How a question changed the plan
In 2024 my brother Asaad and I took part in Amazon Prime Video's 007: Road to a Million. A question kept returning after the studio lights went off: if an opportunity landed in my lap, what would I build with it?
For the first time, I was not thinking about what I wanted to buy. I was thinking about what I wanted to build. I wanted something that could create opportunities long after the money had been spent, for other people and for my son Khalid.
The rooms I did not expect to enter
For much of my twenties, people knew me as Jamilah the singer. That changed when I joined The Banks Group in a role that placed me at tables I had never expected to join. I discussed planning, regeneration and community funds with council leaders, planning officers, MPs and chief executives.
A microphone had never intimidated me, but those rooms did. Everybody seemed to speak a language I had not learned and carry years of experience I did not have. I remember thinking, more than once, “How did I end up in this room?”
I listened, asked people to explain the jargon and read about development and investment. The unfamiliar language became familiar. People who had once felt out of reach became collaborators.
Then the television experience gave that growing confidence somewhere to go. My podcasts, books, television and even my diet changed because I wanted more energy, discipline and focus. I stopped waiting for life to happen and began preparing for it.
Accept opportunities before you feel fully ready. Learn inside the room.
Building something that could outlast the moment
That curiosity fed into JH Property Connect, the company I set up to help investors build portfolios in the North East. Community sits at its heart through JH Cares, which coordinates meal projects and local partnerships.
Success began to mean creating opportunities for other people too. That might be helping somebody buy a first investment property or serving a hot meal to a person who needs it. The most meaningful success is the success you share.
My life now includes music, business, community work and being a single mam. Those roles sit together because I kept saying yes to rooms that scared me, then did the work required to belong in them.