Kemo Camara (00:00)
Community should be human technology. community is everything for me as a human. This is how we survive. This is how we thrive. is how we live.
House Of Peregrine (00:14)
It's like the lifeblood of
Kemo Camara (00:15)
It is like, so that's the essence of community, right?
House Of Peregrine (00:15)
Yeah, it's like a lifeblood of being human. Yeah.
Kemo Camara (00:20)
But nowadays, communities have been used so for me, I really don't pay attention because I don't come from that world. we have like brand day community and some people use that term where like when an era of social media, all these things like Twitter and blah, blah, blah, people are like, you need to create your community as a brand like then the people that love your brand and then just like use the word community and then Facebook global community and then like all these things and they became like this commercialized.
House Of Peregrine (00:30)
Yeah.
Kemo Camara (00:46)
aspect that's there that is it makes sense because you're bringing people together but at the core of it like our ancestors as the like the first generation as a human had to come together that's how they survived that's how they thrive and that's how we built as a human right you cannot know who you are independent from like others
House Of Peregrine (01:04)
yeah.
Kemo Camara (01:09)
Like this is what I use this term, me, myself, us, right? Because me, part, me, myself, part, you have to do that work. You have to do like, you have to be intentional. You have to understand what is different about you. you go through this journey,
And so for me, that the real community is like that human technology, that human in relationship with order.
House Of Peregrine (02:03)
welcome back to the House of Peregrine podcast. If you're new here, I'm your host, Mickelle Weber. And if you're returning listener, welcome back and thank you. Today we're joined by Kemo Camara founder and CEO of Omek an Amsterdam based community driven platform for bicultural professionals in the African diaspora. Since 2019, Omek has been helping talented biculturals connect to meaningful opportunities
build careers, and plug into global networks through programs, partnerships, and events with leading brands. Kemo is a respected diaspora expert and community builder, championing the power of identity, cultural fluency, and collaboration in the future of work. I'm really excited to bring Kemo with to you today and dig into his journey in the impact Omek is making in the world. Welcome, Kemo. I'm so excited to have you on today.
Kemo Camara (02:54)
I'm excited to be here. Thank you for the wonderful introduction, the way. I'm excited about this conversation.
House Of Peregrine (02:59)
I think it,
yeah, I think it suits you, of course. ⁓ I want to start out by asking you because you and I met at an event in Amsterdam and it was actually a really beautiful event that brought together this idea of meaning and home. And I think we connected about, we were each asked to bring an item. And this was from a mutual friend, Nina, who wrote that beautiful book.
Kemo Camara (03:04)
Ha ha ha.
Mm-hmm.
House Of Peregrine (03:26)
that we've had on the podcast actually. And so you brought something from your mother and then told this beautiful story. And I immediately knew I wanted to have you on the podcast. maybe we start a little bit there about you have this beautiful community in Amsterdam that you're fostering and building. But I want to back up a little bit and start with your Peregrine story that you so beautifully told that night and continue to tell on your own channels.
Kemo Camara (03:52)
Yeah, absolutely. What a wonderful night it was. I remember Nina's going like, my God, you had such a great interview. So your session was great, by the way. But yes, where shall we begin? I'm originally from Guinea. That's where I spent my early foundation of like, life, culture, value.
and all that before moving out of Guinea, going to the US, then to Germany, then to the Netherlands and like that whole big circle. But yeah, in Guinea where, so I kind of talked about my mom, you referenced that a bit during that event, the item that I brought.
was very sentimental to me because I went back home in August, so a few months before the event, that session. So my mom had passed. And so I had the chain that has her picture and I usually wear it. couldn't find where my kids put it. So I had the, I couldn't take off the chain and use it. And so I had the Nicholas that I also bought.
during that trip and so it was associated with that. So when I was sharing that kind of like brought in the memory and then everything. was a bit emotional when I was sharing that, but it was like really real. And so speaking of my mom, yeah, so speaking of my mom, so basically I grew up in this huge family back home. My mom had nine
House Of Peregrine (05:15)
It's beautiful.
Kemo Camara (05:26)
kids. So yeah, I my dad, had like really nine kids, that's a big family. But that was, that nine kids was like the smallest part of the family because they raised other kids. The kid from their brothers, sisters, uncles, cousin, neighbor, village, and then everybody just kept sending.
their kid to them to put in school, the kid will go to school from like, you know, elementary to university and then go out and those who grew up get married and then they will also their own kid and then they will send it to them. And so our family, yeah, our family was always, even though they themselves have nine kids, but they never had, at least like my whole life.
I've never seen the compound having less than 30 people. So we'll have 30, 40, sometimes 50 people living in the same compound all the time. All the time.
House Of Peregrine (06:23)
Wow.
So you would just, you call it a compound. they, like there were just, that was kind of, is that cultural or is that kind of normal to your family? That kind of.
Kemo Camara (06:40)
Yeah, it's a cultural in terms of the compound, like a back home. Usually if you have a house, you have a main house and you basically have the big fence around it or like wall. And so you kind of create a compound and they have like within that like all the houses that you build because because like back home is very collective society, it's a community. So when you have something, it's not only for yourself.
And so your house is not only for yourself, it's like for whole family. And so that's why you said if people build compounds, so you have like, you know, a couple of houses in there and then you have like your brothers and sisters, like the people that live there. And so like, yeah, was everywhere that we moved, like we'll always be in the compound. And so that way you're able to like accommodate more people staying there. So we'll have a...
I use this term to describe it as a human technology. Because imagine this space where you live in and you have like 40 people at the same time. And out of those 40 people, you have like my mom, my dad, and then you have like uncles, and you have aunties, and then you have like now the kids, and those kids who have like, you know, each generation. And so if I like go on the
boys size, like you have the, you know, the elders can be like in their twenties and then like you have a few of them and then you have like a group like in their like 18 and then all like, and then like teens and then below. So like each group will be there and that will be the same for like the ladies side. And in addition to like all these cousins, like nieces like being in the compound, which we don't have that term in our language. So there's no cousin or.
or nieces like a brother or sisters. Yeah, so the family kind of grew up that way. And so in that, there's this like hierarchy, like you know your place within this system. You know your age group and you have to respect people above you and then people below you have to respect you. But like you have to, and part of that respect, you have to protect them as well. So you don't abuse.
because you older than them, because they have to respect you that you don't have peace, because there's some other people above you that kind of sees and then so like this this protective like there's a this almost like responsibility and then accountability, right? So you're responsible, but you're also accountable. And then so like everybody kind of get to learn this idea for in this system, like this idea for responsibility, the idea of accountability. And so like, there's this
House Of Peregrine (09:10)
Yeah.
And I love that
you call that a human technology. Like I love that you.
Kemo Camara (09:24)
Yeah,
it was totally like a human technology. It worked like this, you know, this respect, this support system. And I think that's the most important part. It's almost like you've been one of these 40 people or like 50 people, whatever the number. You do not waste time focusing on yourself because that's a waste of energy. You have like
you have 39 other people that are focusing on supporting you. And so you, in return, spend your time supporting other people. And so only do the math on that. It just makes sense. It's just not me, myself, and I. It's me, myself, and us. So you kind of like...
you know, learn your responsibility and then you learn about your culture and all that. So you do that part, you know, individually like you did. You have the freedom of like contributing. So there's an individual aspect, but you know that individual aspect cannot stand by itself, isn't part of the collective. So that's me, myself and us.
So that's like a really that human technology part like when human come together and how you support how do know your place and how do know you're not like there's not this vacuum where you can do whatever you want and not think about the impact and the repercussion that it will have on all the people around you. Yeah, so I grew up in that and yeah.
House Of Peregrine (10:42)
Yeah, and that's really
beautiful because there's power in that. And it's so foreign to how, I mean, the next part of your story is that you go to the US. And for me, I grew up in the US. That is a foreign concept, except every summer I would go for a week with my entire extended family on my dad's side and we would make a little compound at a lake.
And that was like, those are my best memories as a kid because you have this, it's a freedom, but it's also connection. It's also, I really identify with an identity. Like we kind of came together and made like a little, so it's like, it was about, you know, 30 people. So it's kind of that same scale. And yeah, that's how I formed my identity of who I am by seeing the others around me and having elders around.
But I think that's pretty rare around the world to live this way. so I'm wondering, what are the, so before we move on to the rest of your story, I love how you, this has shaped you. And I want to know what the upsides of this are and if there are any downsides that you see to living or growing up this way.
