It’s one thing to change careers in the middle of a pandemic but this mother did it to honor her late son.
Lauraette Jones went from working in IT for more than 20 years to opening her own company with Amazon to fulfill her 26-year-old son’s dreams.
Jones is a mother of five and comes to work with a smile, but behind that smile is a story that isn’t so happy.
“I wasn’t able to say goodbye. The only thing I have is a photo while I was on the phone with him taking his last breath,” Jones said.
Jones’ son, Marquese Bailey, died in February 2021 at the age of 26. He was battling glioma cancer, a disease that attacks the spine and brain. He was diagnosed at 16 years old and had several surgeries.
In August 2020, doctors told Marquese he was healthy but that he needed to do one more round of chemo -- he didn’t want to.
“He figured that he knew that that was going to be a lifelong battle for him,” Jones said. “He fought, he was a fighter and he fought all the way until the end, until he just felt like he couldn’t fight anymore.”
Another goal of his was to launch an Amazon DSP, a third-party company contracted to provide Amazon drivers. Initially, Jones brushed it off.
“When he passed away, I got to be honest and tell you there were a lot of things that happen and that came back to me, this would be a great way to honor him,” Jones said. “So I put in an application.”
She makes it look easy, but getting to this point was the opposite.
“I lost a daughter to suicide because she was so close to Marquese. That was happening while I was launching,” Jones said.
Her daughter, Carla Bailey, was 26 years old and was living in North Carolina.
Jones misses both children dearly.
Now, motherhood isn’t the same; there’s the pain but there’s also a newfound purpose.
“My job, I believe, is to honor every child that I can, which is why I’m really heavy and deep-rooted in the community,” Jones said. “I recently did an Easter egg hunt, I would have never thought in a million years that I will be doing these big things for our community. So when I say I have changed as an individual, I really don’t want to see any children hurt.”
In April 2022 she launched and named the company ALM Freight and which stands for Always Loves Marquese.
“What I do in the hiring process is I make sure that I tell the story, why I’m here, and I really do that because I want people to connect with me. I know everybody’s going through something. And I really do believe honestly that I’m here to help people,” Jones said. “So when they go out every day, they understand the mission is bigger than them.”
She said the switch in careers has helped fund all the community events she now puts on. She believes both of her late children, especially Marquese, would be extremely proud of how her company is making a difference.