Jay Jordan.
Jay Jordan arrived two hours early for his first day working at McDonald’s, hoping to make a good first impression — and create new opportunities.
Jordan showed up at 8 a.m. to the McDonald’s at 250 Whalley Ave. His first shift as a cashier didn’t start until 10 a.m.
Jordan was born in Bridgeport but moved to Hillsborough, N.J. once he was adopted at four months old. Now 24, he moved back to New Haven one month ago.
“I’ve been looking for work and now that I’ve found work, I can actually like to get more in tune with my music now as a producer,” Jordan said in a conversation during the “Word on the Street” segment of WNHH FM’s “LoveBabz LoveTalk” program.
After moving to the Elm City, Jordan at first stayed with his sister, then ended up homeless for a week after they had a falling out. At a warming center downtown, someone pointed him to Youth Continuum, a community-based agency that has now given Jordan a roof over his head. He currently stays at one of the agency’s locations.
“I’m looking into apartments now,” Jordan said. “They’ll actually help me to pay for my apartment. Now I’m going to use the money that I make here to put towards getting a car. Then I’ll be straight.”
Jordan takes pride in being self-motivated. His journey so far hasn’t been easy.
“My thought process is, keep pushing forward,” he said. “No matter how bad things get. Because that’s life.”
During the segment, Jordan shared that his adopted mother had passed away from cancer shortly before he had turned 17 years old. His adopted father passed away four months ago. Jordan also found out that his biological father is deceased.
He did track down his birth mother, who’s still alive.
“When I first found out about my birth mother, I was expecting ‘Oh maybe she’s this big, top person or something,’ and it’s kind of a let down,” Jordan said. “I mean at the same time, I was kind of really happy to find her. And we bump heads but at the end of the day, she’s still my mother.”
“Three years ago, I should have been in a lot better place,” he said. “Where I want to be, where I should have been is where I’m going now.”
The objective for Jordan is to break what he called his family’s generational curse. He wants to be financially free, and to get involved in marketing and stocks. His long-range career goal is to become a defense attorney.
“McDonald’s is a stepping stone,” Jordan said. “I swear to God, I woke up one day and said, ‘What am I going to do with myself? OK, defense attorney it is!’”
He said that he knows a lot about stock trading and plans to get a start doing that as well.
“I’ll use that trading to fund my career as a music producer and keep it going,” Jordan said.
His favorite music genre is country. He’s also interested in producing R&B, pop and rock.
“I do it all,” Jordan said. “I was raised on a farm. I love country. Luke Bryan is my favorite artist.”
Jordan observed that the people in New Haven are friendlier than those he met in New Jersey, where he encountered a lot of crime.
“Most of my family — l ike everybody from the hood,” Jordan said. “I don’t want to be from the hood. I don’t want my kids to be from the hood. I don’t want my future wife to be from the hood. I want everything to be stable. I want everything to go as planned.”
Jordan graduated from high school; he hopes to attend college at some point.
“I’m with anything as long as it gets me the education that I need,” Jordan said.
With that, the time arrived to complete paperwork and start his first shift, which was scheduled to last until 4 p.m.
“I’m ready to get a paycheck,” Jordan said. “My final advice to anyone else who is struggling is: Keep your head up. At the end of the day, you have your life in your hands. You control what the outcome is.”
Click on the video to watch the full conversation with Jay Jordan on the "Word on the Street" segment of WNHH FM's "LoveBabz LoveTalk" program.