Brooklyn Living Legend Adella Jones migrated to Brooklyn from Chicago at an early age. She continues to make strides in journalism and communications and is a role model for young Black women focusing on the fields in which she continues to excel. Below, she narrates her migration and life in our village and hilights of her career.

Adella D. Jones is a veteran strategist and communications professional with experience in legislative affairs, community engagement, media relations and corporate reputational management. She was named Chief of Staff for the Chancellor’s Office at the University of Missouri-St. Louis in January of 2022 Ms. Jones has a portfolio of experience that includes her service as the public information officer for the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department. She served as the St. Louis press secretary for former U.S. Congressman Richard A. Gephardt, as well as vice president of community and government affairs for the Bi-State Development Agency and Metro Transit. As a communications professional with roots in television news as an assignment editor, Ms. Jones has developed and delivered communications strategies for numerous Missouri and St. Louis-based initiatives, including a successful campaign to fund the bi-state region’s mass transit system, as well the launch of the Missouri subsidiary of national healthcare enterprise, Centene Corporation. Ms. Jones is a long-time member of the Greater St. Louis Association of Black Journalists, and a past director of the organization’s Minority Journalism Workshop. She is a member of the board of directors of the American Red Cross Greater St. Louis Chapter and the St. Louis Citizen’s for Modern Transit.

I moved to Brooklyn with my mother Florence Perkins, in 1971 from Chicago, IL., where I was born in 1961.

It was a HUGE difference, leaving my grandparents, cousins and aunts in Chicago, and coming to Brooklyn - a small town with a strong network of huge and connected families. I was alone at age 10, in a different school district and no familiar faces. My mother’s aunt, Manila Terry was married to the former mayor of Brooklyn, Mr. Terry (we called him Uncle Bud). My mother believed that Chicago was growing too dangerous, and looked to a calmer environment in Brooklyn with her aunt, and brother across the river in St. Louis. It was a rough adjustment with me running back to Chicago every summer. Yet, amid the occasional fight, and more-than-healthy amount us bullying, I managed to make friends. First Veronica Millard, as we were neighbors. Then after moving to the Thomas-Terry Homes, if found a group of classmates and friends that have remained in my heart since our first meeting.

It all clicked around the time I turned 12. I was nestled into comfortable friendship with Regina Carter, Darnell Chapman, Doris Stidhum, Karen Rush, Rhonda Pryor and Lisa Sykes. That was the core group. I attended Union Baptists Missionary Baptist Church, where the Reverend Freddie Butler, Sr. was pastor. Oh My GOD, what a time and what a wonderful second family. I was blessed to have that solid foundation of church family at Union Baptist. And, the faith-based influence stretched to the neighborhood where the father of my friend Doris, and her sister Barbara, was Reverend Stidhum. He was a buddy of Reverend Butler’s. I witnessed these two men of God visit hospitals regularly, and pray for their church members, as well as people they didn’t know. They taught me how a real minister operates. I remember Reverend Butler coming by to pray for me when I had Chickenpoxs or the time I almost burned down the apartment after leaving a chicken that Ma had on the stove, as a snuck out to a dance, while she was a church. Yep, Reverend Butler had to come pray for me the next day. Till this day, I have never joined another church because there is no church as loving and nurturing as Union Baptist. It was there that I connected the gift of the faith passed on to me by my grandparents in Chicago, with a church family. It will always hold a special place in my heart.

Jr. High and Highschool were heaven at Lovejoy HS. I would not trade it for anything. I was in the dramatics club, the student council and the band. Lord, I managed to played third clarinet. I had absolutely NO talent or musical skill. We all loved Mr. Hudson, and had NO CLUE how blessed we were to have his talent in our midst. We just enjoyed him fussing at us and actually getting us throughout the parade at the Illinois State Fair in Springfield (I do have a photo of me in my band outfit. I will look high and low for this tonight and at a minimum, have the hat and plume feather).

And Ms Reddick. She is still my champion. She fought for me as our 6th grade teacher. She pushed me, and never let me get comfortable in those times when the work came easy and the grades high. She grounded me and challenged me. I am still in touch with Ms. Reddick. She shaped my idea of what it takes to be a superior educator. I have fond memories of attending Lovejoy Wildcats basketball games in Vandalia, Dupo and other southern Illinois towns. We’d either ride the bus, hitch a ride with Reverend Butler or Pam Crowder would get her mother’s car and drive. But, we made it to every game. It was a wonderful time. I fell in love once, for sure and maybe twice.

Because of my life growing up in Brooklyn, I did not have a hard time making friends, because I always knew how to be a friend and how to recognize good people. I did not have to make endless relationship errors because I stayed in touch with my neighborhood friends, and never had to fake the bond of true friendship. I was not desperate for new, because the old friends were on hand, just as they are today. Barbara Stidhum is still my sister right now. I see Bonita Tillman (Gower) very often, as we’re both members of the St. Louis Chapter of the National Association of Black Journalists. Facebooks keeps me plugged into other friends, and the memories of others who have transitioned on remains strong. Brooklyn is a historic place, founded upon the dreams and hopes of newly freed slaves. It still can be a generous place, as it was when it opened its arms and heart to a 10-year old, new girl from Chicago. It took time, but it was a love worth waiting for and fighting for . . . in the end.