Your past is a chapter. Not your identity.
Your past is a chapter.NOT YOUR IDENTITY.
Empowering students to break cycles and build brighter futures.
Strengthening communities through second chances and restoration.
Creating inclusive workplaces that value growth and redemption.
Powerful keynotes that leave a lasting impact.
Encouraging hope, healing, and transformation.
Bringing messages of hope and change behind the walls.
Nerika Jenkins is a powerful motivational speaker and reentry advocate whose life is a testimony of accountability, resilience, redemption, and second chances.
Nerika is the founder of A Woman's Worth Project, a nonprofit supporting justice-impacted women, youth, and families as they rebuild their lives with dignity and purpose.
Book Nerika for your next event and inspire your audience to live beyond the label.
Founded 2018 · Atlanta, GA
A Woman's Worth Project was founded by Nerika Jenkins in March 2018, born from her own journey through incarceration and her determination to help women and girls reclaim their worth.
The nonprofit walks alongside women returning home from prison, helping them navigate the barriers of reentry — obtaining identification and documents, finding stable housing, meeting day-to-day needs, and reuniting with family and community — all while preserving their dignity.
Mental-health counseling, post-incarceration therapy, and recovery from domestic and sexual violence.
Life and professional-skills training plus self-care practices that build lasting stability.
A safe, supportive home — an evidence-based way to reduce recidivism and rebuild.
Outreach in schools, organizations, and communities to uplift women and girls.
Built on a simple belief — that every woman can embrace who she is, shape her own future, and change her world.
Booking her to speak, a media request, or exploring a partnership? Share a few details and her team will be in touch.
Prefer to email? Reach Nerika directly at n.jenkins@awwp2018.org
Nerika Jenkins is a powerful motivational speaker, reentry advocate, nonprofit leader, and founder of A Woman’s Worth Project, Inc., an organization dedicated to empowering justice-impacted women, youth, and families. Her life journey is a testament to resilience, redemption, and the transformative power of second chances.
Before her incarceration, Nerika made choices that led her down a path of involvement in drug-related activities. In 1997, at the age of 25, she was convicted in federal court and sentenced to 230 months in prison for conspiracy with intent to distribute cocaine and cocaine base. As a young mother facing a lengthy prison sentence, she experienced firsthand the devastating impact incarceration has on individuals, families, and communities.
While incarcerated, Nerika refused to let her circumstances define her future. During her 12 years in federal prison, she committed herself to personal growth, education, and self-reflection. She participated in vocational training, developed leadership skills, and began rebuilding her sense of purpose. Through perseverance and determination, she transformed a period of confinement into a season of preparation for a better future.
Released from federal prison on May 14, 2008, Nerika faced the challenges many formerly incarcerated individuals encounter: rebuilding her life, finding employment, restoring relationships, and overcoming stigma. Rather than allowing barriers to stop her, she pursued higher education, earning a bachelor’s degree in Public Health Education from William Paterson University.
In 2018, she founded A Woman’s Worth Project, Inc., a nonprofit organization focused on supporting justice-impacted women, survivors of abuse, homeless veterans, and underserved families. Through initiatives such as the Next Level Support House, mentorship programs, workforce development, and community advocacy, Nerika has helped countless individuals navigate successful reentry and personal transformation.
Today, Nerika speaks at high schools, colleges, community organizations, conferences, faith-based institutions, and correctional settings, sharing her story of accountability, redemption, and purpose. Her message challenges audiences to look beyond labels, recognize human potential, and understand that mistakes do not have to determine a person’s future.
Through her signature “Beyond the Label Tour,” Nerika inspires audiences to overcome adversity, embrace personal responsibility, and discover the strength to create lasting change in their lives and communities.