Connectedness, creativity and cognitive thought.  Akilah Jackson is a living testament to what it means to bring people together and search within themselves to create a stronger and healthier society.  She has a passion for the soul and works daily to enable others to step into the person they are meant to become.  

With a background in both non-profits and academia, Akilah has always put her focus into human needs.  In 2007, while earning her master’s in software engineering at the University of Maryland, Akilah delved into many different communities within the college.  She learned about societal systems and how to unpack differences between various groups of people, especially within the labor community.  Her unique ability to bring people together and show them that their differences are not as important as their similarities made her experience at university all the more impactful and cemented her desire to pursue this goal into the future.

Since college, Akilah has focused on creating a world that enables others to break down preconceived, structural assumptions and challenges the way that people carry bias. In forming her consulting company, Cognitive Prototyping LLC, Akilah works with people to develop their own intrinsic motivation.  This work expands character development and promotes the cognitive and emotional creativity that brings people together.  Akilah lights up as she envisions a future that is kinder, more empathetic, and is filled with understanding that people are more similar than different.   

As an extension of her consulting business, Akilah began her company, Sunsum® Intention Candles, in the heart of the pandemic.  Each candle has been intentionally created to reconnect people to their soul and become a part of their soul-searching processes.  Derived from the Adinkra symbols of the Ashanti and Akan people of Ghana, each candle is connected to the larger tree of life and provides a space for intentionality and connectedness to the user.  Moving forward, Akilah is excited to continue building out the collection of candles until all elements of the tree of life have corresponding candles.  This collection will be a set that can carry people through their journey of self-discovery and mindfulness.  Akilah Jackson is filled with a heart of gold and a passion for human connection that lights up the world and brings joy to those that she meets.