of people facing mental illness, personally and with a loved one “in a cool way.”
He said he hopes what he learns during his internship will help him to improve his brand and as well as his community.
“How can somebody like me bring about change?” said Wells. “I’m about the kids. How am I working for the kids?”
