We recently connected with Jah Pugh and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Jah thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. One of the most important things small businesses can do, in our view, is to serve underserved communities that are ignored by giant corporations who often are just creating mass-market, one-size-fits-all solutions. Talk to us about how you serve an underserved community.
I come from a treacherous background, Brooklyn, everything about where I’m from says, underserved. As I grew older and made it out of my circumstances despite all odds that were stacked against me, I made it my mission to go back where I’m from, and every place like it, to pour back and give everything that we were never given. I felt as if— if I could make it out and overcome the same struggles and obstacles that almost every inner city of America faces, and achieve the remarkable feats that I’ve achieved, then there’s hope for all of us because I’m no different from them. The only difference is, I made it out. I didn’t succumb to my environment, the oppression, my circumstance, my situation. I gained tools, knowledge, and wisdom along the way, whether it was— what to do? Or what not to do. I went through the process, didn’t make no excuses. I didn’t take no shortcuts or cheat codes, I acquired many things along the way and I feel as if it is my duty, most importantly my mission, to give back everything that was given to me along this journey. I always tell people what you go through ain’t really for you, but for somebody else who’s counting on you to vanquish that very thing so they could have some type of hope that they could do it too.
Growing up seeing other communities get the shiny new things, the developments, the beautiful parks, grass, paved pavements, beautiful family settings, while we were left with disfunction, broken families, abandon buildings, little to no fundings, we were basically left to fend for ourselves, it did something to me as I grew older seeing how it programmed us. The resources and opportunities never made their way to our side of Brooklyn. And I guess it makes sense why so many of us felt the way we felt, like we had no way out. It was like we were trapped in a cycle, and the system didn’t care to break it. Just another underserved community.
This taps into that feeling of being underserved, forgotten, and pushed to the margins, while giving voice to the struggles and lack of resources that people in the trenches face daily, I became that voice. It became my mission to reverse engineer the minds of the programmed. That even through the struggle, the adversity, no matter what the adversity may look like, whether it be coming from the those types of places, broken families, poverty, failure, whatever it may be there’s always a way up and there’s always a way out. Adversity may take from us but it will never break us. More importantly, our circumstances don’t make us, we make our circumstances.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
Life is the best teacher, man. Because of everything that I’ve been through all the trials, tribulations, adversities and obstacles I had to face and the fact that I’m still standing here today living a life that I didn’t imagine 5 years ago is a testament in itself. I got into the field simply and solely to inspire others on their walk of life. Allow it to be the teacher while you be the student. Allow it to be the trainer while you be the sparrer. That if you remain in the fight, ultimately you will win the fight. There’s no way around it, there’s no cheat codes, there’s no short cuts, but if you give life everything you got— because life is surely going to give you everything it has— if you could persevere and endure, you will not only meet your mark you will surpass it.
Statistically, there’s more people that succumb to their adversity than people that overcomes it. My top priority is to help individuals not become a statistic. To become self aware of who they are, where they are so they could get where they want to be. If I’m honest, never in a million years did I see myself as a Professional Public Speaker, a mentor, or coach. I’m a introvert at heart, probably the most introverted, introvert. But again life has a funny way of working. Life, would change the whole course of your life while you’re sleeping. Seeing the remarkable feats in spite of the adversities throughout my lifetime, coming from where I come from, I would feel extremely selfish if I didn’t share it with a world that I know needs it, especially in times like this.
What sets us apart is just our desire to serve the hearts of people. We have a team that just wants to pour out everything that’s been poured into us, knowing that God would never let our cup run dry. If there’s one thing that’s constant in this world, it’s change. And we believe if we could let our circumstances, our adversities change us for the better, then we win. If we could learn the lesson in every failure, every shortcoming, then there’s hope. If we could allow the suffering to produce perseverance, then the perseverance would ultimately produce character and the right character will help sustain us and carry us throughout the rest of our lives no matter what the adversity is because now we have something solid to stand on, and that’s faith. One my favorite quotes of all time says it, “When you walk to the edge of all the light you have and take that first step into the darkness of the unknown, you must believe one of two things to be true: There will be something solid for you to stand upon, or, you will be taught how to fly.” Faith. Trust the process but more importantly, enjoy it, it’s producing something beautiful in you.
