Michele Jones, a dining industry veteran and new executive director of The Positive Vibe Foundation (Photo by Jay Paul)
If there’s one thing Michele Jones knows, it’s the restaurant industry.
Half of the powerhouse duo behind the now shuttered Richmond restaurants Comfort and Pasture, Jones has decades of experience in the food and beverage world and has been a culinary change agent.
And if there’s anything as intrinsic to her nature as her welcoming “Hey, y’all,” it’s her desire to make a difference. In her most recent chapter, Jones has settled into a new role as executive director of The Positive Vibe Foundation, a nonprofit that mentors, trains and employs young adults with physical and cognitive disabilities.
“I wanted to do something where I could be making a difference, and that I could enjoy,” she says. “When this came up, I went all in. My heart has always been in nonprofit work.”
The Positive Vibe Foundation was founded in 2005 by Garth Larcen after his son, Max, who was born with muscular dystrophy, struggled to find a job post-college. Having operated two restaurants in Blacksburg, Larcen saw an opportunity in Richmond.
“I thought, maybe I could do another restaurant and hire people with disabilities, and Max could get a job,” Larcen recalls.
He was right. Since its inception, the program has seen 1,600 graduates, including Natalie Schwartz, whose namesake restaurant, Natalie’s Taste of Lebanon, relocated from Innsbrook in March, taking over the former Positive Vibe Cafe space in a full-circle moment.
“It was very difficult to find jobs that allowed [Natalie] to really flourish, and that’s really why we opened the restaurant,” says her mother, Anne-Marie Irani, a physician who opened Natalie’s in 2016 with husband Larry Schwartz. “I don’t have much of a restaurant background, and that’s another reason it’s so wonderful to have Michele.”
After almost 20 years at the helm of The Positive Vibe Foundation, Larcen, who founded the organization as a way to provide employment for his son and others with developmental and physical disabilities, has retired from the nonprofit as Jones steps in as his successor.
While Jones hadn’t worked for a nonprofit before taking this position, she has worked with them. When Jones was growing up, she and her family experienced homelessness, at times living in a car, tent or van. She sometimes didn’t know where her next meal would come from.
Landing in Richmond at age 18, Jones began working at restaurants, finding comfort in the familiar faces of regulars and in the convivial atmosphere. In 2002, with friend Jason Alley, she opened a place of her own, appropriately named Comfort, followed by a second eatery, Pasture, in 2011.
“When we first opened Pasture and I became an owner, I said to myself, ‘This has got to be about more than just food, something we believe in,’ ” Jones says. “I have a platform and said if I ever did, I would use to it do something.”
She stuck to her word and established an annual tradition at the restaurants around Christmas and Thanksgiving, collecting coats and suitcases for kids in foster care. She was named a “World News Tonight With Diane Sawyer” Person of the Week for her efforts. In 2018, Comfort partnered with Feed More to donate 100% of its proceeds to fight food insecurity.
For Larcen, Jones’ welcoming spirit, combined with her knowledge of and network within the restaurant industry, made a transition to this role at The Positive Vibe Foundation seem like a natural fit.
“Most everybody we talked to had more nonprofit experience than Michele, and I knew that from the beginning,” says Larcen, who remains involved as a board member of the foundation. “But when we did in-person interviews, she sold us on the commitment to the job, and how hard she would work. She is just so personable, outgoing and bright. Her willingness and energy and enthusiasm for the position was refreshing."
While the pandemic made it difficult for The Positive Vibe Foundation to navigate in-person classes, the organization has resumed its four-week training courses and internship opportunities, with assistance from the VCU School of Social Work.
Moving forward, Jones says the foundation plans to integrate a job placement program as a natural extension of its training to help provide long-term employment for students.
“I have big ideas, and I want these kids going through his program to feel like they have something they can come back to throughout their lives,” Jones says.
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