Kemo Camara (12:00)
Yeah, mean, that's absolutely I mean, we human we not perfect. There's always an upside and a downside. I think the upside is like, you just have this value you really like you were talking about like identity, right? Like it helps you understand the value of where you come from. And so basically, we have to say like, to know where you're going, have to know where you come from, like
And so I think that's really important, like a history, like a human, we didn't fall out of the sky. You know, we come from like something, we come from like a society, we come from a culture, we come. And so like knowing that, knowing your place and your responsibility within that, and then kind of really help you move forward. I this like this cultural framework, so working on articulating it. Basically, like when you're in that compound, like everything that you do, like the way
you decide to live together, that's the culture, that's the subculture for your family, right? And then they have a bigger societal culture or like community culture. And within that culture, you started like understanding what are the things that's important within that group, right? So that becomes the values of that group, like the things that's important and those values influences.
like the way you see yourself, like how you think like you're worth and then all that, like those are like shaped from that, right? And that worth, like the way you think about yourself, the way you see yourself also point to or like influence how you want to make an impact, right? And that impact become the purpose. So like then it's like this whole thing is connected. And so being in that kind of environment, shape.
that like, you know, the culture shape your value, your value that shape your worth and your worth help like influence your purpose. then like, and so that's the upside, I would say to like everything that I do today, everything that I see myself, my values, my worth, like everything come from there. Right. And so like, can really like the upside can like really shape that way. But
Also, as a human, like I was saying, there can be like a serious downside because if I have like all these human in one place, right? And if there's no proper guideline, there's no strong people there, fair people, honest people there to guide that system, it become a mess. And usually in the West, I think people talk about this a lot where like, man, when you go into a
House Of Peregrine (14:22)
Hmm.
Kemo Camara (14:36)
a family reunion or Thanksgiving and then like you just in the movie and it's a very mainstream like they associated with the fight and argument and then just like even if it's not true but the movie has made it that like it's kind of associated and then this fight and then like my god you go into a Thanksgiving with your family thing then it's gonna be like uncles and then but like you kind of build up but for us like that was not the case and you come in there and you know your responsibility and then you're so accountable for something.
House Of Peregrine (14:43)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Kemo Camara (15:05)
And so like you need to have people to guide that in the right direction. There is energy that people have in the right direction. And if you don't have that, it will be a total mess. Like we won't talk about human technology. We'll talk about human something else. And so for me, I would say it was like really a privilege. I'm like really aware of that. It was a privilege to have that kind of family and that like the whole DNA of like this.
House Of Peregrine (15:19)
Hahaha
Kemo Camara (15:32)
Thanks to working this system working is because of like this, this beautiful human being that I was talking about last time, my mom. Yeah, she was like, she was the architect. She was the human behind that. and then, yeah, for her whole life, like literally her whole life. Yeah, so.
House Of Peregrine (15:46)
I can feel how much you
revere her and love her. That's so beautiful. And saw the impact she had on others. ⁓ That is what I want to ask you. what is that energy? because from where I have experienced some community, religion,
Kemo Camara (16:00)
Yeah.
Yeah.
House Of Peregrine (16:12)
And also the way we're brought up in the US is like, this type of system is like ripe with corruption or taking advantage of things or being extracted from or extractive. And so this is question, this is a really hard question, so you don't have to answer it, but like, what do you think that energy or those morals or what is the mindset of getting that sort of collective system to thrive?
for all the members.
Kemo Camara (16:42)
Oh man, it's it's social. Yeah, good, let's go there. This is, for me, you know, as a human, like this is like, almost like this is my perspective. It's almost like the DNA of like the societal, like how society function, right? And so this is why I use, I love using this term like a human technology because.
House Of Peregrine (16:48)
Ha ha ha.
Kemo Camara (17:06)
like technology working together, know, effectively and efficiently and then like having a beautiful impactful outcome. Like us as a human, have like in our nature, like the possibility of being great, of doing good thing and then of like, yeah, doing amazing thing. And we also have like the possibility of going far.
the other side and then doing like horrible thing, right? And usually they say like, like the people who are strong and are those who are like able to like decide against the desire of doing the wrong thing and by doing, by choosing to do the right thing. But we all have the choice and then have the possibility to do either, right? And so if you, and there's always this temptation and this desire, right? And so if you grew up in an environment that's constantly teaching you
House Of Peregrine (17:36)
Mm-hmm.
Kemo Camara (18:02)
that it's a waste of time to focus only on yourself because you have like you supporting yourself. That's a one, one, one V one, right? You only you versus you, right? And so if you are in the system of like 50 people or 40 people, 30 people, let's say 30 people, and if you're not focusing yourself,
And you have then you have a 39 people focusing on you versus one V1 then you have now 39 V1. Think about that like from that perspective, right? Like this is so is so inefficient system, right? And now you have so much abundance because you have 39 people focusing on you and like the mental
House Of Peregrine (18:37)
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, it's powerful. That's powerful.
Yep.
Kemo Camara (18:56)
the that comes through that, the peace of mind that comes through that. Think about how do you see yourself if you're 39 people around you are like valuing you, are supporting you, are saying all these things about you, like what do you internalize and what you digest versus like you feeling like you're fighting the whole planet one-v-one, so inefficient. And I think like if you look at it from that basic element and then we like this is
very inefficient system. And so when you replicate this system and make this as mainstream, everybody fighting for themselves. Basically, if you're fighting for yourself, that means you have to take advantage of others. And anyway, so we'll come back to that. But like if you take like 39 V1, like, it's like it has this internal, let's think about you, how that affects you as I impact you and like that cultural framework that was like, told you about, right? Like, so
This 39 decide this is how we're going to do this, how we're going to support you, this is going to work with you. So that become that culture that is built around you there, right? And so that culture kind of like, hey, this is very valuable. Like those values, like it's a community, those values that these 39 view one that I value a lot, right? And those values become like, you see a worth in that, like I'm worth something. I'm somebody, I have something to say, like just being a human around this space.
And that, know, influenced the purpose. It's like, I have a purpose to help other people. It's not only about myself because I've seen this system work, right? So whatever I have, whatever I do is to help other people, right? And so for me, my philosophy, my purpose, like these things became, when I help others, I'm actually helping myself. The best way to help myself is by helping others because internally it does something inside me that I know nothing, nothing, nobody can lie.
House Of Peregrine (20:25)
Yep.
Kemo Camara (20:52)
know, replicate no amount of money, no like, because when I like, get to Omek later, but when I help someone get a job, when I help someone like, and lack something that they really, really need, and maybe it doesn't cost me like anything to do that, like, and they see the joys on them, like it does something to you. And that's something to me is actually helping myself. Like it does something internally, right? And so that's the kind of system that, and so that way, because
House Of Peregrine (21:16)
Yep.
Kemo Camara (21:20)
In the world, we already know, everybody talk about this abundance, like this abundance of everything, if we just work together to move that way. It's easier to say than done. But for me, again, the privilege that I had is because I grew up in that. I seen it. I grew up with it. And so nobody can tell me it's impossible. So when I go in the places, that's completely, that's all. I moved to the US, which is completely different.
system, so you go from a collective system to like very, very individualistic system. But because I had this foundation that I grew up with, that I seen, I, you know, like internalized. And so when I come in here, I know like, nobody should tell me like, what is my worth? Like, nobody's going to tell me like, you know, who I am, my identity, like all that stuff, ⁓ but that's really hard to have. Exactly.
House Of Peregrine (22:10)
Yeah, there's 39 other people who there's 39 other
mirrors that have shown me who I am. Yeah.
Kemo Camara (22:15)
Exactly. And then I have the system
to build those 39 or 100 other people or 1,000 other people because I have the skill. I have the skill to build my, you know, that community.
House Of Peregrine (22:25)
There's incredible value in that as well, like you said for yourself, but it's almost like exponential at that point if you have that mindset. It's not existential because people do better in groups of, we know like less than 50 or a hundred, but then it's generative. Generative is my favorite word. It's not generous, it's generative.
Kemo Camara (22:50)
Yes, absolutely. Absolutely. And so for me, yes, to get back to your question, I think that's the most effective. then humans have always, like human species, are created to be together. That's why, like this individualistic thing just happened yesterday. If you look at like in the human history, like we've been on this planet for like how long. And so the individualistic,
House Of Peregrine (23:07)
Yep.
