KISH: Tell us about you.
I am the founder of the Caribbean and Faith Based Leadership Conference.
I am the offspring of both Caribbean and African heritage. My dad is from Nigeria and my mom is Jamaican, however, I did not live with my parents initially. I was raised in a foster home for years before I really knew anything about my family members.
My calling has been in the ministry, so I started preaching at the first time from the age of 15. Since then I have worked in different levels of religious leadership, youth leadership and serving different community development projects in Jamaica. I have raised funds, organized community initiatives, and assisted countless people and organizations with projects that include disaster relief, housing, and social outreach programs. I have also worked in the educational field as a guidance counselor and as pastoral counsel.
Additionally, my work has been involved extensively with resolving conflicts with gang leaders. My organization has worked very closely with Jamaican gang leaders, resolving conflicts and bridging the gap between people who are socially stratified. They are stratified by ethnicity, by social economic status – from the poor to the rich, and those who are in a classist society. I have been very good at creating harmony and bringing people together under one roof. Strengths of mine are suicide intervention, as well as bringing people together, raising resources for the underprivileged and being a voice to the voiceless.
KISH: What is your dream and how will accomplishing your dream benefit you and others?
Dr. Agorom: My dream is to establish a greater avenue for advocacy for the multicultural black community. Advocacy in the areas of social justice, human rights, religious liberty and socio-economic advancement of the global community and to facilitate resources going into these parts of the world. Resources are needed to promote the talents and abilities of the African diaspora, to showcase their achievements, as well as the impact our people are making in the world in terms of serving.
KISH: Who or what inspired you to pursue this dream?
Dr. Agorom: I just believe it is my calling. My calling is to do missions in a culture of diversity. I am inspired by people like Dr. Martin Luther King who have a voice for social justice – different freedom fighters such as Nelson Mandela, Marcus Garvey, and others. My foundation for fighting for social justice and social change is influenced by my own Biblical reflection, devotional life and my understanding of liberation theology that I learned in the Caribbean and at Howard University.
KISH: What challenges have you encountered while pursuing your dream?
Dr. Agorom: Getting people to see the vision and getting people in the fight to still create synergy and assist to where I can do this more effectively. There are limited economic resources. Also, I would say, getting people to see the reason for coming together and engaging in interfaith, intercultural, and international dialogue. My conference is very intercultural. It consists of different faiths, and the mission is to bring everyone together so that we can tackle the issues that we face as a global community.
KISH: Who or what inspired you to keep pushing regardless of the challenges you’ve encountered?
Dr. Agorom: I just can’t run away from it. The community reaches out to me a lot. People from numerous nations, organizations and tribal groups are always engaging me, so I feel like the call is also a community call. There is never a dull moment or a day that goes by without calls for some need or some issue from a different national group. Whether it is from the Congo, Togo, or the Caribbean, Nigeria, Ghana or Zimbabwe, they reach out for me to help them engage the White House, support programs they are trying to implement, hear about their humanitarian crises and to facilitate connections or represent their interests in the geo-political space in Washington. I know it is a calling.
KISH: Please provide final thoughts/advice for others by finishing this sentence… dream.
Dr. Agorom: Dream big, but make sure you wake up and get to action. A dream is just a dream unless you do something and make it a reality.
