“When we are together, life is good.”
That’s how Diamond Quarles sums up being with Jerrod Jackson. The two met in high school and just seemed to belong together. Whenever life has separated them, they’ve managed to get back together, and it’s always for the better. When they reconnected during her senior year in college – just over 10 years ago, a fact that stuns Diamond (“Wow, that’s a long time!”) – they committed to each other for the long term. Now, they have two sons, ages 10 and six, and have built a real family.
“We do a lot with the kids,” Diamond says. “When we’re together, we travel. We do a lot of family functions together on his side of the family and on my side of the family as well.” She describes the two of them taking the boys on beach trips with Jerrod’s family, battling each other in dance competitions with the kids, trying new restaurants, and watching movies together. Diamond admits to falling asleep, but Jerrod, she says, “is really a movie guru.” And though he might not come across as someone who likes to read, he does. “He’s definitely one that you could find in the bookstore,” Diamond says, “and it’s kind of nerdy but cute at the same time.”
Lately, life has separated Diamond and Jerrod again, as a result of Jerrod being incarcerated in a county jail in Virginia. That’s taken him away from his family, from truck driving, a job he was truly passionate about, and from working on cars, another love of his. “Anything hands on, he’s the man for you,” Diamond says. Keeping Jerrod motivated for the future has been a challenge in a facility that doesn’t offer much in the way of educational programs. That’s where Level has played a vital role. Jerrod heard about the program from another learner and asked Diamond to look into it. She did and thought it offered him an opportunity to gain information and resources and connections that could benefit him when he’s back on the outside.
Guys in these situations have lost all hope, right? They got this bad report card of life, basically. So when they come back out, it’s like, ‘Okay, where do I start? What can I do?’ Hope is what you guys give.
– Diamond Quarles, sponsor of an incarcerated loved one
“You know, Jerrod wants to start his own business,” Diamond says. “But now he’s knocked back 10 steps, right? So he has to rebuild himself. What tools can he be given to keep that focus?” Level’s entrepreneurship guides contain practical information on small businesses: which ones succeed, what costs need to be considered, and how they can be financed. Diamond enrolled Jerrod in Level’s program in February 2025. Jerrod has completed both its How To Start Your Own Business: Prepare To Launch and How To Start Your Own Business: Thrive In The First Year guides. “Starting you guys has been like gold,” Diamond says. “Guys in these situations have lost all hope, right? They got this bad report card of life, basically. So when they come back out, it’s like, ‘Okay, where do I start? What can I do?’ Hope is what you guys give.”
Hope makes a huge difference in Diamond and Jerrod’s lives right now. She’s been working as a registered nurse and at the same time completing a master’s degree so she can become a Women’s Health Nurse Practitioner, all while taking care of both boys. Naturally, they miss their father and wonder when he can come home, and he’s aware of how much of their lives he’s missing out on. She sends him pictures of the boys, they all visit, and she and Jerrod talk on the phone – a lot. Sometimes she’ll tell him to call at a certain time when she and the boys are out at a function so that Jerrod will be able “to hear what’s going on in the background, you know, still feel like you are involved.” Still, nothing is easy. “I can honestly say that this has been a very long journey,” Diamond says. “A very hard journey.” But Jerrod and Diamond are staying on this journey with each other. They know life is better when they’re together. She says, “I think what keeps us going is faith, family, and just our connection, you know.”
