"I Have a Voice. And I Can Do Anything With It." - Jamarly's Story
There is a specific kind of courage required to stand in front of people, and tell them the truth about yourself. Jamarly Wright knows that courage well. In early 2024, at 24 years old, he stood in front of a room that included both strangers, and some of his closest friends. He delivered a speech he called 'The Hearts of Man'. It was vulnerable, personal and it changed everything.
Before Spellbound, Jamarly was someone with more ideas than outlets. A contract he had poured himself into, leading programme management for the Black Business Initiative with Channel 4 and Lloyds Bank, had come to an end. He was navigating a particular uncertainty that comes when one chapter closes before the next has a name. Jamarly was moving between things, holding onto a business idea he believed in but hadn't yet found the language to share. "I had a lot to say," he reflects, "but if I kept speaking for a while, it would all derail. I wasn't confident enough to get it all out."A friend told him about Spellbound. Jamarly didn't deliberate. "I literally just saw public speaking course. That was it."
He joined as part of Spellbound's very first cohort. He wasn't walking into a room of strangers either. Ebun and Kenny, two of his close friends, were the ones teaching him. Being seen by people who already know you carries a different kind of weight. There is nowhere to hide, and yet that is precisely what made it matter.
Over three sessions the room became something rare. A space built on trust, on showing up honestly, and on the quiet understanding that everyone in that room was trying to grow. "Everyone here is trying and failing publicly. And nobody is clowning you for it. That laid the groundwork for something real."
The final session asked each participant to do the hardest thing of all. To stand up and tell their own story. Jamarly called his 'The Hearts of Man'. "A lot of people walk around feeling like they don't have the right to speak or chase their ambitions because they haven't owned their story yet. Spellbound gives you the opportunity to take the thing you're most nervous about, bear it in front of people on your own terms, and overcome it. Once you've done that, everything else is easy."
He walked out of that room different. "I genuinely felt I have a voice. And I can do anything with it."
He didn't walk away from Spellbound after that. He came back as one of our first teachers.
Today, Jamarly is the founder of Plantain Papi, a cultural superfood brand built on the belief that the foods of the African and Caribbean diaspora are the world's best kept secret and that secret is long overdue its moment. He has broken into four of London's most competitive markets, raised investment, and built a community of people who believe in what he is building. He credits a significant part of that to Spellbound. "After acai, after matcha, plantain is next. And Spellbound can really claim that. They contributed to building what comes next."
Jamarly traces it all back to a room where his friends were watching, and he chose to be honest anyways.
"When you have your voice, you can bring your ambitions and your dreams to reality. It is the barrier of entry. And once you have it, it becomes yours for life."