Kemo Camara (23:18)
me, myself and I concept only started like really, really like yesterday when you compare. So like, it's very, it's not a human, like we're not naturally born to, to, to function that way as a society. Right. And then you can see the impact that he has in the world. if you look at it from those two lenses, the system that's really
House Of Peregrine (23:40)
Mm-hmm.
Kemo Camara (23:43)
like the extractive system that we have, the colonial system, like all these bad things that happen, basically, you can trace it back to this 101, me, myself, and I. That 101 can be as an individual. It can be as a collective, a community saying, me, myself, and I, versus in the relations to other community, a country.
going me, myself, and I in relation to other countries. And so you go, you take, extract, you take as much as possible from other versus like, you know, me and, versus like the 30, the 39.
House Of Peregrine (24:23)
Yeah, absolutely. And I mean, that's playing out right now with the US obviously and in other places. And it's just like you said, it doesn't make any sense at all. But, and it's, it's very damaging. And that, that brings us to the next part of your story. When we spoke earlier, you continued your education. You moved from where you grew up and your beautiful compound to the US to go to university. And so tell me.
Tell me a little bit your reasons for that because there I loved how you put it before, and also it was also part of it was to protect your own community. So I love I love your story of this. So maybe we can move on to that next part.
Kemo Camara (25:06)
Yeah, yeah, so basically the idea of moving to the US was I had this, I put in this linear concept, this linear thinking, right? That I'm gonna go to the US, but before even the linear thinking, like when I was growing up, this was only hindsight. Like before I didn't have the, I just knew I had the feeling, but I didn't have the dots when not connected.
House Of Peregrine (25:28)
Yeah.
Kemo Camara (25:32)
I was really interested for me to like, how do you move a country from a point A to a point B? I was really like very curious and sometimes frustrated, a lot of times frustrated actually, that you have a order, some countries calling themselves developed country and you have a country's calling the call so-called underdeveloped or like.
whatever, developing country or poor country or this term that I wasn't in, that we were not in the wrong when it was invented or whatever. And so how did that happen? Why did that happen? So how do you move a country from a point A to point B? And so young that time, was like, man, I associated that phenomenon of like where you have an IMF, you have a World Bank always come in and you hear a TV like, we're giving this country this much money.
And we doing this, I'm like, yo, I want to be sitting at that table and then like learn like what is happening. And so my thing was, I'm going to go to the US I mean, I go to the best school and I learn exactly from where they're learning from and go to the best company and get the best work experience. And then one day I come back and I sit at the table and then when they come back and then they, like we went to the same school, we had a similar
know, experience and all that stuff. So you can't tell me anything. So that was my linear thinking. And so that way I can learn, okay, yes.
House Of Peregrine (27:00)
Yeah, I love that. yeah,
from this point of view, it's a protective, you want to, not protective, but you want to sit at the same table and have that. I mean, is that, am I getting that right? Like, it's almost like a protective, like, I know what you know, we're speaking the same language. can, we aren't talking past each other anymore. And we're talking about my country, where I'm from.
Kemo Camara (27:27)
yeah but it's like even
House Of Peregrine (27:27)
because other people were talking
about your country from a different lens that just wasn't accurate almost.
Kemo Camara (27:34)
Yeah, no, it wasn't even about them. It was about me figuring out how to support and how to create a change. But because I was seeing my reference point at that point was the economy, the World Bank, the finance. For me, was the let's say the lane that I had to pick and then I fall. That's where the guidance, because money is like, that's where the country is.
House Of Peregrine (27:44)
Yeah.
Kemo Camara (28:03)
guided and all that stuff and important, rich, like, all kind. That's what the value. So that was like my, land that I picked up. And so for me, it was again, hindsight and all that things like, if you are in this system and you know your culture and you know your values and you know your worth and then, you know, you're, know, the purpose and then the impact that you make. And that translated the same thing like,
House Of Peregrine (28:05)
That's where the value is. That's what everyone's talking about. Yeah, yeah, Yeah.
Kemo Camara (28:28)
then you know your countries and then you know the culture that your country have, you respect and you know the value and the worth and then all that stuff and it happened. And so for me it was because these people felt like they come in and they're always giving to this country and it was a poor country so they felt like there was this idea of super reality, right? We know you don't know, we're gonna come in and tell you what to do when you come in and give it to you. And for me it was like, you know where you're learning from. I'm gonna go there, I'm gonna know.
And so there's no black box here. And I'm coming and sit at the table, then I know my culture. I know my values. I know my worth. The only thing that's missing here is me not learning where you're learning from. So if we equalize that, and I come here, and I'm to tell you how we make it happen. But that was my thinking. And it was very linear, and it was very simple. But we know life is not linear, so my journey.
House Of Peregrine (29:14)
Yeah, I love that. Yeah.
Thank
goodness it's not, but yes. So you went and studied in the US for how long? And I think that's where you met your partner.
Kemo Camara (29:29)
Yes, off I go. Went to the US, went to school.
Yeah, and I quickly realized, yes, my linear, my journey division was like, there was like a lot of equation in between, like, especially school, you just don't go to like school that you want to go to, you pay school, where I came from the university, they used to pay you as a student. And you come here, you pay. And when I used to live back home, it was free, I live in this compound, get up and eat anytime, like now you have to pay for you, you have to pay a rent.
You have to pay your food, have to like, that's like, everything was totally different, the culture, the language, the weather, like everything, like all my reference points. And that was my first.
House Of Peregrine (30:08)
Yeah, and where were you going,
where were you living, which part of the US?
Kemo Camara (30:12)
in New York City, which is, yeah, I love New York. From that perspective, it's like the best place when you come to America is like just go to New York and start from there. When you make it to New York, you make it probably anywhere. ⁓ So I went to New York. I started working there. I started going to school. yeah, again, my thinking is the finance. So I went to work for
House Of Peregrine (30:14)
New York, okay.
That's true.
Kemo Camara (30:36)
in the banking in the US, one of the largest bank in the US for many years. Then when the financial crash happened, I actually realized the regular financial system does not align with my values. so I left, I went back to school and then came back in corporate America and the strategy and all that stuff. And then again, like all...
on this journey and learning and going to the leadership and I learned a lot about like the technical skill in the corporate America and stuff. But during that time, what I didn't realize is that I could not help myself, but building community and bringing people together. So I work during the day and in the afternoon or when I get off work, I would go straight to community building. And I was building all type of community from like
religious community to professional community to support a bill like a mini replicate of African cup because like football or soccer is a common language as a, you know, people from the global majority country like, and so I brought in all the migrant community from different countries and then like, organize that. So like I had different communities. So basically imagine
Whenever I got off work nine to five, I would just go to different community. And then I was in the leadership in all this community. Yeah. So it was, I was like really busy. And then I, I never thought about, I never stopped to think that, Oh, I'm a building community because I, that's what I know. This is where I come from. Like this is how, and for me it was just normal. And then I just couldn't understand some of my friends who didn't grew up in that environment.
like we stay away from people in the community. They just saw Zoom focus on their professional growth and they couldn't associate both. couldn't, like them being on this track and become a manager and become decent, successful in their professional growth. like living the American dream as a migrant coming there and they were like really stay far away from the, you know, the community. And for me it was like totally, you know, like I was able to like, I couldn't dissociate this too. Like, yeah, my professional life.
actually informed because I'm learning these technical skills here. The strategy, how you move, like, you know, how you build a strategy and you want to get from point A to point B. The strategy help you do that. And you have all this milestone and you have like experts coming in and teaching you all this. And then you learn all this and then I'll take that and I'll come into a community. I like, okay, we have this great aspiration, but as a community, you guys don't know how to get there. Like you're focused on this and like he has a strategy that we do.
And that's why I was finding myself in the leadership in many of these communities. So for me, I became this bridge between these two lives because I will go and then take the community values and aspiration and bring that to the corporate space. It's not always about, we are human. Let's keep that humanity. And then so I will always have that personality there. So yeah, but this all come from the DNA that I built. And I had no idea. I had no connection. This is all.
in the hindsight now that I'm making the connection.
House Of Peregrine (33:45)
Yeah. Yeah. And that's, mean, that's how life goes, right? You're following your instincts. You're, there's a something inside of you that you're following. It's not always clear. but then at a certain point you realize, you realize that, you know, day after day you're building your life, but, but what did you learn? Like you, you lived and you went from like a collective to a very individual, visualistic place.
and brought the collective values with you. then, so that's your first international kind of move. It's a big one. Then you decided to leave the US and with your partner who's also American, right? You're both. So I imagine there was some catalyst there for the move from the US.
