We were lucky to catch up with Jerome Barkley Jr recently and have shared our conversation below.
Jerome, looking forward to learning from your journey. You’ve got an amazing story and before we dive into that, let’s start with an important building block. Where do you get your work ethic from?
I believe my work ethic comes from a combination of challenging myself and a desire to see how far i can take a concept or idea. I’ll also add that playing sports in my HS days. i’m sure the structure and disciplined learned has stayed with me into my adult years, applying those principles contribute to my work ethic as well.
Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
Since 2016 i’ve been a podcaster interviewing some of the brightest and most creative minds in Columbus, Oh, from music artists to visual artists, entrepreneurs, actors, models, chefs, photographers and more! I started to podcast Cloth Talk Podcast understanding we are all ‘”cut from a different cloth” I wanted to explore that with a variety of creatives in varying industries. Observing that there weren’t many platforms who were dedicated to tapping into those individuals who contributed so much to the city of Columbus i’d figured i’d sit down with them pick their brains and document their stories. Years later i founded The Columbus Podcast Awards to highlight and recognize the podcasts scene in Columbus, Oh.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
I would have to say the three skills that were most impactful as podcaster and founder or a organization are, active listening, being able to navigate a conversation, having systems and processes. Active listening shows the guests that you are truly interested in what they are talking about, being able to navigate a conversation is very important skill because sometimes the guest can unknowingly get of topic and or you may want to steer the conversation in a particular direction. Having systems and processes in place makes the daily operations run a bit smoother and faster!
For those who may be interested in getting better at interviewing or starting an awards ceremony organization i would tell to identify their WHY first, why this? Once you identify your why that will alway be your motivating factor for your drive and passion. Secondly i would tell them is to research the industry/genre and see how you can be different from what others are doing, be original offer something new. Lastly, put in as many hours of practicing and refining your skills as possible, use friends, family members and co-workers in addition, surround yourself with individuals who are successful at what you want to do, ask questions!
How would you spend the next decade if you somehow knew that it was your last?
I’ve never thought about this but i would assume i would want to give of much as possible. Whatever information i have, whatever i can financially give, time ect. I would want to be used as a resource and an asset to others because i would hate to have acquired the knowledge and experiences i have and not pass it on. As they saying goes, you can’t take it all with you when you go.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cloth_talk_podcast?
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/clothtalkpodcast/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeromebarkleyjr/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@clothtalkpodcast
Image Credits
Dj Durl
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
