Hand-Me-Down World: Why I’m Starting This Blog
I’m a storyteller. That came long before I was a strategist, an executive, or someone who moved across time zones building careers in boardrooms and community spaces. I tell stories because I believe they connect people more than titles do. And this blog is where I’ll tell some of mine.
I was born in a small town in South Carolina and raised in a household that “religiously,” pun intended, went to an AME Zion Church. That’s where I learned the value of community, of showing up for each other, of listening when someone older had something to say. Even though I moved to Brooklyn, New York at just nine months old, my grounding stayed Southern. The sense of belonging, of learning through stories and song, stuck with me.
That same South had another tradition that stuck with me too: hand-me-downs.
I’m not just talking about wisdom, though that came in abundance. I mean the actual clothes. Church shoes. Coats. Dresses. Jeans that had softened with time but hadn’t worn thin. The kind of clothes you could trust. The kind that had been through things and still had more life in them.
When your time came, you’d try it on. If it fit, you wore it. If not, you passed it to someone who needed it more. Just like a hermit crab moving into a shell that’s been around the block. That’s the feeling I’m after with this blog.
From South Carolina to Singapore
Over the last twenty years, I’ve had the chance to live and work across the world. I’ve built strategies in New York, London, New Delhi, Sydney, Singapore, and across North America. My name, Jaramogi, means “one who travels often” in Ki-Swahili, and I’ve tried to live into that calling; not just physically, but intellectually and spiritually.
I’ve smoked hookah with dark-complected Indians in New Delhi who reminded me of my cousins back home. Shared chicken and rice with the Malay in Singapore. Rooted for the All Blacks with Kiwis and Polynesians in Sydney. And partied after work with folks from the African continent in London, feeling oddly at home in places that weren’t supposed to feel like mine.
I’ve also spent more time than I can count being one of the only Black people in the room in corporate America. Sitting quietly during moments that begged for a voice. Mentoring others who needed to see that you could move with both strategy and soul.
That’s what I want to write about here. The hand-me-downs that came from all of that.
Lessons Worn In, Not Worn Out
This blog will be part reflection, part mentorship, and part creative exploration. I’ll write about what it means to lead when you weren’t expected to. What it means to belong when the space was never really built for you. And what it means to grow. Not in spite of your identity, but because of how it shaped your sight.
Some posts will speak directly from my experience as a Black man. That’s not a limitation. That’s a truth. But the wisdom will be for anyone willing to receive it. Because the human condition, the need to be seen, to be useful, to leave something behind, is something we all share.
I’ll write as if I’m speaking to my younger self. Or to someone walking a path like mine. But if something I share fits you, I hope you wear it. And if it doesn’t, I hope you’ll hand it down to someone it might help.
Why Hand-Me-Down World?
Because some lessons don’t need to be new to be meaningful.
Because some advice gets better with time.
Because I believe we’re not meant to hoard wisdom. We’re meant to pass it on.
This is a blog rooted in community.
In story.
In tradition.
And in truth.
If something here helps you, come back.
If something reminds you of someone else, send it their way.
The world’s heavy enough already. Maybe we can make it a little lighter by handing things down.