Kemo Camara (34:27)
Yes. Yes.
Yes, absolutely. Nice story. No, no, I'm not. I'm just reflecting to the because basically, me coming to the US and again, the linear tank in the dream and yeah, it was in it was in linear Geneva, like I had, you all the tools and resources that I had to rule my slave and then I went to school and despite all the challenges and now
House Of Peregrine (34:37)
Don't be shy.
Kemo Camara (35:00)
I'm working at the bank and understand the banking system and realize that's not what I want, but I kind of learn everything that I needed to learn there when in the corporate and then like learning like the strategy again, like if you have a goal and then you set the goal and then you have like the, you have basically the strategy. This is all again, the same journey, how you move, you know, people from a point A to point B and you move the company or the goal and then the thing, the vision. And then the community was like the micro.
the micro-representational sample of like a country or like bigger, right? And so I've been community building, I've been like preaching. So still on my journey, like the thinking that I came in.
And so I saw a point I was like really comfortable what I was doing and where I was. Because I was working in a corporate space that I really was like enjoying the values aligned and I felt comfortable there. And all this community that I was building, was just like, this is what I love doing. I love helping people. So I was just a bit comfortable. And I met my wife there living in Minnesota.
Amazing, extremely talented, smart, lovely and everything.
At some point she was like, we got to get out of the US. I need to take a break from the US. need to go somewhere. Let's do something. And she always wanted to. So she also come from this background where her parents just travel. then so she has this understanding of it. And so that's why I was laughing because it was like, oof, I'm comfortable. I'm good. It's like, yes. ⁓
House Of Peregrine (36:34)
Yeah, what do you mean?
Kemo Camara (36:36)
Yeah,
so we are like in that period of time, like deciding where should we go? It doesn't matter if we go back to Guinea, spend some time there and whatever. We just figure it out and we are like me. Yeah.
House Of Peregrine (36:45)
So if I am, I just want to, this
is a moment that happens a lot in couples. So just want to capture it for a second. So if I get this straight, you were kind of happy, content, like living, yeah, comfortable. And so your partner comes to your wife and says, she's not. She wants to take a break. And so that's a big moment. That's a big moment that can make her break a couple actually. Yeah.
Kemo Camara (36:58)
comfortable.
Yeah.
Yes. Yes.
⁓ absolutely. Absolutely.
Especially, let me add another layer to that one as well. So at the end of the day, I'm still an immigrant. Like I moved to the US with this vision, this dream, you know, coming from Africa. And so I have this, I'm like, man, my career is going in the right direction. I'm making an impact, like, you know, and I use the word comfortable intentionally because comfort can become like your worst enemy.
House Of Peregrine (37:31)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Yeah, trap.
Kemo Camara (37:38)
And I didn't.
Yeah, exactly. And so I was like literally comfortable at that time. Life is great. I got my American dream girl. Like, what are you talking about? But I also could see like it made sense. And we actually like in my head all the time, like, yo, I mean, you want me to quit my job, quit everything that I'm doing here and unpack my stuff and then go somewhere again as an immigrant? Like what?
So I had all these things in my head as an extra layer to it. like it become, and then even that like, yeah, we'll have a joke about this. Like I was like, well, if I go somewhere like what my parents were gonna say, like what these people like, what are you doing? Like, dude, like, you know? And so we were in that period of time. So I was procrastinating, right? And so I was like really procrastinating, but luckily this
House Of Peregrine (38:05)
Yeah.
Kemo Camara (38:29)
global company came like all of sudden out of nowhere and then reached out to her and be like, yo, do you want to come in and work for us in Germany? And she showed me the email and it's like, I think like this, it's probably like people fishing and it's not a real email. I'm like, what is the worst case gonna happen? They're not gonna steal your, they're gonna give you the job or they're gonna say like, no, you're not gonna get the job. And so like we replied.
So she replied to the email. One thing led to another. Two weeks later, she flew to Germany and did the interview. then, this happened. And so I had to be like, OK, I have to quit. I have to leave everything and then let's go and support her. And yeah, was not.
House Of Peregrine (39:15)
You don't have to
do that, but that's a big choice you made. That's a big, that's a really, it's a pivotal moment. Do I have to or do I, because that, again, that breaks couples sometimes and in your values, yeah.
Kemo Camara (39:27)
Yeah, it does. does. If I had to say no, would just like, if I say no,
it would be just like, yeah, I think I'm glad we never even thought we had to come to them like, what if I say no, but you never say no. So like, why are we even talking about that? No, like I think it does a lot of couples, especially if you're not comfortable with that. But for me moving, didn't tell you this about part of the story, but like I've always moved. Like my dad, my parents, my dad.
work for the government. So every three years they would transfer him to a different region in the country. And so growing up, this nomadic life was a normal part of us like growing up. So I think like my memories, yes, yes, yes, yes. So like think about like, especially if you're younger and then when the compound is moving, it's like this big festive moment leading to that, or you go into a different...
House Of Peregrine (40:07)
Yeah. So the whole compound moved every three years. The whole compound moved every Wow.
Kemo Camara (40:22)
country and then your dad has been like probably promoted in his job and then you go in there and then yeah so like a moving like it would be like everybody in the big bus or like in this it's just like it was a very festive like in our mind and so we did that at least three three to five times and so I'm used to that like moving doesn't scare scare me and as long as everything aligned and it just in this move everything aligned and I was like yo
I'm going to go there and figure it out and then put it together and make it happen. And so we came in there like a very, like as an expat, which was like a really great condition requirement that we all met. And it's like, it made sense. Quit, our stuff. And then we came in and it was, I'm glad we made that decision. I'm so, so glad. I'm so glad I got out of that comfort. Omek wouldn't happen. I wouldn't be who I am today if I was still in that comfort zone.
House Of Peregrine (41:11)
Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. And so that was your first experience moving as kind of, you went from, you kind of moved as a student from Africa to the U.S. and then moved kind of, so you've done both kind of like you've done the immigrant story and the expat story, which I really love because they're totally different experiences and ⁓ yeah, privilege. mean, it's just, yeah, it's just a huge difference. Yeah.
Kemo Camara (41:37)
Yes.
Yes. OK. Let me just give a quick insight there. It's totally different.
So I come in in the US. In my head, I'm coming here. I have a clear vision. I have this energy of this drive. I don't care what people think about me. I know I'm coming with nothing. I don't have the knowledge, don't have the language. I'm coming. So you come in as a student. So you know social status. You know your place. And so you just put your head down, and you learn, learn, you learn, learn.
House Of Peregrine (41:58)
Yeah.
Yep. Yep.
Kemo Camara (42:09)
So that's a very classic student or migrant story, becoming that as an immigrant, right? And now I work, build a social capital, like who I, you know, like I I have a status now, like I work professionally and socially, you have this, and now I'm moving as an expat right? And so that mindset is totally different from this young guy that came in in the 20s and then.
House Of Peregrine (42:14)
Yep.
Mm-hmm.
Kemo Camara (42:39)
And so now I'm coming here with some like expectation, entitlement, like all these things that you coming in, this totally new space, like coming from the US to Germany, it's like totally, again, the mindset, the way like the things work is completely different. And now it's like, and so that can be really like, especially that sense of entitlement.
House Of Peregrine (42:56)
Yep.
Kemo Camara (43:02)
Like, hey, I'm not coming here as an immigrant, right? I have a social status. I'm coming here as an expat So you cannot treat me like I'm the sum of things that I'm not going to put up with. So you have that mindset. And so if you have that mindset and starting with all the challenges within that society, within that culture, within everything, and the expat usually it become a lot harder.
House Of Peregrine (43:07)
Yep. Yep.
Kemo Camara (43:28)
for the expert just because you come in with that expectation, with that mindset, with that sense of entitlement. And then with that, you know, like everything is set up for you in the bubbles, like if you come in a job and then all that stuff. And so it becomes a lot harder if you don't, if you're not very intentional and then like think about it, you probably do not have to go through the whole, you take the shortcut, just to like summarize it. You take the shortcut, stay in your expat bubble, stay in that comfort.
and not struggle with the incorporating understanding like in that society. So Germany was that we came in. Germany's like, all right, welcome to Germany. my first welcome story in Germany was one month there. My son at the time was like about two, barely two years old. So I had him in the stroller
And so we came in and they gave us like a space to stay, you know, in the outskirts on the town that we were in, the city we were staying at. So it was a very quiet space. Elders lived there, very quiet. And so I'm standing at the stoplight going to the grocery and there's nobody, there's no car coming left, right, quiet. And I'm standing at the stoplight with this older lady, this grandma. I look.
