After graduating from the University of Wisconsin and working in the Madison area, alum Ja’Mel Ware found his source of happiness through a company he founded with friends: Intellectual Ratchet.
Ware, the founder and chief executive of Intellectual Ratchet, spoke at the Multicultural Student Center Thursday evening and discussed the path that led him to his purpose.
Intellectual Ratchet specializes in creating urban entertainment experiences aimed at diverse millennials.
Founded in 2015, Intellectual Ratchet functions as a culture curating brand which aims to address diversity issues in city living.
Ware received his bachelor’s degree in social work at UW. Later, as a graduate student, he worked at the AIDS Network in Madison.
“I felt like I was doing really good work, but I was running up against another system, a system of grants, a money barrier,” Ware said.
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Ware said he received a grant while working at the YWCA to help former prisoners get a job after their release.
While grants give money for specific purposes and have strict guidelines, Ware said he wished to do things differently.
“If my job is to work inside my community, it’s to do what’s best for my community, not what this piece of paper says,” Ware said.
Ware then decided to start Intellectual Ratchet with a friend because he felt like other people were in similar situations where they couldn’t find complete happiness. He needed a place where it was okay to “just exist.”
Ware said that while he and other students of color don’t always feel welcome in the city or state — especially when it comes to finding a job — Madison taught him a lot about himself.
“[Madison] gave me the language to understand my identity, it gave me the knowledge to understand the system, and I like the challenge of ensuring other people find the beauty of this place,” Ware said.
Ware found his happiness by finding his purpose of leading Intellectual Ratchet rather than following orders of others, Ware said.
Intellectual Ratchet works on giving people a creative space, Ware said. He believes that creativity allows others to give solutions to the challenges presented by society.
“I hope one day that you are able to find that thing that charges you that much,” Ware said. “I wake up every morning excited to do what I do, and I never had that feeling before. The past three years of my life have been the best because I have reason. I found my ‘why’.”
