Nicolas Jones is a professional speaker, youth development strategist, and the founder and CEO of The Nicolas Jones Group LLC — a consulting firm built to equip students in grades 6 through 12 with the emotional intelligence, resilience, and sense of purpose they need to move through adversity and step into the fullness of who they are.
Nicolas's story begins where many of his students' stories begin — with abandonment. Walked away from by his father at a young age, he grew up navigating questions about identity, worth, and belonging that no child should have to answer alone. What kept him standing was the village that refused to let him fall: four women — his mother, grandmother, aunt, and godmother — who poured into him with everything they had. Their investment became his foundation. And when he lost his grandmother to pancreatic cancer in 2016, and his aunt unexpectedly in 2022, he learned the truth that now lives at the center of his message: the hardest chapters of your life are not the end of your story. They are the making of it.
Before stepping fully into his calling, Nicolas built a professional background that spans executive search, real estate, and banking — industries that sharpened his ability to identify potential in people, understand what it takes to build something worth standing behind, and communicate with clarity when the stakes are high. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Theology from Liberty University, an academic foundation that deepened his understanding of identity, human purpose, and what it truly means to help someone find their own.
Nicolas's commitment to young people, however, has never been confined to a stage. As a Teen Development Specialist at the Boys & Girls Club of Stamford, he shows up daily in the kind of spaces where impact is measured not by applause but by consistency — mentoring young people, building trust over time, and doing the unglamorous work of walking alongside youth in their most formative years. It is that same on-the-ground dedication that shapes how TNJG engages every school it partners with.
In 2024, Nicolas founded The Nicolas Jones Group at just 21 years old. At the heart of the company is the R.I.S.E. Experience — a proprietary four-pillar framework he built to guide students through Recognizing what they carry, Identifying the patterns beneath the surface, Shifting their perspective and response, and Elevating into purposeful leadership. Delivered through keynotes, workshops, and multi-session school partnerships, R.I.S.E. has reached students across multiple institutions — including a growing partnership with New York City Public Schools, one of the largest school systems in the country.
The work is not motivational. It is transformational — and the students who experience it leave with tools, not just feelings.
At 22, Nicolas is not speaking to the next generation from a distance. He is one of them — carrying the same questions, shaped by the same kinds of wounds, and proof that the work of rising is not just possible. It is worth it.