THE CH RON IC LE
Volume 45, Number 23
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C.
THURSDAY, February 14, 2019
Black History: Trailblazers
Throughout the month of February people across the country will be celebrating the lives and legacies of great
African-Americans who made contributions to society.
Torre Jessup in driver’s seat at N.C. DMV
BY TEVIN STINSON
THE CHRONICLE
Throughout Black
History Month, The
Chronicle will be high
lighting history makers
from right here in our
community who are mak
ing a difference and set
ting an example for oth
ers.
This week we shine
our light on Torre Jessup,
Commissioner of the
North Carolina Division
of Motor Vehicles.
A native of Winston-
Salem and Glenn High
School graduate, Jessup
took his talents to
Morehouse College where
he received a Bachelor of
Arts degree in sociology
with a concentration in
criminal justice. After col
lege Jessup served in the
office of N.C.
Congressman Mel Watt as
district director.
It was with
Congressman Watt that
Jessup said he learned the
importance of public serv
ice.
“He (Watt) recognized
that he was a public ser
vant and he had to be
accessible and available to
the public. He had to be a
Jacinta White
uses poetry to
deal with grief
and aid healing
BY JUDIE HOLCOMB-PACK
THE CHRONICLE
“I went to school for
communications and pub
lic relations,” Jacinta
White explained recently.
“I didn’t know anything
about poetry.”
White has a B.A. in
speech
communications
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voice to those who may
not always have a voice
and he ran his office that
way,” said Jessup. “...
Regardless of party affili
ation, regardless of
socioeconomic status,
everybody got the same
high level service.”
After his tenure with
Congressman Watt, where
he managed outreach and
constituent affairs and set
policy objectives, Jessup
got the opportunity of a
lifetime when he was
asked to work with
President Barack Obama.
In the fall of 2014,
President Obama appoint
ed Jessup to serve as the
regional administrator for
the U.S. General Services
Administration’s
Southeast Sunbelt Region.
“...Public service was
n’t new to me at that point
but it was new to go into
administration and lead
the legislative side of gov
ernment and go to the
executive branch to work
for the first African-
American President of the
United States of America.
That was humbling.”
Jessup said.
As regional adminis
trator Jessup was respon-
and public relations and a
MBA in nonprofit man
agement. She said the idea
of being a poet never
occurred to her until she
wrote her first poem in
1995 while living in
Detroit, Michigan, and
was thrilled when it was
published in Young
Detroiter in 1996. One
month later, her dad died
suddenly of a heart attack
and she started writing
poetry to deal with her
grief.
Her father was a minis
ter and while going
through his things she dis
covered numerous scraps
of paper where he had
written random thoughts.
They revealed a different
side of her father. This
inspired her to collect his
Torre Jessup is the commississionor of N.C. DMV
sible for 1,000 employees
who oversaw the delivery
of real estate, technology,
and procurement solutions
totaling $10 billion to
eight states: Alabama,
Florida, Georgia,
Kentucky, Mississippi,
North Carolina, South
Jacinta White will release her book of poetry
inspired by African-American churches this fall.
writings and put them into
a book that was published
in 1997.
After her father’s
death, White and her
mother moved to
Kernersville to be closer to
Carolina, and Tennessee.
Continuing on his
journey of service,
Jessup’s next stop was
with the U.S. Department
of Transportation
(USDOT). During his
tenure there Jessup served
as the director of the
family. She had continued
to write poetry, but she
said, “I didn’t realize that
poetry was healing my
grief.” That healing
process spawned The
Word Project, which she
Office of Small
Disadvantaged Business
Utilization. Jessup said
his responsibility there
was to oversee two differ
ent programs; one geared
towards helping small
started in 2001. She moved
to Atlanta and at that time
was working with urban
youth. She used poetry to
help them deal with the
challenges they were fac
ing. In 2005 her job
brought her back to the
Triad and she brought The
Word Project with her.
White wanted to create
a broader platform for
healing poetry so in 2013
she founded Snapdragon,
an online literary maga
zine. It has continued to
grow and now receives
submissions from all over
the world. White said that
people who tell her they
don’t like poetry “just
haven’t found the poet that
they like. They need to
keep looking because you
need to hear different voic
es to find the one that
speaks to you.”
A chance conversation
with her uncle, who is a
retired minister, gave her
the idea to visit some of
the rural churches where
her father had preached. At
the first church, she was
inspired to write a poem.
As she explored more
churches, she continued to
be inspired to write.
Walking among the graves
in the cemetery, she
business owners get gov
ernment contracts and the
other ensuring the
USDOT was meeting their
M/WBE requirements.
Jessup also served as
vice president of public
policy and external affairs
at Blue Bloodhound, a
start-up technology com
pany, before taking his
current position with the
N.C. DMV.
Since 2017 Jessup has
managed the daily opera
tions of the N.C. DMV
inducing registration,
drivers licenses, vehicle
safety and inspections. As
you can imagine, an aver
age day for Jessup is pret
ty busy. He said he meets
daily with the leadership
in the organization to dis
cuss the strategic direction
of the N.C. DMV. Jessup
said the leadership of the
N.C. DMV works hard to
ensure safety for citizens
across the state.
“We approve and
authorize the privilege for
individuals to be able to
drive and place vehicles
on our highways and
that’s a very important
responsibility to ensure
See Jessup on A2
thought about the lives of
those buried there and the
stories that could be told.
She knew this was some
thing she had to write
about so she applied for
and received the Duke
Energy Regional Artist
grant. The poems and pic
tures of these rural
African-American church
es will be published in the
fall by Press 53, a local
publishing house.
“Resurrecting The Bones,”
White says, “is a journey
through African-American
churches and cemeteries in
the rural South.”
White has also been
facilitating • New Year’s
Day workshops at The
Healing Ground retreat
center in Summerfield for
over ten years. The work
shops offer attendees an
opportunity to reflect on
the past, meditate, write,
and look to the new year in
a safe and accepting place.
Afterward the group
comes together for a
potluck meal where they
can share their experi
ences. “It’s a great way to
pause and reflect at the end
of the year so I can have
space for what is to come,”
White explained. “This is
where I truly feel the
power of poetry.”
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