Monchiere Holmes-Jones is the definition of dynamic. This New Orleans native took Nashville by storm over 10 years ago and has made it her mission to preserve the culture in North Nashville and beyond. As the founder of MOJO Impact Collective, her work has transformed from amplifying communities to a focus on the infrastructure and capital, and how that is sustained.
Where does she feel the foundation starts? Knowing your value and what you already have. For communities, especially in North Nashville, Monchiere has always seen the value in this area. As a New Orleans native, it is innate within her to love and uplift our community because the city that raised her has its own rich culture that is celebrated and protected. Even before making the move, she felt a pull to Nashville and the people.
Through her work, she is now brokering deals and attracting investment in North Nashville with a true heart to see our people win. Monchiere has been a pivotal part of the community in the city, from founding the Jefferson Street Historical Society. Along with being an intentional thread in our North Nashville Churches story featured in our Shaping the City Series and she is just getting started.
How did you get so steeped in work across Middle Tennessee that amplifies community in a very intentional way?
I think it started with understanding that community is not a popularity trend, but our responsibility. I’ve spent more than two decades convening, connecting, and executing at the intersection of culture, communications, economic development and community, and Nashville has given me a front-row seat to some incredible transformation.
But I’ve also seen what can get lost when growth moves faster than the people and stories that made a place valuable in the first place. My work has evolved from just the amplification of great organizations to systemically growing communities in order to articulate their value, attract investment, and build their own future. That’s really the foundation of MOJO Impact Collective and the work I’m doing today.
Why has intentionality around building community and preserving legacy been so important for you?
Because culture is an economic asset, too. The stories, businesses, institutions, artists, neighborhoods and cultural traditions that shape a community are part of its intellectual and cultural capital. If we don’t intentionally preserve them, someone else eventually defines their value or their profits from them without the community benefiting.
I’m interested in creating a future where our history isn’t simply remembered; it is leveraged. Where preservation creates opportunity. Where culture creates jobs, ownership, investment and influence.
As Nashville grows, what did you see as an untapped opportunity for the city to capitalize on?
Nashville has done an incredible job building a global brand around music and now hospitality and entertainment. I believe the next opportunity is to recognize the seven layered caked of the culture itself as infrastructure and capital.
There is tremendous value in Nashville’s Black cultural legacy, its historic corridors, its entrepreneurs, its institutions, its creative talent, and the communities that have shaped the city for generations.
The opportunity is to move beyond celebrating culture to actually building economic models around it, cultural districts, heritage tourism, real estate, entrepreneurship, investment, and experiences that allow communities to participate in the wealth their culture generates.
That’s where I see the future.
How do you hope MOJO Impact continues to play a pivotal role in the city’s growth?
I want MOJO to continue moving upstream, but MOJO is now a part of a larger enterprise of companies ready to move us forward at the speed of the city we live in.
We’ve spent years helping organizations tell their stories. The next chapter is helping communities, institutions, and visionary leaders build the stories they want the future to tell.
MOJO Impact Collective is a strategic force at the intersection of culture, development, communications, and economic opportunity. I want us at the table when the big ideas are being imagined so they don’t flat on the culture and not just when it’s time to market them.
Our role is to connect vision to people, people to opportunity, and opportunity to measurable impact. Ultimately, I want MOJO to help Nashville become a city where growth doesn’t erase identity and makes room for all people to thrive.
When you are not working and serving, what is your favorite spot right now to unwind and chill in Nashville?
Honestly, I’m learning to appreciate places where I can slow down, have good food, listen to good music, and just be present.
Nashville has so many new spots opening daily that remind you why people fall in love with this city in the first place. But my favorite “spot” may be less about a specific address and more about being somewhere with good energy, great conversation, and absolutely nowhere I need to be next.
I’m big on loving your minutes. So when I get the opportunity to unplug, I want to actually unplug. Give me good people, good music, something delicious, and a little room to breathe. That’s a pretty perfect Nashville night.
Photography credit: Monchiere Holmes-Jones and Elle Danielle
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