SUPERPOWER: Love and compassion
Bakery Manager, Fruits of Labor
Jessie Walton, a Greenbrier County native, never thought her childhood dream of becoming a chef would come true. “You don’t see a lot of chefs coming out of Quinwood,” she says with a laugh. Although her path to the restaurant business wasn’t easy, she has excelled in her work and now inspires others who have had similar struggles.
“From about 2001 to 2014, I was pretty heavily into drugs, and I got into some trouble,” Walton admits. She was assigned to the Greenbrier County Day Report program, which recommended Fruits of Labor, a cafe and bakery in Rainelle, for job training and employment. Fruits of Labor supports recovery efforts for individuals with substance use disorder by offering training at its nationally certified Culinary and Agricultural Training Center, then careers in one of its cafes or bakeries.
In 2014, Walton was accepted into the program, where she learned about cooking, family, and friendships. “It was just absolutely what I was missing in my life,” she says. Tammy Jordan, the founder of Fruits of Labor, and her parents made a lasting impact on Walton and her recovery. “We were valued as people,” Walton says. “It made a huge mark on someone who had been an outcast.”
Although her recovery wasn’t a straight path, she was welcomed back into the program with open arms after a relapse and a brief stint in jail. Jordan not only mentored her, but entrusted her with leading the bakery during the COVID-19 pandemic. Walton excelled in the role and now works as the bakery manager for the Rainelle location.
“A lot of my job now is training and teaching the new girls who come into the program. That’s my big role, and that’s my heart—seeing the girls grow in their recovery and learn, seeing their hands create these beautiful projects in the end,” Walton says. “It means the world to me to be able to identify with where they are when they first come in and give them the courage, strength, and confidence to grow to become who they can be.”
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Since 2014 WV Living magazine has been honoring West Virginia Wonder Women, amazing women who are raising the bar in their communities, serving as beacons of light in their industries, and forcing change for the greater good. WV Living is proud to celebrate these Appalachian mothers, millennials, and mavens proving that in a time full of uncertainty, divisiveness, and hate, love for one another is all we really need. No need for bulletproof bracelets or a golden lasso of truth—these women are creating a better West Virginia with their can-do attitudes and Mountain State spirit.
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