When Culture Leads: The Legacy of Intellectual Ratchet and the Business Case for Human-Centered Leadership
By Ja’Mel Ashely Ware
It started late one night in a coworking space.
We were young. Ambitious. Exhausted.
A group of friends huddled around laptops and half-eaten takeout, dreaming up ways to make Madison feel more like home—for us, our people, and anyone tired of being the only one in the room.
We wanted to throw a different kind of party.
One with purpose, one with vision, one where people could show up fully as themselves and be celebrated for it.
We called it Intellectual Ratchet.
And one night, in the middle of that brainstorm, someone said, “What if we brought Issa Rae?”
We laughed.
Then I got to work.
I tapped my university contacts, wrote proposals, and chased the yes for weeks. Once I figured out how to align the event with Issa’s values, rooting for Black creatives and building community, her team agreed.
Almost 1,000 students and alums showed up... for free.
The event being free mattered to me.
Because the goal wasn’t profit—it was proof.
Proof that joy, culture, and community care belonged in business.
I charged for a private meet-and-greet to generate profit.
Because I believe businesses can and should do good and still make money.
The Intellectual Ratchet team and Issa Rae
From Vibes to Vision
From 2014 to 2018, Intellectual Ratchet LLC became a cultural force in Madison.
We hosted 20+ sold-out events, raised over $500K through grants, sponsors, and sales, and partnered with institutions like the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, Downtown Madison Inc., and UW-Madison.
But we weren’t chasing sponsorships.
We were showing partners how inclusion could actually live outside the slide deck—and into the streets.
And the data backs it up: Organizations with strong cultures have up to 72% higher employee engagement rates and experience better financial performance than those without. (Deloitte, Global Human Capital Trends)
We built systems to:
Collect audience feedback
Align with sponsor goals
Deliver clear ROI
It was party and vibes—yes.
But it was also strategy, data, education, and systems. Engagement models. Business.
When Leadership Found Me
Back then, I didn’t see myself as a leader.
I saw myself as a builder. A connector. A doer.
It wasn’t until I left Madison, moved to Atlanta, and sat alone with the memories that I began to reflect.
Journaling. Unpacking. Volunteering as a business mentor.
That’s when I realized—I hadn’t just thrown events. I had led a movement.
And like many leaders, I learned some lessons the hard way.
One of the most painful was entering a partnership that didn’t align with my values.
That misstep took IR in a direction I never intended.
Eventually, I made the difficult decision to dissolve the company.
Not because the mission failed, but because I refused to let it be compromised.
What IR Proved About Leadership
Inclusion is non-negotiable.
Culture-first spaces aren't just "nice to have"—they directly fuel engagement and loyalty.
(70% of job seekers say a company’s commitment to DEI influences where they apply. — Glassdoor)Equity must live in your infrastructure.
If your systems don’t reflect your values, they’ll eventually betray them.
Trust is measurable.
High-trust organizations outperform their peers by 2.5 times in revenue growth. (Great Place to Work)
Culture can’t be curated. It has to be cultivated.
Belonging isn’t about branding. It’s about intention, structure, and care.
Fun is a leadership skill.
Joy isn’t a distraction from the work. It’s often the reason people stay in it.
From the Margins to the Model
In my last Shifting Leaders article, I wrote about how I was built in the margins—orphaned by 15, abandoned by 16, and left to figure out life on my own.
IR was the next chapter of that journey.
It was where I moved from surviving to system-building.
From hustling to leading.
From being seen as talented to being respected as a visionary.
Why This Work Still Matters
Today, DEI is being erased from headlines and handbooks.
Culture is being politicized.
And leadership is being stripped of its humanity.
1 in 5 major companies scaled back or eliminated DEI efforts in 2023—sparking declines in employee morale and public trust. (Glassdoor DEI Study, 2023)
Meanwhile, companies with diverse executive teams remain 36% more likely to outperform on profitability. (McKinsey, Diversity Wins Report)
We are witnessing the cost of leaders choosing fear over integrity.
But IR showed—and still shows—that you can:
Lead with culture
Build with care
Scale with strategy
And succeed without selling out your soul
We didn’t need a crisis to care.
We led with care from the beginning.
The Work Continues
IR may no longer be producing events.
But its blueprint lives on in everything I build through The IR Agency—helping brands design human-centered engagement systems that honor both culture and growth.
I guide my clients through the same truth I learned in that coworking space:
There is no profit without people.
If we want better businesses, we need better builders.
Builders who know that culture is capital.
Trust is currency.
And joy is a strategic asset.
We didn’t just build something to belong to.
We built something that still belongs to everyone it touched.
That’s the power of leadership when culture leads.
Download the worksheet here:
A Leadership Audit for Visionaries, Founders & Changemakers
Overseeing the set up of our first citywide DJ Battle!