Meet Omari Jeremiah

We recently connected with Omari Jeremiah and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Omari, so happy to have you on the platform with us today and excited to chat about your lessons and insights. Our ability to make good decisions can massively impact our lives, careers and relationships and so it would be very helpful to hear about how you built your decision-making skills.

I developed my decision making skills primarily through thinking about the needs of others and what would be the best way to meet those needs. It has been helpful to take time talking to stakeholders such as my students, community partners, staff, and school officials to see what their needs are and write them down. After writing down their needs, I have practiced developing a plan and compared that plan based on the identified needs of all stakeholders to see if I have taken into account how people will be impacted by decisions I make. This has helped me to make thoughtful and strategic decisions among various groups of people impacted by Next Generation Language Access.

Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?

My organization, Next Generation Language Access, trains high school 1st and 2nd generation immigrant students to become professional interpreters. We focus on providing interpreter training to 1st and 2nd generation immigrant high school students to provide a viable career pathway for them upon graduation from high school. There are several special things about our training. Upon completing our training, students are able to contract with any language interpreting agency in the United States that works with community interpreters. In addition, students learn how to start their own business as a community interpreter. Students will also complete the program with a completed resume, cover letter, and job interview practice that can be used to apply for various employment positions. To date, Next Generation Language Access is the only non-profit program in the United States that trains high school students to become professional interpreters.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

The most important qualities in my journey up to this point have been strategic thinking, resourcefulness, and cultivating relationships. Strategic thinking and resourcefulness has helped me to develop innovative solutions to numerous problems I have encountered along the way in building up Next Generation Language Access. In addition, building and cultivating relationships with friends and colleagues has helped me to stay encouraged, grounded, and motivated in the work I do. I would encourage those that are early on in their entrepreneurial journey to focus on building positive and caring relationships with those that you believe will be important in your journey as you grow your business. There will always be challenges when growing your business but having a caring community makes a big difference in terms of feeling you have the emotional and analytical capacity to face the challenges that will come along the way. Focus on being the best version of yourself and supporting others in doing the same and I believe the rest will fall into place.

To close, maybe we can chat about your parents and what they did that was particularly impactful for you?

The most impactful thing my parents did for me was to follow through on their word. As a result, I have learned from an early age that you should do what you have told people you will do. Following through in this way has provided me with a sense of safety and security when I know that someone will be there to support me and I have chosen to continue that within my organization by supporting my staff, students, and community partners in the ways that I communicated that I will support them.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.nextgenerationlanguages.org
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NGLAEnglish
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ngla/