434 | Winter 2021

Heading NORTH Central Virginian Freddy Jackson spreads love with C’ville-based youth foundation By Shea Gibbs

TRISTAN WILLIAMS

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roubled youth to mentor and motivational speaker, a classic tale. But Freddy Jackson’s path has been his own. Five years ago, he launched the Love No Ego Foundation in Charlottesville to help young people—and other demographics—better themselves. Jackson grew up in Buckingham County, a rural community an hour’s drive almost due south of C’ville. His mom, a “soldier for love” and devout churchgoer for most of his life, had him when she was 16. His dad was a “street guy” who didn’t finish high school and instead fell into drugs and criminal activity. “He’s still alive and in my life. I love him to death,” Jackson says. “But I could see and experience the consequences of his decisions.” Growing up, Jackson was poor but didn’t know it. His mother and siblings “were focused on love and playing and being joyous.” But all around him, the street took its toll. Jackson says he can think of only one of his childhood friends who didn’t go to jail or die at a young age. If it sounds like Jackson was set up for a major fall and subsequent redemption, leading to his founding the Love No Ego Foundation, it never really came. He made it out of his troubled youth. He was the second person in his family to graduate high school. He was the first to go to college, where he excelled as a basketball player and earned a degree in broadcast journalism. Jackson moved to the West Coast after graduation and launched a career as a musician. He produced multiple hip-hop and gospel albums. He wrote and produced songs for other artists. He collected masters degrees as he went. He was successful. But he soon found he was unhappy.

“I destroyed a lot of relationships,” Jackson says. “I saw how my ego was limiting my blessings, my miracles. Once I figured that out, I took accountability for it, and everything shifted, everything changed.” If Jackson had a rock bottom, it was a mental rock bottom. He saw ego all around him—in the music industry, in sports, the media, everywhere. He wanted out. The relationship Jackson felt he was damaging the most through his ego and selfishness—”doing the same things I saw my dad and uncles and that culture do”— was his girlfriend at the time. He decided to embrace love. Jackson got married, and moved back to Virginia in 2012. He and his wife transplanted to Charlottesville in 2016. That’s when Jackson started work on his foundation. Love No Ego is a nonprofit built on Jackson’s charisma, motivational speak-

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Freddy Jackson started the Love No Ego nonprofit to help young people choose "communication over conflict."

ing, and mentorship. Today, it includes about 12 people making up a board, mentors, and volunteer team. The goal is to push young people to embrace love over ego and fear and “communication over conflict.” It’s built on spirituality, exercise, education, and community, and provides speaking engagements, a mentoring program, workshops, and fitness and wellness programs. Jackson and his team travel regionally and have delivered their message at high schools, colleges, and residential treatment facilities. They hold an annual cleanup in Buckingham County. According to Jackson, the Love No Ego message is more relevant these days than ever. The divisions we see in politics, race, and elsewhere come from our own selfishness. “Before you are a Democrat or a Republican, before I am Black or white, we want to emphasize that we are human first,” Jackson says. “We are all in this thing together.” 434  21