Q: Tell us about you and the organization you work for.

BW: “My name is Bayron Wilson. I am the chief operating officer and co-founder of Urban Alchemy, alongside the legendary Dr. Lena Miller, our CEO.”

ICJ: “My name is Ian Clark Johnson. I’m a practitioner with Urban Alchemy serving in a role of director of systems engineer. I’ve been with Urban Alchemy four and a half years.”

BW: “We transform spaces that are [at] an intersection between mental health, substance use, and addiction. There’s no ‘short’ to this work. The work is extremely hard. Heart work. Not hard. But it’s God’s work.

Let’s be clear on this: Urban is not a code word for Black; it just means inner cities and communities. Alchemy means transforming something from a base model to a gold, and that’s what we do.”

Q: What has been your journey to where you are now?

BW: “Our CEO Lena Miller talks about how many of the youth [in our community] were experiencing trauma. Well, I was one of those young men. Because of that trauma, I landed in prison with a life sentence… While incarcerated, I worked on myself, and I was able to put my emotional intelligence into context.

After serving ten years, God gave me grace and allowed me to come home to my amazing family. But what I realized at that point was, there were so many incarcerated men that were geniuses. So after I came home, Dr. Miller and I formed this organization, to give back to the community, to grant grace to others.”

ICJ: “After 14 years in prison for a life sentence on a crime I did commit that I take accountability for, I worked hard to turn my life around. I came home with a goal to give back to my community [and] Urban Alchemy was [the] first job I’ve ever had in my life as a practitioner.

It’s about opportunity and understanding that if I do my best every day and continue to do the work and put my head down and focus and communicate — and support with an open heart, open arms, and love — I’m not only creating more opportunities for myself, I’m creating opportunities for other people like me who are coming home with the same goals, to give back to the community. It sounds so simple, but it could be so hard.”

Q: What advice would you give others who want to make transformative change in their communities?

BW: “I think we have to start leading with love. I think we have to start looking at each other as connections. We watched the world isolate, and that didn’t work for a lot of people. So we know we really need connection. We know we need community. We know we need people. We know we need each other, and we got to start with that.”

ICJ: “ The work that we do is very hard. I don’t want to say that’s exclusive to Urban Alchemy. I think that’s the work of social justice and social equity; I believe that we’re walking uphill. We can’t pour from empty cups. We have to take care of ourselves and honor the work that goes into the work. It’s important that we stay rooted in those missions and stay together. We’re stronger together.”

BW: “And if we lead with love and there’s more people on that side, not only will we continue to win, we’ll continue to change… I think it’s not a moment, it’s really a movement. And I think we got to be a part of that change, that movement.”

More on Urban Alchemy.

Urban Alchemy is a Growth Portfolio member and RIIF borrower with a mission to transform people and urban spaces with respect and compassion, and by employing individuals striving to overcome employment barriers.