Gillespie Consulting was founded by Christopher Jorelle Gillespie, an ecologist, philosopher, and policy entrepreneur. Gillespie grew up in a single-parent household in the Douglas Park area, a historically Black urban community in Champaign-Urbana, IL. Growing up a mile away from the University of Illinois (U of I), a top global university for agricultural sciences, he learned that proximity to educational merit does not always equate to access to educational resources. Since the 1930s, his community had been affected by economic constraints and social segregation through housing policies that mandated segregation. This was further exasperated by the FHA refusing to insure mortgages near and within Black neighborhoods (redlining). Gillespie learned that due to low implementation of anti-racist policies, strongholds that maintained white power and privilege persist and adversely affect access to educational resources. Thus, despite being less than a mile away from his community, the prestige of higher education would fail to pierce the veil of Whiteness that persists through racist policies, structures, and social culture.  

As a result of such injustice, Gillespie developed an ever-increasing interest in the application of policy and the way that policy is implemented. He was driven to reverse the social implications of partisan policy through the reification of policies that seek systemic changes that favor fairness and foster equity. 

In 2021, Gillespie constructed a unique science-based approach to address subsistent graduate stipends in the Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology at North Carolina State University. The initiative proved successful and catalyzed institutional and national movements to increase graduate student stipends across multiple disciplines. Following this victory, Gillespie began to network with individuals and organizations on policy projects and social advocacy initiatives.  

Gillespie Consulting, LLC was incorporated and registered in the State of North Carolina in April 2022. Gillespie Consulting is dedicated to optimizing mobilization initiatives and managing public policy portfolios and providing administrative direction, specifically in climate change, sustainability, human health, inclusion of underrepresented groups, and economic research & analysis.