Jamie Fleming
A Legacy of Service and Humility
story by JENNIFER BROWN-CARPENTER photos by TIM NELSON ONE ELEVEN PHOTO
The late Billy Graham once said, “The greatest legacy one can pass on to one’s children and grandchildren is not money or other material things accumulated in one’s life, but rather a legacy of character and faith.” This applies to our children and grandchildren as well as the children of the community. The next generation. Every day there are countless opportunities to serve in areas of youth development and that has always been a priority for Jamie Fleming.
Jamie Fleming may not have been born in Beaufort but calls himself a “Beaufort native.” Born in Norfolk, Virginia, he was brought to Beaufort by his birth mother when he was just a baby. He was given to his parents, Paul and Lenora Fleming, who later adopted him and his older brother. He attended and graduated from Battery Creek High School. Immediately following Jamie’s graduation, he joined the United States Air Force. He was stationed at McGuire Air Force Base in New Jersey. He was an active participant in Operation Enduring Freedom after the attacks on September 11, 2001. His unit deployed immediately after 9/11. He was an under-ranking airman but knew that he wanted to go. He was only around 20 years old at the time. “I might not have felt particularly patriotic before that, but after… it just felt like the thing to do. I felt the need to defend the people who had died.” Jamie was deployed for right around 11 months, and it was an eye-opening experience for him.
After finishing up his military career, Jamie attended Rutgers University. While there, he started writing and performing poetry in the tri-state area. He was featured on radio stations, won various competitions, and was able to work with different artists.
After finishing college, he returned to Beaufort, unsure of his future. He had always been a creative person and started to flex those muscles again. He opened a recording studio. At the same time, he was doing some work with Hopeful Horizons, a children’s advocacy center and a safe space for those suffering from domestic violence or rape. “That was insightful work, and it changed my life.”
Jamie saw that many young people wanted to be around his recording studio. He decided to use his abilities to impact them. He never allowed drugs in his studio, keeping it a safe haven for people of all ages, but especially for younger people. Jamie was able to help these young people find their voices and ignite their passions.
Jamie and some of his cohorts worked together to create a program that utilized digital media arts, focusing on recording arts and performing arts, to holistically and academically help young people (between the ages of 12 to 18). They partnered with the Boys and Girls Club Teen Center, which was in Beaufort at the time, to run this program. They were fully supported by the Director of the Boys and Girls Club, Mr. Sam Burke, and the Teen Center director, Laura Vogel Holley. They ran that program for a few years, partnering with USCB and driving the program using data and support from research garnered by the Carnegie Mellon Institute. They created something that changed young people’s lives and also changed Jamie’s life in the process. Through the program, young people were flourishing. The program was called L.O.U.D. Living Out Ur Dreams. For Jamie, it was never about the kids becoming recording artists or poets. He cared about these kids finding their voices and being empowered enough to use them. The program started with about 20-30 kids and grew to two sites with around 60-65 kids, in addition to providing in-school LOUD sessions at Battery Creek and ACE. The kids who were active in the poetry portion of the program were later asked to participate in an HBO documentary. These were kids from Seabrook, Sheldon, and St. Helena Island, who might never have had an opportunity like this otherwise. It was a life-changing experience.
At its purest, the program was about project-based learning. Through one of their cohorts, they sent one of their instructors to Zayed University UAE to start providing instruction on using this type of project-based learning during the school day instead of confining it to after-school hours.
Jamie was part of another amazing program called Poetry and Pancakes. It was an event hosted on the last Friday of every month, where people could come for as little as $10 and get all-you-can-eat pancakes while listening to slam poetry. There were about 30 people on the first night, and on the 2nd anniversary, there were over 200 people. They featured some fantastic poets, including S. Pearl Sharp, a screenwriter for the Roots TV series.
Following all of this, Jamie experienced some personal setbacks. He had encountered some different struggles and decided to leave Beaufort. He was looking to clear his head. He lived in Florida and worked for the National Guard, where he worked in their Child and Youth Programs. He was doing work that he loved once again, being able to stay true to his passion: youth development.
Eventually, he came back to Beaufort. He married Jennifer Fleming and has a son, Gavin. He created his own company, 1212 Design. 1212 Design curates digital assets for brands and organizations. Some of their clients have included USCB, an opportunity with the partnership of Mindflint, Q on Bay, Breakwater, Councilman Mitch Mitchell’s Campaign, nonprofits around Beaufort, and many more. They have clients both nationally and internationally.
Jamie is still running his company but also working for the Beaufort County Black Chamber of Commerce. He was connected with Ms. Marilyn Harris through a previous client and personal mentor, Councilman Mitch Mitchell, moving forward to create digital assets for her campaign. When Ms. Harris became the Executive Director of the Black Chamber of Commerce, they were reconnected. In the end, Jamie began working as the Program Manager for the Chamber, continuing his passion for community engagement and impact. “Ms. Marilyn is a true leader and mentor. Her consistent grace and fierce intellect will help the Chamber further its course as a real pillar of community advancement.”
So, who do you attribute your greatest successes to? When you look back on your life, the good and the bad, who gets the credit? Is it yourself? Maybe an aunt or uncle, a good friend? Or maybe, like Jamie Fleming, it’s your parents.
Jamie has had successes and failures in life, and he says that “anything that may be of any value in my life, any success I have, is truly owed to my parents.” Jamie’s parents are the icons in his life. They have taught him what it looks like to be agents of change, but also agents of servitude. “My parents are both 93; they are considerably older than parents of my peers. They literally are angels in my life and are true products of the Jim Crow Era. My mother worked for some of the families here in Beaufort. Some people whom she worked for were kind to her, considering the time and circumstances, and some didn’t treat her as human based on the color of her skin. But my mother never let a malignant climate stop her. I have watched them have such a zeal and a vision for life. When my father retired, he opened his own business doing landscaping. He invested in property. I just marvel at that. Here are two people who have gone through so much and still have the ambition and the courage to create a proud and sustainable livelihood… My entrepreneurial spirit is derived from that.”
Jamie says he has learned so much about tenacity and humility from his parents. “My mother shared with me that her great-grandmother, who was alive when mom was young, was sold as an enslaved person on a table. They stripped her clothes and sold her as if she was nothing. But her spirit was fierce, and no man could strip that. That human perseverance, tenacity, and strength is my family’s legacy.” His parents taught him that he could be the change that he wanted to see in the world. They have loved Jamie, supported him, cared for him, and pushed him toward greatness. They have reminded him to take a step back and look at the big picture when necessary. He credits them with everything he is, everything he has, and everything he will do. “My father taught me what it is to be a man who dotes on his wife and provides for his family. My mother showed me an unwavering faith in God and what true resiliency looks like.” Jamie knows that he’s blessed to have parents who have shown up for him in so many ways. “My birth parents were unable to be my parents for whatever reasons, but my mom and dad showed up and took me in at such a later stage in their lives. What greater love than to lay down your life for another person –that is who my parents are.” He counts himself blessed to be able to do the same for his own son. The legacy continues.
