LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. — It started off as a letter to the Jennifer Hudson Show to share her own story of being a small Black business owner in metro Atlanta, but on Wednesday, the Christian bookstore owner would soon get a special surprise.
As Ms. Ojay Jones, who owns Rejoice Christian Book & Gifts, zoomed into what she thought was a normal interview with a Jennifer Hudson Show producer, she was met with a crowd full of people and the renowned actress and singer Jennifer Hudson on video.
Jones opened her business in Lawrenceville in 2021. During the pandemic, she saw that her neighborhood lacked a Christian bookstore, so she opened the Rejoice Christian Book & Gifts to provide a safe place for people.
While on the show, Jones shared her passion for helping members of her community.
"I work with our youth to ensure that they have workforce experience. They understand what entrepreneurship is from the beginning to the end. I work with our seniors. Sometimes seniors are not digitally correct, so they need to come into a bookstore," she told Hudson in her Zoom appearance on the show.
She added that opening her store has allowed her to explore ways to help her community through books and other services.
"Books have always been a very critical part of my life to give me personal inspiration. And to combine that personally with the bookstore was great because books provide information, inspiration and motivation," she said on Wednesday. "And if a person, whether it be a child or an adult, can find themselves to dive into a book or dare I say Bible, I tell you the life that you get out of that material, those books is life-changing. So I wanted to make sure that I made it accessible."
During the segment, Hudson played a game with Jones, asking her to go on a scavenger hunt for items in her home. Jones ran back and forth, swiftly grabbing the materials and bringing back more than one of the items asked for.
After the game was over, Hudson surprised the metro Atlanta bookstore with $500.
Watch the full segment at the link below.
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