Senior Leadership
Kristen Hieskel
Biography coming soon. We're excited to introduce the story, experience, and passion Kristen brings to the LIFE 101 leadership team.
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The Vision Behind the MovementStronger people build stronger communities - starting here.
LIFE 101 Virginia was created to pursue unprecedented change - not through short-term programs, but through practical, human-centered solutions that strengthen individuals, families, and entire communities from the inside out.
- Richmond, Virginia
- Founded on relationship
- Year One: Youth Transitioning From Foster Care
- 501(c)(3) nonprofit
Why We Exist
A vision rooted in community.
LIFE 101 wasn't built as another program on a long list of services. It was built as a response - to the young people who age out of systems built to protect them, and to the communities that too often watch potential go unmet for lack of a single, consistent hand to hold.
We believe unprecedented change is possible when solutions are practical, relationships are real, and support doesn't expire when a young person turns eighteen. That belief is the foundation everything else is built on.
- Individuals
- Families
- Communities
- Generations
Our Vision
Lasting change begins with people - and moves outward from there.
Strong individuals build strong families.
Strong families build thriving neighborhoods.
Thriving neighborhoods strengthen cities.
Strong cities inspire future generations.
This is not a metaphor - it's our strategy. Every mentorship, every life-skills session, every conversation is an investment in a chain reaction that reaches far beyond the person sitting across from us.
Leadership With Purpose
The people behind LIFE 101.
LIFE 101 began with a vision - and it's stewarded every day by people who treat that vision as a long-term responsibility, not a title. Meet the team building it, one decision at a time.
Founder & Visionary
Shelita Salley
“One conversation can change the entire direction of a young person's life.”
Biography coming soon. We're excited to share the story, experience, and passion behind Shelita's vision for LIFE 101 as the organization continues to grow.
Senior Leadership Team
Stewarding the vision, together.
Senior Leadership
Sheila Garden
Biography coming soon. We're excited to introduce the story, experience, and passion Sheila brings to the LIFE 101 leadership team.
Director of Finance
Tawanda James
Biography coming soon. We're excited to introduce the story, experience, and passion Tawanda brings to the LIFE 101 leadership team.
Director of Technology
Gabriel Adinga
Biography coming soon. We're excited to introduce the story, experience, and passion Gabriel brings to the LIFE 101 leadership team.
Year One
A starting point, not a limit.
Our first chapter is focused on young people transitioning out of foster care - a moment defined less by what they lack than by what no one has offered them yet: a consistent adult, a practical skill set, and a real shot at opportunity.
Year One is where the model gets built, tested, and proven - mentorship that lasts, life skills that stick, and pathways into careers and leadership that carry far beyond a single program cycle.
- Mentorship
- Life Skills
- Career Readiness
- Leadership
- Community
- Confidence
How We Grow
One square mile at a time.
From Year One, we expand throughout Richmond - one square mile at a time, identifying community needs and creating solutions that lead to lasting transformation.
01
Identify the need.
We listen first - to families, mentors, and the neighborhoods themselves.
02
Build the relationship.
Trust is the infrastructure everything else is built on.
03
Create the solution.
Practical, community-shaped programs - not one-size-fits-all fixes.
04
Expand outward.
What works takes root, then travels to the next square mile.
Year One → Richmond → Virginia → Beyond
Our Philosophy
Sustainable change happens through relationships, not interventions.
We believe one transformed life doesn't stop with the person it changes. It reaches their families, their schools, their neighborhoods, and their communities - shaping the future generations who will grow up watching what became possible.
Why Richmond
Meaningful change starts close to home.
Richmond is a city built on resilience - a place that has rewritten its own story more than once, carried forward by people who refused to let its potential go unrealized. That same spirit is why LIFE 101 begins here.
Our neighborhoods hold history, culture, and community in equal measure. We believe the people who call Richmond home are its greatest asset - and that investing in them is how a city, and eventually a Commonwealth, moves forward together.
The Road Ahead
From one relationship to generational change.
Today
Building the foundation
Mentor networks, community partnerships, and the infrastructure for Year One.
Year One
The pilot
Mentorship and life-skills training for youth transitioning from foster care.
Richmond
One square mile at a time
Expanding into neighborhoods across the city, one identified need at a time.
Virginia
Beyond city limits
Carrying a proven model to communities across the Commonwealth.
Expanding
Communities
Communities
Wherever the need is
Every community that needs us becomes the next square mile.
Generational
Transformation
Transformation
The long view
Stronger people. Stronger families. Stronger cities, for generations to come.
Changing one life strengthens an entire community.LIFE 101
Continue the Journey
The next chapter is still being written.
A vision only becomes a movement when people choose to be part of it. Become a partner by joining our team, or help carry it into the next square mile.