Community Meets Jo Kelley
By Roxane Park
From a first-generation college student to corporate worker, to owner of a local cafe Cup of Joe, and Assistant Mayor of Portsmouth, NH, Joanna “Jo” Kelley has done it all.
On Feb. 17, Kelley joined an eager group of Exonians in the Forum to share her experiences as the first Black elected official of Portsmouth, NH, as well as her journey to where she is today.
Courtesy of Portsmouth NH
Having lived in Portsmouth for all of her life, Kelley certainly knows the ins and outs of the city. Yet she noted that her biracial identity (Kelley is half Black, half white), has caused some people, especially on the campaign trail, to ask her where she’s “really” from. During her campaign for assistant mayor in 2021, she had to show a photo of herself as a young child in front of the local Strawbery Banke Museum to prove she is actually a Portsmouth native.
“Just because you don’t think I should be from here, just because you don’t think that people like me live here, doesn’t mean I’m not from here,” Kelley said.
Before being the first person in her family to attend college, Kelley shared her experience growing up in and out of foster care, as well as with her conservative grandparents. “I think that I’m a little more understanding when it comes to where people come from on certain topics,” she answered in response to a question by Dean of Multicultural Affairs Hadley Camilus on how this conservative upbringing affected her. “I’m trying to bridge the gap, and learn where that balance is.”
“I’m biracial,” she said, “raised a hundred percent by my White family. To me, the terms ‘Black’ and ‘White’ are very identifying factors. The White part of my family is well represented. It’s the Black part of me, that predominant part of me, that I am equally as proud of and somewhat prouder of because of the struggles that inherently come with being a person of color that I’ve had to overcome.” Kelley’s racial identity became something that defined her experiences, even when she didn’t want it to. For example, Kelley often has to prove she’s related to her niece when she picks her up from daycare. Or how there’s some confusion when she mentions that her grandfather is a mason at the temple. Or when she pushes for DEI training at work, people assume she’s referring only to race topics.
“Everything I touch on,” she says, “somebody’s gonna bring it back to me being Black, which isn’t always a negative, but it’s about equality for everyone we’re talking about, you know what I mean? Socio-economics, race, gender, sexuality, handicaps, mental education levels, all different types of things.”
Other times, Kelley feels the responsibility to champion her heritage in her role in office. She described the time when she met President Joseph Biden last year, and chose to put her hair into braids in order to represent the Black community.
“It’s important for me that, if a little girl looks at that photo and sees me with braids, they can know that they can have braids and meet the president.”
When asked by facilitator and Assistant Director of Equity and Inclusion Kevin Pajaro-Mariñez what Black resistance means to her, Kelley said that first and foremost, it means “giving a voice to people that don’t feel that they have a voice. Black resistance is resisting the narrative that you have to assimilate, that you have to lose your identity to be an American. So much about it to me is respecting the culture, expanding it, and making sure that the history is known.”
In this context, she shared the stories of Wentworth Cheswell, a mixed-race man who was one of the riders with Paul Revere up to Portsmouth in the 1700s and became the first African-American ever elected during the Revolutionary War. Another she shared was the story of Oney Judge Staines, a woman enslaved to George and Martha Washington who escaped to New Hampshire. Kelley emphasized that both of these African-American figures have an importance in the state’s history but are never celebrated, and it is her mission to change that.
Other goals she has in mind (aside from becoming the first Black Delegate in the Federal Government for New Hampshire) during her office are making sure that housing and food pantries are accessible to everyone. As someone who grew up without those resources, she feels especially accountable to provide support to people in need.
That accountability extends to her personal business, Cup of Joe, which is a much-loved local cafe in Portsmouth. Five years ago and despite her personal dislike of coffee, she opened it with her business partner who is coincidentally also named Joe Kelley and one of the founders of the Thirsty Moose Chain. Over time, Cup of Joe became both a booming success and a safe place for her employees.
“It’s the Black part of me, that predominant part of me, that I am equally as proud of and somewhat prouder of because of the struggles that inherently come with being a person of color that I’ve had to overcome.”
Kelley’s pride lies in her ability to offer generous wages, paid family leave, and paid vacations to her bartenders and baristas. This fosters a supportive environment that has grown into a community, especially for younger women, people of color, and queer-identifying people, and has allowed her to reach out and touch the lives of others.
Sitting in the forum in front of such a powerful, ambitious, and accomplished woman was an inspiration. Before leaving, she imparted three lessons from her various careers as advice to her listeners.
1) Her personal motto: If she can help someone in five minutes, even if that just means a reference to another person or a single phone call, she’ll make the time to do it.
2) Remove yourself from decisions, switch your perspective, and make sure that you would still make them if you weren’t personally involved.
3) You really have to like yourself, because the world will chew you up and try to tell you who you are, but in the end, you’re the person who will support yourself the most.
The assistant mayor acknowledged how far she has come: “I never thought I’d be here. Now, I get to come and do things like this. I get to meet people. I get to go and testify in Concord on legislation that will repeal the Divisive Concepts Bill. I was blown away by learning about the appreciation and awareness of different cultures here at Exeter. Knowing how many other first-generation students there are here is amazing.”