I look nothing and I just walk. It's a red light. I just walk. I'm coming from like, up, know, was in New York, like, what do you, you know, this is what you do. Only tourists like stand at the stop in this red light there. So I crossed the light with these kids in the stroller So I'm basically endangering my, you know, this innocent, like that's what is going on inside her head. And then I'm breaking the rule. You don't break a rule in Germany.
And then she crossed the street and then she went into the light chains across the street and then, know, catch up with me. And then like this lady gave it to me. She screamed at me and then like, don't understand a word that she's saying, but like I knew she was pissed and I knew I did something wrong. Then I'm like, yep, welcome to Germany.
House Of Peregrine (45:33)
So that was your first cultural wake up call that you were somewhere new. wow. I love that. so when you lived in Germany, that was your first experience of that. It's both a privilege and also you lose a lot because you're not in learning about the culture in a certain way. And then you guys then later move to the Netherlands.
Kemo Camara (45:35)
Yes. Yes, absolutely. Yes.
House Of Peregrine (45:58)
a few years later. And then is that, I love that. I love that story, by the way. Thank you for sharing it because we all have those like being yelled at by someone just by not knowing the culture yet. ⁓ But then when you had to uproot your career and everything, was that a process that I think a lot of people have gone through this maybe, is, am I right to assume that you had to kind of reimagine what you wanted to do in the
Kemo Camara (46:10)
Yeah.
Yes, absolutely. Absolutely. And I think maybe because like a lot of in the audience, like a lot of people like expat or like moving around and stuff like that probably relate to this. But I think it's so important when you making this decision that you do collectively and then with your partner, obviously. And and it does help because like if your partner is the one that's getting
House Of Peregrine (46:25)
Yeah, okay.
Kemo Camara (46:51)
you know, the opportunity and you have to like stop everything and then go there with them. Like a lot of the time, like, especially if you go to that new culture and the new space, things don't work out the way you want to. And there's like all this, like, I did this for you. I did this for you. can like really shake the things that you don't. And so that's, that's why I like really being together. and, and so I'm glad I'm like really grateful. We, you know, for my partner, we have this conversation and it was in
That was not a problem. especially like, yeah, we came in there and I had to, you know, like, this is our plan. This is our strategy. This is what I'm going to do. This is what you're going to do. And it's what figure out. And then so let's go. And so it was never like, oh, and then also being there because of my community building skill, it was so easy for me to build like a new community. I built like a huge community in the US, right? And then coming in there, it's just like the building. I was able to build.
House Of Peregrine (47:32)
Yep.
Yeah.
Kemo Camara (47:49)
my community there. And so that kind of shielded me from like feeling lonely and lost and then all that stuff because that's what I love doing. And at the same time, I this vision, this is what I want to do. I find this program like a Master in Development and Economics and International Studies. I'm like, great. This is a missing piece of the puzzle that I, you know, I'm in the US, I did community building. So small sample of like a collective like country strategy, finance, like all this.
House Of Peregrine (47:51)
Yeah.
Kemo Camara (48:16)
think like professionally. then so I have this and now like development and economics and international study was like this on taking that on the macro level. And so I signed up for that master program. And then in that master program, also, by the end of the program, I kind of like this really led to like what Omek is today and all the genesis of Omek. So I've just realized there's this huge need of building this space for this young
House Of Peregrine (48:26)
Mm.
Kemo Camara (48:44)
generation of that I call the bicultural, which we'll talk about later, for them to become future transformational leader. And I saw this need and I saw this drive and I'm like, I'm going to go. then so that basically now reshaper, it kind of became like, refined my linear thinking that I came to the US in the first place, right? Learning how you move country from a point A to point B, because in development and economics, I got quickly disappointed.
House Of Peregrine (49:03)
you
Kemo Camara (49:10)
or disillusioned about like the whole theory that the teaching in development economics and then all that stuff. And so me, I'm like, okay, I still want to learn how you move people from a point A or point B to a point B. And that was basically redefining what development I mean, development, basically the fancy title moving away, stripped away, like development is nothing like improving people's living standard.
because human live in the country. So if you improve that human like living standard and then I was like, wait, this diaspora is bicultural within the diaspora. Diaspora being people living outside the country or space. And so this diaspora, like young people that I'm talking to can be a like impactful source of making that happen. If development and economics is like not the tool that I want to do. So
House Of Peregrine (49:49)
Yeah.
Kemo Camara (50:02)
those things happen in my head, I'm like, man, my journey. So now it's making sense. Like it just brought beautifully the community building aspect ⁓ into like the professional career and all that. And then entrepreneurial mindset that I have like just beautifully together to like, okay, this is, this is like really clear now. This is what I'm going to do. So that clarity, I got that in Germany, right? And so now with, with knowing that and after living in
House Of Peregrine (50:10)
Thanks.
Yeah, awesome.
Kemo Camara (50:29)
in Germany for three years, decided, my wife and I, okay, now let's go. And she was like, we go wherever you want. you pick, like we kind of did the conversation and had like San Francisco, Chicago, New York, and a couple of countries in Europe, where are we going to go? And then to go build this new journey. So this time she was like, yo, let's go, wherever you want to go, we make it happen. And Amsterdam, yeah, Amsterdam became the place.
House Of Peregrine (50:55)
That's amazing. So it's like your turn. Wow.
Kemo Camara (50:59)
Yes, she was like, this is your turn. If you want to get a corporate
job in China, let's go. If you want them like, no, let's go build these things. And we packed it and came again in Amsterdam this time, not as an immigrant, not as an expat And like we both quit our job now and we come into Amsterdam as an entrepreneur. So like, this is the different layer of moving now with two kids, no jobs.
House Of Peregrine (51:08)
I love that.
Kemo Camara (51:25)
We've a dream to come and build something that's gonna change the world. That's a three thing that we had coming to Amsterdam. No community, no nobody.
House Of Peregrine (51:32)
That's a lot.
Yeah, a lot. let's get into it. think that's incredible because the fact that you two both can get around a vision and support and just do it. I feel like that's rare and it's something my partner and I, people call us crazy because we just.
We know what we want and we leap. And so that's rare and it only happens if both of you can do it. And so that's beautiful that you have that. And that's a lot actually to have that and strong visions and the ability to make it happen. So you knew what you wanted to build, just not where. And when you came to Amsterdam, that was kind of the place that you started to build. so knowing all the DNA that went into what you're building, tell us.
how you started creating and what you've created now in the community you're building.
Kemo Camara (52:21)
Yeah, absolutely. basically, like I was mentioning earlier, through my program, my master in development and economics program, I decided to like actually write my thesis because, know, like, when I got disillusioned with what I was learning, and what I was going to use the development and economics as like that missing piece of the puzzle, and it kind of flipped it by
learning more about the diaspora. so like for those who don't know, like diaspora is a group of people that live outside the country of origin or the continent of origin or like the history co-place. And so it kind of stopped, the words started with the Jewish diaspora, with like all the move that they did, right, in the history. And then so it's called the Jewish diaspora because they were like moving and longing to go back to that space. And then it got like evolved as it goes.
House Of Peregrine (53:03)
Mm-hmm.
Kemo Camara (53:10)
to like, you know, the Armenian diaspora, the Black diaspora, to slavery and so on and so forth. And now all the to the contemporary diaspora. So like any immigrant or migrant people living outside the continent or outside the country. So the African diaspora will be like people like myself living outside the continent and living in the West or like anywhere else but in Africa. And so.
House Of Peregrine (53:30)
It's the word we use for
Peregrine. We use Peregrine. The technical term for it, more correct term is probably diaspora.
Kemo Camara (53:34)
Exactly.
