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Vantage Inner Circle

Jesse Rhodes Jr.

Speaker Coach & Cultural Architect

Speaker coach. Cultural architect. Author. Restaurateur. The person who held the room together.

25+Years of Experience
Speaker CoachCurrent Focus
PocoCapitol Hill Venue
1Book Published

The Story

Speaker coach and cultural architect with 25+ years of leadership experience across Deloitte, Ernst & Young, Target, Walmart, and Amazon Web Services. Jesse's expertise spans strategic risk management, talent development, inclusion & diversity, and organizational culture design. He transitioned from corporate executive to helping leaders find their authentic voice and build cultures that attract the right people. The kind of range that makes him the person you want in the room when the stakes are real.

Ventures & Work

Speaker Coaching & Cultural Architecture

Speaker Coach & Cultural Architect

Helping leaders and organizations find their authentic voice, design intentional cultures, and build the kind of rooms people actually want to be in.

Poco Bar & Lounge

Owner

Acquired in January 2022 on Capitol Hill. Mediterranean-focused with the POCO philosophy: Purposeful, Organic, Captivating, Optimistic. Celebrated as a safe space for cross-cultural experiences. Vegan and gluten-free integrated throughout.

"Leadership Unlocked"

Author

A practical guide for professionals navigating career transitions through values-based personal development. Not theory - lived experience distilled.

"Where Are We Now" Podcast

Host

Conversations on personal branding, career decisions, financial planning, unconscious bias, and workplace diversity. Available on Spotify.

Key Highlights

Speaker coach & cultural architect - helping leaders find their voice
Former Chair of the CTC Board of Governors
Author of "Leadership Unlocked" - featured in Authority Magazine
Acquired and transformed Poco Bar & Lounge into a Capitol Hill cultural hub
25+ years across Deloitte, E&Y, Target, Walmart, and AWS before going independent
Frequent keynote on personal branding, financial planning, and unconscious bias

Community & Impact

After-School All-Stars (Seattle) - active supporter and King5 featured advocate
NABA Inc. - founded the Drexel chapter as a student
Love Orphanage (Haiti)
Wonder of Women International

In the Press

Authority Magazine - thought leadership featureKing5 Seattle - after-school program advocacy

Why They’re in The Future

Jesse spent 25 years in corporate leadership, chaired the CTC Board of Governors, wrote the book on values-based leadership, and bought a bar on Capitol Hill because he believes culture happens over food. Now he coaches speakers and architects cultures for a living. That's not a career pivot - that's a man who kept every lesson and turned them into his life's work.