Issue link: https://nebusinessmedia.uberflip.com/i/1525409
22 Worcester Business Journal | August 19, 2024 | wbjournal.com PHOTO | JAIME FLORES 4 0 U N D E R F O R T Y Though he opened his private counseling practice R.E.S.T in one of the most challenging times for business, in the midst of the 2020 COVID pandemic, Jusme had already clocked in nearly a decade's worth of work in the mental health field. Since opening, Jusme has grown his practice from one provider to three providers of color on a staff offering a range of expertise including depression treatment, trauma therapy, and racial identity. In addition to R.E.S.T, Jusme has worked at Worcester-based Enlightened Interventions as a clinician since 2016, providing individual and family counseling, crisis intervention, violence prevention, and provider supervision. Supporting the mental health of his community, Jusme offers coun- seling services to parents and students alike at the Nativity School of Worcester every Wednesday during the school year. He has volun- teered in adult hospice and at Springfield-based Shriners Children's New England. In the aftermath of the 2010 Haiti earthquake, in he served as an interpreter for injured children, offering assistance in Haitian Kreyòl. - M.K.M. Would you rather travel back in time to meet your ancestors or to the future to meet your descendants? Definitely the future! Go-to restaurant for a business lunch? Unique Café or NU Kitchen in Worcester What piece of advice guides you? Take the chances that make you a little nervous What is your next immediate goal? I'm writing a guide book for young fathers! Class of 2024 Leonard Jusme, 38 Director R.E.S.T Counseling Services, in Millbury Residence: Worcester Birthplace: Port-au-Prince, Haiti College: American International College Jusme is a talented multitasker, a skill she picked up during her years at AIC pursuing a business management degree, where she balanced classes, being a member of the Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, sup- porting her household, and raising a child. She gained experience as a supplier diversity lead during her nine- year stint at The Hanover Insurance Group in Worcester, serving as a leader within the organization's Kinship Village Business Resource Group, an effort to empower Black employees and the broader insurance community. Jusme now handles supplier diversity for the National LGBT Chamber of Commerce as a vice president at the organization, at a time when many businesses are inter- ested in exploring pathways to increase diversity among their vendors. Jusme has spent time in the last few years volunteering at the Boys & Girls Club of Worcester, helping create literacy kits for Earth Day celebrations, and serving as a volunteer long jump coach for South High Community School. While having a child at 17 wasn't in Jusme's life plan, it turned out to be her life motivation, providing for her daughter to the point where she's heading to college. – E.C. Would you time travel to the past or future? The future, to see how the foundation I built for my family has flourished. What piece of advice guides you? "Success does not happen in one day." It's a way of giving myself grace but also understand- ing I can be successful as long as I stay focused. Class of 2024 Olivia Jusme, 36 Sourcing vice president of supplier diversity National LGBT Chamber of Commerce, in Washington D.C. Residence: Worcester Birthplace: Boston College: American International College A handful of married couples – each in their own right – have won the 40 Under Forty award over the years, including (from left) Jake and Sarah Connell Sanders (Classes of 2014 and 2020) and Olivia and Leonard Jusme (Class of 2024), pictured here at Moore State Park in Paxton.