Yeah, so diaspora is like the foundation of like people like us expat, peregrine and then like all that like that's really the OG term. And so I started focusing, understanding the power of the diaspora. And so there's been a lot of research about this, the Jewish diaspora being the original.
one and then you have like the Asian, the Chinese diaspora doing a huge phenomenal work in terms of like involving impacting the transformation that happened in China. They got the Indian diaspora did amazing job, right? The Irish diaspora, know, like huge Irish community that's been for generation in the US and like now going back and like going to the origin and then creating this and then like this.
a lot of amazing for leader in the Irish diaspora and how do you tap into that diaspora to impact positively impact the country of origin. And so I started applying that to the African diaspora. And within that study, I started focusing on the younger generation that was born and raised in the West and then how do you, what are their mindset, what are they looking for? And so I called them the bicultural meaning basically they live between.
you know, more than to culture, like the culture of heritage, but also like the culture where they were born in and then navigating that. And then so like the energy that they have there. And so I kind of like, it's part of my thesis that I wrote on the diaspora as part of my program, like really became like, this is what I need to do. This younger generation, these bicultural genius have a different energy about them. That's different from the parent or the
the previous generation today, they're standing on the shoulder of giant that moved away, like paved the path for them to be where they are today. And they have this drive to move the tank forward. And for me, I wanted to use OMEK to build a space and then build a safe space, intentional space where they can come in and connect with each other. And then once they connect to see each other, they start empowering each other, supporting each other and start learning like we're not alone in this space.
provide them tools and resources and access and information and the support system. to basically harness that privilege of being a bicultural that they have and harness that into a transformational leader. So basically that way we have a future leaders that are not like the leader that we have today. And so that was like the vision of OMEK. And so we pack our stuff to come to Amsterdam to build.
House Of Peregrine (56:12)
Yeah. Wow.
Kemo Camara (56:13)
this. Right. And
so that's where the Amsterdam journey came in. So we get to Amsterdam and then we have to start from scratch. but luckily for me, because I have this community building skill. Right. And now I have refined it like from back home. It was just organic. I didn't do it. I just saw it and saw it and I saw it. My parents do it and do it and do it. And it was like building in me as part of my DNA. I go to the US as I try and as I do and now we think, you know,
and consciously doing it, like just doing it because that's what I love doing. And then I came to Germany. I did it just as a mode of surviving, like right. And I know how to do this. I'm going to do it. And now it was very intentional. Now I had to be a business. Now I had to like be attached. Like now all the pieces of the puzzle are coming together. And so I have like every experience that I have and I have to put them together, community building, like strategy and then like expertise and entrepreneurship, like all these coming together to build this because we
House Of Peregrine (56:53)
Yep. Yep.
Yeah.
Kemo Camara (57:10)
creating future transformation of leaders here. And we actually contributing to making the society a better place. So I like to have a purpose now to make the world a better place and how they can contribute in my own small way. So yeah, that's how Omek started. So we can.
House Of Peregrine (57:21)
Yeah, that,
yeah, and that's, it's beautiful, but you and I have talked about this a little bit before, and I've been trying to come together with my own ideas about community, because community, and we talked a little bit about this before, but also it can't be a, is community a product or a technology or both?
Kemo Camara (57:45)
I think community is a technology. I'm coming from there as a human technology.
House Of Peregrine (57:53)
Mm-hmm.
Kemo Camara (57:55)
Community should be human technology. community is everything for me as a human. This is how we survive. This is how we thrive. This is how we live. It is like, yeah, being human. And so that's the essence of technology. I mean, of community, right?
House Of Peregrine (58:08)
It's like the lifeblood of being a human. Yeah, it's like a lifeblood of being human. Yeah.
Kemo Camara (58:18)
But nowadays, communities have been used so like, so for me, I really don't pay attention because I don't come from that world. Like community, you know, like we have like brand day community and some people use that term where like when an era of social media, like all these things like Twitter and blah, blah, blah, people are like, you need to create your community as a brand like then the people that love your brand and then just like use the word community and then Facebook global community and then like all these things and they became like this commercialized.
House Of Peregrine (58:29)
Yeah.
Kemo Camara (58:46)
aspect that's there that is it makes sense because you're bringing people together but at the core of it like our ancestors as the like the first generation as a human had to come together that's how they survived that's how they thrive and that's how we built as a human right because I always that's how we know ourselves like you cannot know who you are independent from like others
House Of Peregrine (59:03)
And that's how we know ourselves too. What I hear you saying is, yeah.
Kemo Camara (59:13)
Like this is what I use this term, me, myself, and I, I mean us, right? Because me, part, me, myself, part, you have to do that work. You have to do like, you have to be intentional. You have to understand what I, like what is different about you. Like, you know, you go through this journey, it's like a baby born, like you don't differentiate yourself with your mom. And then I get some, as you grow up and you kind of, that's my mom, that's me. And so like you do that part, but that cannot be dissociated from the collective that you.
Right? And so there's that part. And so for me, that the real community is like that human technology, that human in relationship with order. Right? And so like, think who uses this term brain.
House Of Peregrine (59:53)
Yeah. And that's the technology part,
right? It's creating a human. Like you're creating a human. You can't become the highest version of yourself in an isolated environment. Like that's where the technology comes in. And as people who move, I think that this is the heart of what I'm also really passionate about in doing is when you move abroad, sometimes it's really easy.
Kemo Camara (1:00:05)
No, you can't. Yes.
Thank you, Sarah.
House Of Peregrine (1:00:18)
and like you experienced,
if you don't have the skill of community building to stay stuck in the version of yourself that sometimes you even revert. And that's not good for yourself and it's not good for the country you're moving to and your family. so continuing with your own personal growth has to happen in community. That's like.
Kemo Camara (1:00:38)
Yeah,
and then like maybe let me add a part to this. I do this a lot in my conversation as part of the things that I do talking about the bicultural mindset and bicultural lens. Let me bring that into here because for us, peregrine or diaspora or expat whatever term you wanna use, we have social privilege. If you think about it globally, I don't know what's the statistic, but it's not more than 3%.
House Of Peregrine (1:00:51)
Yeah.
Kemo Camara (1:01:07)
of the human population, like that move from the place, like different country, different continent, different total environment. us, like we are like a very small fraction, you know, for global population on earth, right? And so like, it's a privilege for you to grow up in the cultural bubble, cultural framework, and then completely move to different cultural framework.
House Of Peregrine (1:01:08)
Mm.
Yeah.
Kemo Camara (1:01:36)
Because what that will do, teach you, like if you're comfortable here, it will allow you to like go somewhere that's completely, does things completely different from the way you have learned. And so that gives you an opportunity to reflect about everything that you've been taught. Because if you're on that system, you don't have this possibility that called the outsider in. You are an insider in within your culture.
House Of Peregrine (1:01:59)
Yep.
Kemo Camara (1:02:02)
Right. And if you go somewhere, then you have this capacity. I use the word capacity intentionally. You have the capacity now to go outside and evaluate your culture and then everything that's been taught you because these people are completely doing it different. Right. And so when you refuse, when you fight this new system, you completely like depriving yourself that opportunity to grow, to learn, to evolve.
And so when you embrace this one here, that's what for us, like this bicultural, like it became a superpower because now you grew up understanding this culture and understand the other culture and then navigating between the culture and then taking the best of both world and then looking at the worst of each. And it's like you as a human, you grow. And I called it, I use the term for this, like, like a toolbox, right? Think about each culture as a toolbox.
House Of Peregrine (1:02:37)
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Kemo Camara (1:02:59)
You're born and raised in America, you're an American through and through, right? You build that toolbox there because that's a cultural toolbox. You come to the Netherlands, now that's a different culture, it's in a different cultural toolbox, right? So the more you learn about your American culture, the more tools you're adding into that toolbox. And you move to Germany or you move to the Netherlands, you have a new toolbox now, but you don't have any tools in it, right?
House Of Peregrine (1:03:03)
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Kemo Camara (1:03:25)
So the more those who decide to like learn more about the Dutch culture are adding more into the Dutch toolboxes, right? And so the more tools you have in each of these toolboxes, the more capacity you're building to like analyze situation. So if you have a challenge in front of you, now you have more tools, you can go into each of these toolbox and that what does that do? Increases your creativity, increases like your way of thinking.
And it build this like that I call it build this capacity that I call like the bicultural capacity, like a skill, empathy, creativity, innovation, all these things, cultural intelligence, emotional intelligence, like you name it just because you and so like if you go in a different place and you have this mindset that I call like a bicultural lens or the bicultural mindset.
House Of Peregrine (1:03:54)
empathy.
Kemo Camara (1:04:17)
You have this mindset like every cultural friend that you go to, you're going to build a small toolbox there. And you're going to, the more you learn, the more tool you add in there because you, this is for you. This is your life. Right. And so the more toolboxes that you have, the more capable you become, the more human you become. And so for me, because I had, was building this toolbox, I have toolbox in Guinea, in Africa, and I came in and I built the toolboxes in the U.S.
