About PHF
Why I started PHF
Hospitality did more for me than teach me how to serve people. In more than sixteen years in the industry, it became one of the places where I learned how to rebuild my own life.
I learned that chaos can exist around you without becoming the way you live.
Hospitality taught me how to create structure when life felt unpredictable. It taught me boundaries, communication, professionalism, accountability, and resilience. It taught me how to stay consistent, even when everything around me kept changing.
I lived through addiction and rebuilding. I also watched people I care about navigate incarceration, reentry, career disruption, and other difficult transitions. Over and over again, I began recognizing the same problem.
People are often given another chance.
What is not always provided is the structure, confidence, professional exposure, support, and direction needed to know what to do with that chance.
That is why I created Purposeful Hospitality Foundation.
Nikia Jeter, Founder
What we believe
People need more than access to a job.
People also need opportunities to:
- understand themselves
- develop practical skills
- build confidence
- strengthen leadership
- experience supportive environments
- create professional relationships
- see realistic pathways toward long-term growth
Hospitality provides a unique environment for developing those skills while also creating access to multiple career paths.
Our role
What PHF is, and what it is not.
Purposeful Hospitality Foundation is not a treatment program, therapy provider, housing agency, legal service, or clinical recovery program.
PHF provides:
- personal and professional growth
- workforce preparation
- leadership education
- hospitality career exposure
- community programming
- connections to qualified partners when needs extend beyond our scope
Founder
Nikia Jeter
Nikia Jeter is the founder of Purposeful Hospitality Foundation and a hospitality professional with more than sixteen years of industry experience. She has worked the front line and behind the bar. She has also run operations, training, and events, and led teams as a manager.
She holds a bachelor’s degree in Organizational Leadership and a certificate in Nonprofit Management. She created PHF to pass on what she learned through hospitality, school, lived experience, and leading others. The goal is to open doors for people who are rebuilding their lives and careers.