Dr. Jaleesa Renee Wells is a creative social entrepreneur, art and social scientist, and transdisciplinary scholar based in Kentucky, USA.
The Creative Social Entrepreneur.
Only since 2022 have I considered myself an entrepreneur, especially a creative social entrepreneur. My artistic practice, however, has always had a connection to innovation and enterprise. One of my first entrepreneurial ventures was designing and hand sewing trousers for my family members when I was a pre-teen. Today, my praxis as a creative social entrepreneur informs my scholarship and community practices, and vice versa.
I’ve embarked on a journey to uncover my creative social entrepreneurial self by participating in a variety of accelerator and incubator programs. I’ve been awarded seed funding towards the continued development of my creative social enterprise: BossiRainbow™ LLC.
Enterprise Portfolio
Founder and Chief Executive Officer, BossiRainbow™ LLC, 2019–present
The Culture & Enterprise Scholar.
I am the co-founding and inaugural director of certificates in creative social entrepreneurship—the first-ever program of study in this area—and an assistant professor of arts administration at the University of Kentucky, where I design and deliver educational lessons on the subjects on leadership, legal environments, equality, and creative social entrepreneurship in the creative economy. I have authored publications on hybrid entrepreneurial contexts and concepts, social accounting in the museum context, entrepreneuring as a vehicle for creative emancipation, and Black women’s experiences in higher educational institutions. To date, I’ve won multiple research funding and curriculum development awards, raising over $350,000 towards my research and curricular development efforts.
Current Appointments & Positions.
Director, Certificates in Creative Social Entrepreneurship, University of Kentucky
Assistant Professor, Arts Administration, University of Kentucky
Selected Awards, Honors, & Accomplishments.
President’s Award for Best Paper by an Early Career Researcher
39th Annual Conference for the Institute for Small Business and Entrepreneurship, Paris, France
Best PhD Paper Award
8th International Social Innovation Research Conference, Glasgow, UK
The Socially Engaged Citizen.
A critical foundation of my evolution as a creative social entrepreneur and culture and enterprise scholar is the service I completed as an AmeriCorps member from 2011 - 2013 with the Homeless and Housing Coalition of Kentucky and Habitat for Humanity of Metro Louisville. It is from this experience that I was commissioned as a Kentucky Colonel in the Honorable Order of Kentucky Colonels by the Governor of Kentucky, in 2012.
National & Community Service.
AmeriCorps, 2011-2013
Homeless and Housing Coalition of Kentucky & Habitat for Humanity Metro Louisville
Selected Awards, Honors, & Accomplishments.
Colonel, Honorable Order of Kentucky Colonels
Education.
PhD in Entrepreneurship, Strathclyde Business School, Glasgow UK
Certificate in Women’s Entrepreneurship, Cornell University
PgCert in Research Methodology in Business and Management, Strathclyde Business School
MA in Arts Administration and Policy, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago
BSc in Theatre and Business Administration, University of Evansville, Evansville Ind.