But when I first came to the US, it was like, I had a different mindset. I came here, very clear mindset. I'm not an American, blah, blah. But I went through that journey. I became an American. I accepted the cause. I'm like, I'm here. And so I built that toolbox. And because of that, when I went to Germany, was like, I am not going to do myself a disservice. I mean, I built a toolbox there.
And I'm going to learn more about that culture. And that becomes better. So I can go to Germany today and I connect with the German and talk to them and then I do all that and I have a reference point. It becomes easier. And I came to the Netherlands. I built a toolbox. So now I have four different toolboxes. And so if I'm in front of any situation, I have so many tools to go in and how does German think about this? How do Dutch people think about this? How do the American interpret this? How my African culture interprets this? That's the capacity that I've built. Right?
House Of Peregrine (1:05:18)
Yeah.
Yep.
Kemo Camara (1:05:32)
If I'm in front of just an American, they only have one toolbox. They don't have a capacity of like going into, they don't have the capacity. They don't have this cultural capacity because they don't have this toolbox. It doesn't matter how you try, you just don't. You physically, mentally don't have the capacity. And so like for us, again, Peregrine or diaspora or the expat that's moving, when you move in the places and refuse,
to learn the culture in that place and stays in your bubble, you depriving yourself from these toolboxes. And then when you build more toolbox, you just become a better human being. Now you have a capacity to connect with people from all walk of life, right? Yeah, that's the thing that I wanted to add, because it's so, like it's such a huge privilege that we have like being able to move.
different cultural framework and then, we need to like, we need to learn, understand this and it would need to be intentional to learn. And then a lot of, honestly, a lot of expats that I have met that just don't have this concept. And then they just deprived themselves of this beautiful, like a privilege that's been given to them and they just don't, yeah.
House Of Peregrine (1:06:50)
Yep.
Yeah. And I think a lot of it, just like any kind of growth requires that you are vulnerable, requires vulnerability to do it. that can be really the, if you're growing yourself, if you're growing a business, if you're growing, if you're parenting, no matter how you build your capacity as a human, it always requires vulnerability. And that I think is what I see missing. Even in myself.
Kemo Camara (1:07:14)
Yeah.
House Of Peregrine (1:07:18)
It takes vulnerability to learn a language. And that's what I know that's what's held me back from learning Dutch better is that vulnerability to be not be able to be effective in that language at first. And so this is I think this is the biggest thing is that vulnerability to be able to do it and get this incredible privilege, like you're saying of this incredible personal growth, incredible. Yeah, just growth. But what I want to say is you are
Kemo Camara (1:07:31)
Yeah.
House Of Peregrine (1:07:48)
with your what you're doing with with Omek is you're then bringing these people together because often and this is why House of Peregrine as well is often that privilege comes with some downsides and not having a deep deep community is one of them in my experience or network. And so you have to if you have to rebuild your network every few years that can be destructive in some ways. And so if you have people that
get where you're coming from, get the strengths you have, what you have to offer the world. That is really powerful. so that's, I get this feeling that's what you're not only getting people to recognize in themselves, bringing other people together who understand it, and then bringing those people to opportunities. So companies, organizations, and getting them into a system. then, like you said, these leaders can change the world.
That's an incredible bridge, as you said. I think that's a theme. You're a bridge. Do I have that right?
Kemo Camara (1:08:48)
Yeah, no, absolutely have the right. then I just to add to that point, I love to use the word privilege and all that, but it can also be like a disadvantage. It can be seen like, if you don't know how to use it, right? Because you just like lose that sense of like, man, I don't belong here. I don't belong anywhere. Right? Like if you live here, for instance, an American expert living in the Netherlands for 10 years or whatever.
You go back, you just don't see US the same way like when you were growing up there. because you just, like it doesn't matter how much you felt like involved here or not involved, whatever is that journey, but because you've been living here and that's happened everywhere, right? And so you have this sense of like, I'm not very rooted in the US, but like here I'm not, I don't speak the language. There's so many things that I am like, I'm so very much an American when I live here.
And when I go there and I see some traits like, man, I am not very much. And so like you can be in that limbo and I really like, and I think a lot of people in that space. And for me, like with all my, and this bicultural, like with the bicultures actually can be even worse because they were born in an environment that's not like the parent brought them there and they grew up there and they see, this is what I know. I'm a Dutch, was born and raised here. My parents moved here, right?
House Of Peregrine (1:09:42)
Yep.
Yep.
Kemo Camara (1:10:09)
but they
also say that I'm an American, but I don't know anything, I didn't live in them, so I don't have the reference point that they do have. And so it's even in a bigger magnitude for them. so, exactly, that's all of our kids. And so for me, what I do with the bicultural is to bring them in this space and then so find order, the community aspect, to find, unite alone in this space.
House Of Peregrine (1:10:20)
That's my kids and your kids, I think.
Kemo Camara (1:10:36)
There's so many other bicultural out there and then exactly in the same lived experience. Unique to them, but collectively the same. And so that's the first thing. Like that's why the community is important. And then you start like a...
House Of Peregrine (1:10:51)
I always say that
you have more in common with those people. It doesn't matter if you have different passports. You have more in common with someone who's had this, like you said, this very small group of people. You have most in common with them usually. It doesn't matter if you're country, and that's what I've seen with my kids. Yeah.
Kemo Camara (1:11:03)
Absolutely. You have way more in common with them than you
have with your parents. you speak the same language with them, like this language of shared experience and shared values and shared vision. And so that's why when you bring them together, that's what really the DNA of Omek like having these people in the same room, irrespective of where they are.
House Of Peregrine (1:11:09)
Yeah, true. Yeah, that's so true.
Yep. Yep.
Kemo Camara (1:11:26)
it's whether it's a biculture of Asian descent, biculture of European descent or biculture of African descent, we have this, it's like this unique experience. Like, so you bring people together and they start sharing like, my God, this is my people. my God, you telling me, you like you really sharing my life right now and I don't even need to speak. I feel understood in this space. That's the first thing. And then you kind of create, you know, we create this awareness to like, you know what?
This is actually a privilege. You've been seeing it like they're wrong. Like the society has been telling you different things. You don't belong here, you don't belong there. Like flip that script. They don't know who you are. They don't know your experience. They're just looking at you from their cultural lens, which is like one cultural framework. But you have a multiple cultural framework. You have multiple capacity to do things. They don't know. They don't have this capacity that you have. Right? So do not internalize what I'm saying. Look at this community here. Look at what is happening here.
And then here's the advantage that you have, you building these cultural capacities. Right? So this is a superpower that you have. And then so we flip the mindset and now they're now walking into society and they're seen as a disadvantage, they're seen as an advantage. And so when you change their minds and create that awareness. the third part that we do is to like, Hey, actually here are the skills that you actually have. And here's the muscle that you can build here, the cultural intelligence. What does that mean?
House Of Peregrine (1:12:37)
Yep.
Kemo Camara (1:12:52)
What does that come with? Emotional intelligence. What does that mean? How does it can professionally advance like creativity, problem solving, all this and kind of give them all these tools to say like, and this is how we, know, like, so once you know all these nouns, so once you're aware of it and two, you actually know, like you build, you exercise these muscles that's built there. And now three is like, okay, now they have all these like you are super Superman or like whatever.
you have a responsibility now to contribute to the society, the value creation of the society. And so that's what the leadership part come in. And so that's where we kind of designed the Omek around So these are the pillar, the foundation. So like these young people come in, sometimes like very lost, like very lost, like, man, I'm like, I'm an African descent born here in the Netherlands. They don't accept me. And like I have this very salient feature of being black or female or whatever.
Right. And then so like
House Of Peregrine (1:13:47)
Yep.
Kemo Camara (1:13:48)
people are looking at me and then you completely flip that you have something that the people don't have stop. Like if you don't know who you are, people will always tend to tell you who you're supposed to be. So learn who you are, learn about who you are, learn about your superpower. Now you can go outside, not internalize what they're saying. like we change the mindset that I changed, like they're coming from like in this disadvantage to really advantage space. And then if in the career space,
corporate and we work with a lot of corporate and then tell them, these are your future workforce. These are your future consumer. All of our kids are bicultural. Biculture is the fastest growing segment in the world population from the professional perspective. Almost half of the Gen Z in the US are bicultural and then that's a similar across other places. So like you were saying, your kid, my kid, most of our kids are bicultural.
