Jackson Free Press

Stacey "Soul" Winters says her life changed when she first unlocked the doors of what was to be Soul Wired Cafe (111 Millsaps Ave.) in 2010.

A native of Ethel, Miss., Winters, 51, says she "worked the system" with jobs in call centers and restaurants after returning to Mississippi around 1999. She says she moved away from the state to try something new and lived in Kansas and Oklahoma before returning to take care of her grandmother.

One day in 2010, Winters was at work at Comcast without a plan to open a poetry and neo-soul cafe. The next day, her life changed.

"Amidst all the bills that I had, I just knew I had to do something different. I didn't want to work anymore there," Winters says. "I just needed to do something else."

She quit that job. She gave up her house and had about $1,500 left.

"Sometimes your mind tells you to do what other people think is impossible, but it's possible," Winters said.

Originally, she planned her cafe in the Meadowbrook area, but that did not happen. She says she passed the current location of Soul Wired Cafe three times before she had a "moment of enlightenment."

"I just felt like the universe opened up, and this is where I should be," Winters says.

After she painted and renovated the venue with recycled and donated pieces—with murals by local artist Michael Schofner on the front of the cafe's stage and inside the shop—she opened Soul Wired Cafe in April 2011. The music, arts and poetry hub in Jackson, attracts anything with soul. The cafe hosts live music, open mic, poetry and spoken-word performances.

Currently, Soul Wired Cafe is gearing up for another beginning. The shop is open on limited days right now due to renovations in the kitchen and on the backyard stage. In mid-July, Soul Wired Cafe will be done with renovations with help from local patrons and volunteers.

Even though she says she is not making a lot of money, Winters says she is building a sense of spirit in Jackson where people can connect. She wants to start programs that engage community through seminars and children's art programs.

Winters' goal for Soul Wired Cafe is for one part to be nonprofit and the other half to be for-profit.

"I'm not trying to change the world. I'm trying do something positive," Winters says. "I'm just trying to make a living in what I love doing. That's it."

After Hurricane Katrina, she began helping with an afterschool program for children. James Meredith, the Jackson man who first integrated Ole Miss, is Winters' cousin.

She says she loves Jackson and is just trying to make life happen.