Originate, Motivate, Innovate

Foreword

A Treasure Among Us

I met Omílàdé at an open mic night poetry event in Washington, DC, in 2009. In a room packed full of DC artists and Black bohemians Omí was a beaming poetry newbie. In true Omí fashion, after watching my 30‐minute performance she came bounding up to me after the event and asked if I would be her poetry mentor. I was taken aback and simultaneously flattered. Her request felt above my pay grade—after all, I was still a broke poet late on her rent and cell phone bill. Nothing in me felt ready to mentor anyone, but I was compelled by her sheer exuberance and commitment to growth. Even then, Omí knew how to grow others while growing herself. What started off as a mentorship quickly grew into a friendship and relationship of reciprocity. Omí had endless skills and gifts I was in desperate need of. These myriad talents were in part developed by her wanderlust and epic curiosity, which took her from interest to interest like a hummingbird in search of the sweetest nectar. It was evident from early on that Omí understood how to gather and activate resources. She could see opportunity and all the disparate threads that needed to be woven together to stitch opportunity into a quilt, a tangible thing of utility and comfort.

In the mid‐00s as two struggling young women, the glue of our relationship was a love of poetry and language and our shared hunger for community. We both knew community was our wealth and our bounty. We understood that the keys to the rooms ...