House Of Peregrine (1:14:25)
Mm-hmm.
Yep.
Yep.
Well.
Kemo Camara (1:14:43)
So this is the, and their mindset is so different. So I tell corporate, I tell company, like, if you don't understand this right now, you're going to be left behind. And so corporate come to me now and I can get in people the job and then the career and then like with this leadership and this mindset. So this is how like the system has, how Omek is working.
House Of Peregrine (1:14:43)
Yep.
Yeah. And you said something really important that I've actually used with my own kids. They'll say, everyone's looking at me. And that's about like, I don't like that. I'm like, of course, everyone's looking at you. You are different. that brings you're bringing something. turn it from everyone's looking to me to everyone's looking at me. Of course they are. Not because I'm great, better, but I'm different. that's a strength in this case. Yeah.
Kemo Camara (1:15:23)
Yeah. Yeah. And you have to learn. It is a strength, but
we have to teach them like that is a strength and why is a strength and how it is a strength and how and it's a privilege and it's like a social privilege. And so people who are looking at you, they only can look at you from that lens that they have. just doesn't like, again, I'll come back to the word capacity.
House Of Peregrine (1:15:35)
Yeah, and it's a privilege. Yeah. Yep.
Kemo Camara (1:15:50)
They don't have the capacity to look at you differently. Right? And so when you know that, when we can equip our kid to know that, it's not like they matter to them. Like they can't be mad at them or they can't pity them. Like you're not like better than them or anything. Like you just can't, you're now actually building in you the capacity to understand where they come from. And then to like see yourself and then know yourself and then see how you react with that.
House Of Peregrine (1:16:17)
Yeah. And I love that third part that then you bring it back to your community because we know that immigrant kids or expat kids, someone who's grew up somewhere, they really do want to positively contribute to the place they grew up. And bringing that mindset in of what the place has given you is something that's unique to someone who is bicultural. And so that energy, I love that you're harnessing that energy because people in general do have the innate
want to contribute positively, especially if they think a place has been good to them. And so I love that you're bringing that perspective in, using it for both the person and the place and the company they're in to be able to not only take advantage of it from the person, but also that perspective that you're gaining something by bringing this.
Kemo Camara (1:16:49)
Yeah.
House Of Peregrine (1:17:07)
type of person into your organization, country, or community. It's just a mindset.
Kemo Camara (1:17:11)
Yeah
Yeah, thank you. Thank you. Absolutely. And just to add to that, I think for me, especially for this young generation, if you are born here in the Netherlands or in the US, in France or whatever, in the West, let's say, or if you're born in a country, you are part of that country. Like you are, you know what saying? Like if you are born here,
House Of Peregrine (1:17:37)
You can't help it.
Kemo Camara (1:17:39)
Yeah, you are born here, you are part of the society here. And so all the kids that are born here, here mean like whatever space that is. And so for that person, it's not like the country has given to you. This is your country. This is your society. This is where you are born in. You are equal in that place than like anybody irrespective of the color of your skin.
your gender, your before, your parents' background, like whatever, right? And so, and especially like countries that have like that laws, like if you're born here, you're part of that society and whatever. And so like, you're not even looking at it from like, this country has been good to me, right? It's looking at, I'm a part of the fabric of this society and I've contributed to the value creation of this society. And that's my responsibility, like anybody else.
And now the society may look at you because of the system was built like looking at you differently and then you actually have a different capacity to bring here. And so that mean that capacity give you the ability to like bring different solution, different way of thinking. You have the ability to have this outsider in perspective and look at the society that you live in, that's your society and judge it with what is good and what is bad.
because you are not an insider in, you have the outsider in perspective. And you can see like, hey guys, what are we doing here? This is not like, there's a better way to do it, like here. And then so you can figure out how do you bring that better way to do it. And so for me, this is how we teaching our bicultural, like this mindset having you part of this society. And so when you make the society a better place, you changing it for all of us that live in. And so you have a responsibility to do that because you have this
House Of Peregrine (1:18:58)
Mm-hmm.
Kemo Camara (1:19:26)
capacity that all the people in the society don't have. So that means you have the responsibility to build something and bring different version of solution to the table. Now, with the mainstream and everything, would that solution be accepted? No. Would there be values? No, that's on them. That's not on you. Like, figure out how you make it happen. And so that's where we work on this for us.
House Of Peregrine (1:19:49)
Yeah, that's beautiful. And not only that, you can't create it with one cultural background. Like you actually can't create the same way that people who... Like it's beautiful and it's also just like you are who you are, you build from that place of who you are. And if that's bicultural, you build things differently. And I think that that's... Yeah.
Kemo Camara (1:20:07)
You have build it differently. Yeah. And you
already have that's some of your bi-cultural superpower anyway. Like you are built differently, so you build things differently. That's it.
House Of Peregrine (1:20:16)
Yeah, it's beautiful.
It's beautiful. it's a message we hear often, but not from always the, I think this sense of responsibility and leadership that you're bringing, I think is really beautiful. So I love it. ⁓ We've gone over a little bit on time. Thank you so much for spending the extra time because everything you're saying is so resonant and with what we're building in House of Peregrine and what you're building at Omek. I think it's just a beautiful.
Kemo Camara (1:20:28)
Thank you. Thank you.
House Of Peregrine (1:20:43)
beautiful journey you've had and it's bringing about some really, like I said, generative is a really big word for me. It's like the most beautiful way to build. And I think you're really embodying that in like the highest way. I love, I love that we got to have this conversation and I love that hopefully we'll get to work together a little bit with our communities, but we'll save that for another time. But yeah, beautiful stuff. Is there anything, I know you're building,
Kemo Camara (1:20:57)
Thank you.
House Of Peregrine (1:21:08)
Omek here in Amsterdam and that network will extend around the world. Is there anything else you want to tell us about what you're building before we start to wrap up?
Kemo Camara (1:21:16)
No, think Omek is my 10. Yeah, that's the only 10 I'm focusing on building right now. There's like a lot of other dreams, but the goal is to contribute in the society in our own way. I'm glad that Omek gives me the privilege to do that. yeah, if you...
House Of Peregrine (1:21:39)
Awesome. Yeah, how can people get involved
in what you're doing? How can they find you?
Kemo Camara (1:21:43)
Yes. ⁓
So myomek.com, that's the website. So you can go there and learn every 10 about community is open. It's a bicultural of African descent, but it's actually open to all biculturals. have bicultural from all, again, bicultural come then and they feel like this is home because these are people that you understand. it's open to all bicultural. It's open to everybody that actually
align with our values, believe in these things. Yeah. So that's the one from the community membership perspective, but also like we feel brand and like this space. have the talent, we have the, yeah. So we work with a lot of brand partner to help them tab into this talent pool and also contribute into the work that we're doing. So it's not only like recruitment, but
and auto recruitment, like we can help you like tab into the talent, retain them, grow them, because that's what we do. But it also can contribute in the society and the value creation that we do. yeah, depending whatever you're interested in, in whatever community member, whatever brand partner and things like that. is, we are here, this is our space. We all do it together and then contribute it together.
House Of Peregrine (1:22:43)
Great.
Awesome. So we'll put that link below and then if people want to tap in, can go whatever level they want to look at it.
Kemo Camara (1:23:08)
Yeah, yeah, they can find all the information there. And also, we are sold on Instagram, so you can go on my own account on Instagram.
House Of Peregrine (1:23:09)
Kemo.
Cool, we'll link that below. Kemo, thank you so much for coming today. I have enjoyed our conversation immensely. You've given me so much resonance and so many. Your story is just really, it's beautiful, but it's also just such a map to what happens when someone is doing their life's work and one of their missions. There's not always one mission, but you are doing one of yours that's clear right now. And so it's beautiful to see, witness, and I'm.
Kemo Camara (1:23:16)
Nice. Yes.
House Of Peregrine (1:23:41)
Happy that you told your story here today, so thank you.
Kemo Camara (1:23:45)
Absolutely. Thank you so much. I really appreciate it and thank you for the other wonderful questions and the opportunity to chat.
House Of Peregrine (1:23:53)
Cool. All right, everyone, thanks so much for joining us today. If you want to learn more about House of Peregrine, you can go to houseofperegrine.com. If you'd like to learn more about Omek and Kemo and his story, all the links are below. Take advantage of that. And thank you so much for joining us and we'll see you next time.