Jammy is the daughter of Hector Luis Torres and Glorisel Caraballo, both Puerto Rican migrants who settled in Boston, Massachusetts (occupied land of the Massachusett, Wampanoag and Nipmuc people). In her young adulthood, she learned about the identity intersections and complexities that comes with being a Puerto Rican on the mainland. Learning that in her body ran blood of African Slaves, Taino peoples and colonizers from Spain, she began to explore her connections to all of those peoples and how they show up in her body, and in her mind. Soon enough, she embraced her indigenous and African roots but struggled with learning about her Spanish roots and how she may have inherited anti-blackness through her bloodline. While working to unlearn this, as a Behavior Support Team Lead in a public k-12 school, she was introduced to the insidious, disproportionate impact of punitive school disciplinary practices on Black and Brown youth. Experiencing body shock and vicarious trauma due to learning about the school to prison pipeline, she came to embrace Restorative Justice in her search for eradicating punitive responses to student behavior and healing.
She will tell you though, that her journey with Restorative Justice actually began back in 2008, when through her Peace and Conflict Resolution course in her undergrad days, she felt a deep sense of intuitive connection to conflict resolution and peace building; due to her own desires to heal conflict within herself. She was chosen by her professor, Michelle Cromwell PhD, who founded a non-profit, youth development organization called Multicultural Village. She was brought on board to be the Village Intern in the MCV summer camp based in the rainforest village, Cumaca, Trinidad and Tobago. This camp was intended to support youth that had been impacted by trauma and other adverse childhood experiences.
With much to heal and grow from at that time, she was called out by her mentor and professor multiple times throughout the experience for not truly being open to connection with the community, for thinking her intentions were more important than her impact and doubting whether or not she (Jammy) was there for the right reasons (ouch, right?). That changed Jammy’s perspective instantly. Because of that, she was able to make an impact through relationship building (the best way she knew how) and simply listening to the stories and life experiences of other village members both young and old, for the remainder of her time there. This gave birth to a new worldview and perspective of service and community building to Jammy, so much that just a few years later, because of that experience in Cumaca, and because of being held accountable by Michelle, she was accepted to serve as a “Healthy Youth Program” Peace Corps volunteer, in the mountain kingdom of Lesotho, Africa.
From there, Jammy entered the world of education as a Family Engagement Coordinator and then later taking on positions like Behavior Support Team Lead, Director of School Climate and Restorative Practices and finally returning back to her Alma Mater, where it all began, to serve as the Director of Restorative Practices and Community Standards. In this role, Jammy managed the strategic planning, whole-school implementation and evaluation of the Restorative Justice work on campus. Due to all of her life and professional experiences she has now ventured off on her own as the Founder and Lead Facilitator of StayJust.
Jammy is not just a Restorative Justice Practitioner. She says, “I live this work, it is embedded into the fabric of all that I am, all that I do and my relationship with the world”. She is also a mother to two beautiful Black babies (Nasir and Naima), and life partner to a Black, Haitian man(Jacques); where she believes her true place in the fight for liberation lies. She intends to continue committing to healing and growing so that she may be the best partner possible to Jacques, and “pass down healing and radical love, as a currency for generational wealth” to her children and future generations to come.
