J Hackett is a social scientist and a serial entrepreneur with over 20+ years of community and economic development experience. After returning from prison, he established recovery and re-entry programs, was appointed to the county’s Justice Resource Advisory Council, and created North Carolina’s first state-approved Community Health Worker Apprenticeship program.

He is a TEDx speaker whose cross-sector work has been featured in Forbes Magazine, Yahoo! Finance, NC Bar Journal, and many scholarly journals. 

He is the founder of Grind - Asheville's first Black Owned Coffee Shop. His award-winning business was recognized as the #1 best minority owned business, #3 best coffee shop in the state of North Carolina, and most recently, the #1 fastest-growing startup in Asheville.

J is also the founder of Black Wall Street AVL, the business incubator that helps start, grow, and expand BIPOC businesses in Western North Carolina. He is also an instructor at Lenoir Rhyne Equity and Diversity Institute.

He is married to Dr. Alaysia Black Hackett, who was appointed by President Biden as the Chief Diversity Officer for the US Dept of Labor, and the two have three children. Most of all, he is a diehard fan of Golden Girls - thank you for being a friend.