LaTonya Jackson-Flynn was working to make an impact for women in Madison when one event led her to add business owner to her resume.
A native of Madison, she had launched a nonprofit organization, Waiting to Exhale, in 2021 to create supportive spaces for women struggling with mental health, inspired by her own experiences with postpartum depression. A successful workshop on imposter syndrome shifted her path, thanks in large part to one of those in attendance – Boys and Girls Club of Dane County (BGCDC) CEO Michael Johnson, who seemed impressed, Jackson-Flynn recalled.
“He said, ‘Do you help other nonprofits or schools do events?’ I told him no, I hadn’t thought of that. He said, ‘Well, help me with this one event, and I’ll pay you,” she said.
That event was a gas station giveaway organized by Chicago philanthropist Dr. Willie Wilson and the Boys and Girls Club of Dane County. Jackson-Flynn ended up leading the project, and in the process discovered an unmet need: not just for event planners, but for project managers who understand the logistical and emotional complexity of community-focused work, especially in the nonprofit sector.
That experience sparked the creation of Community Essence Consulting, a for-profit consulting firm Jackson-Flynn formally launched in April, and which is currently accepting new clients. The company offers a range of services, including event logistics, community engagement strategy, and short-term project management—particularly for nonprofits, schools, churches, and other community-focused organizations.
“It’s not just event planning,” she said. “We don’t do décor. We run the committees. We run the coordination. We strengthen the impact.”
Jackson-Flynn said her firm is designed to support nonprofit teams that may not have the capacity to execute large-scale outreach or fundraising efforts on their own.
“There’s so much that goes into it,” she said. “And if there’s a consultant who can come in and just make sure these tasks are completed, the outreach is there, and that’s their main goal—it’s really hard to not have a successful event.”
Those tasks can include securing permits, communicating with keynote speakers, managing the event budget, communicating with vendors, building partnerships, planning outreach, and a lot more.
In recent months, Community Essence has assisted with a variety of projects, including community engagement efforts for the McKenzie Family Foundation and BGCDC, including the planning of the high-profile White Party fundraiser at the State Capitol. Jackson-Flynn, who has a background in psychology and is still pursuing her degree through Lakeland University, said she draws heavily on her lived experience and community ties when designing strategies and programming.
Her nonprofit, Waiting to Exhale, remains active and is now a sister organization to Community Essence. It continues to host wellness workshops and peer support groups for women and recently launched a program called Empowering Her Steps, which gives women access to therapy and community-based support. Jackson-Flynn hopes to eventually provide stipends to participants and establish a physical space for both organizations to operate from.
That space—already identified at 462 Femrite Drive—requires renovation and operational funding, which she’s currently working to raise. She said the long-term vision includes an event venue that Community Essence can manage, not just to serve paying clients but also to support smaller nonprofits that might not otherwise afford large-scale fundraising events.
Jackson-Flynn said her approach is rooted in a belief that too many people are being left out of critical conversations, especially when it comes to education and health disparities among Black and brown communities.
“I went to a focus group with the Sun Prairie School District. They were talking about reading scores and absence rates, but I was the only Black person in the room,” she said. “They’re talking about our children. If you’re not hearing from the individuals who are the metrics, it’s not really beneficial.”
Her hope is to bridge those divides, both as a business owner and a community connector. “There are so many amazing resources out here,” she said. “But there are so many different avenues. We hope to build partnerships and go to the people who need these resources the most.”
While she’s still building the foundation of Community Essence, Jackson-Flynn said her measure of success isn’t just revenue or recognition.
“I’ll know we’ve been successful when the people we aim to serve are sitting in the same rooms I’m in, talking about the change that came from an event or an outreach effort we helped create,” she said. “If we’re pushing the mission correctly, there should be pivoting points—people saying, ‘That workshop changed something for me.’ That’s the impact I want to see.”