One thing I’m most proud of, because of the honest personal soul work that I’ve done over the past few years, is being able to bleed out true growth. And because of that, the young men that I most recently been working with, a group of high school football players, have collectively collected over 1 million dollars in scholarships. The most ever in school history. Because of our willingness to do the actual soul work, the self development personal work, me alongside some other phenomenal coaches were able to deliver to these young men on our promise of bringing them the awareness, recognizing where they were and getting them to where they desired to be. A lot, if not all, were first generation college students. The same young men who look like us, talk like us, come from the same places we come from, are now currently living the American dream. They’re living in the opportunity of a lifetime. And I’m so proud of each and every one of them not because of what we’ve done as coaches, we don’t take no credit, but because of their willingness to actually apply the work, the knowledge, the discipline, the commitment that were given to them. Avoiding all short cuts and handouts, not only did they work for it, they deserved it. And that, in itself, I’m most proud of.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
I could share plenty. But there’s one that rings supreme every time I hear that word resiliency. Resilience is a big part of who we are, it’s apart of life. Most recently, I got stretched to my limits. Imagine facing public humiliation by 1 million, 5 million, 10 million people. That’s more than enough to have you reconsidering the direction of your whole life trajectory yet alone what is it that you do. Being persecuted by the world is something I wouldn’t wish on no man. It’s truly a test of character. Not everybody could withstand that type of pressure, that fire. I almost took a step back and told myself, “Nah, I’m good. If this is what I have to go through? Then I’m not sure if I even want to do this any more.”
And in time of the crushing, refining, purifying of who I was, I almost gave up. Almost. I heard a soft voice in my head saying “you think what you went through was just for you?” I replied, “I went through it.” “No disrespect, but nobody who was doing the persecuting was experiencing paranoia, anxiety with a double dose of PTSD! No disrespect but nobody who attempted to annihilate me, humiliate me, knows what it feels like to get persecuted by— 5million, 10million, 20million people! So no disrespect but, yes, I went through it.” Me being a believer, possessing the faith that I possess, another voice countered and said, “Nah, Jah, you looking at it wrong. Ain’t you a believer? The good book says we’re overcomers by the blood of the lamb & the word of our, testimony.” So every time I get the chance, I tell mine. Because of my obedience, because of my decision to continue on the path that God set out for me, it was almost an automatic return of investment. Because my willingness to stick it out and go through the fire, the purifying, the refining of who I was and where he was taking me, about a week later after the annihilation, I received a phone call. It was my brother. Everything in me didn’t want to answer but at the same time, everything in me was telling me to, “ANSWER THAT PHONE.” I said, “Hello.” He said, “Wassup Jah how you feeling?” I said, “I’m good… how you doing?” He said, “I’m great man. I got some news.” I thought to myself, what now? I’m already going through all this persecution, all this hell, it can’t get no worse. He said, “Nah, it’s nothing like that Jah.” He said “I just received a phone call from Steve Harvey and his team.” I said, “Steve Harvey, Steve Harvey??” “Personal Phone call???” (Haha). He said “Yeah. They want us back on the show to film a special for family feud. They said we were one of the 2 families who were chosen out of thousands. I said, “But how? We were just on their last year… There’s a 10 year waiting period before we could even try to come back. And what about all the other families?” I said, “I’m quite sure this is going to raise some hell. And they’re going to get some phone calls, like hey, this ain’t fair!” He said “Jah… Favor ain’t fair!” We arrived at Tyler Perry Studios that next following Monday. Steve asked me, “Jah Pugh! Is there anything you would like to say?” I said, “Absolutely!” I stood right there in front that camera on national television, in-front of, millions!!! And I said, “I just feel as if God is reminding me, son, you’re still my man. I haven’t forgotten you. Nor forsaken you!” And if I’m honest it was in that very moment, that my faith was being fortified. My belief, my hope, restored. I tell people all the time a prerequisite for resiliency is commitment. Commitment is that thing that lights the fire. Perseverance, keeps the fire burning. And Resiliency? Resiliency forges the strength to rise from the ashes, every time you fall!
How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?
Being true and staying true to who I am. Not allowing nothing to sway me to the left or to the right. Remaining true to myself, my craft, and my brand, people pick up on that and they respect it all the more. Remaining consistent, even in the times of uncertainty, that forges the strength to keep going no matter what. A huge advantage I’ve had is my ability to remain authentic and vulnerable no matter what people may perceive it be. One thing I’ve noticed throughout the years, people like you better when you’re, you. And one thing for certain, God can’t use you, if you’re not you.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.jahthevoice.com
- Instagram: @JahTheVoice
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@jahthevoice?si=dSmtVENBkt91U6gg
- Other: https://www.instagram.com/jahthevoice?igsh=MTZkcmFvZjNhN3Iweg%3D%3D&utm_source=qr
Image Credits
Family Feud