Check Out Jhamarcus Pharaoh, Ph.D.’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jhamarcus Pharaoh, Ph.D..

Hi Jhamarcus, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
Education has always been a major part of my story. Growing up, my mom often told me that “school was my ticket out.” My ticket out of the hood, specifically. Plus, bringing home good grades wasn’t optional in our house, haha. I did well in school, and for most of my life, being a student and scholar became the central part of how I understood myself. It became my core identity; everything else orbited around that. Now that I’m thinking about it, I also think part of me knew I had to overcompensate being a star student so that my sexuality didn’t make me a target. Back then, being gay wasn’t widely acceptable, especially for Black boys but that’s a story for another time.

I was actually a really creative kid, I had a huge imagination. Somewhere along the way though, that part of me became quieter and faded into the shadows. It never completely disappeared, it would reappear in different seasons. I would find myself creating randomly—sometimes writing, imagining, or building things simply because I needed somewhere for my mind to go. As I got older, creativity became less about the freedom of creating and, more of a coping strategy. It became a form of escapism during some really dark seasons of my life.

Recently, I received my PhD from The University of Georgia. Accomplishing that is huge, especially for my family. I’m what I call a “first-gen-everything,” most of the things I’ve done, I was the first or the only one in my bloodline to do it. All of it is still so new and I’m processing it even now.
Finishing my PhD also kinda shook my world like an earthquake. In addition to (re)discovering who I am outside of being a student, I’m also learning to grieve the things I had to sacrifice along the way.

Thankfully, creativity has found me again in the middle of that process. I’m learning how to allow the different parts of me to coexist…the scholar, the educator, the counselor, the storyteller, AND the creative architect. I don’t think I have to choose between them anymore. I’m creating things that help people heal, feel seen, and think differently.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Absolutely not! Nothing about this has been smooth haha. There has been grief, anxiety, depression, heartbreak, and so much more. I refuse say those experiences made me stronger without also acknowledging that they cost me something. Relationships and friendships have dried up. Missed moments I can never get back and soooooo much time. I didn’t often think about time during the journey, I was just trying to survive it but when you watch the people around you start families, move abroad, start businesses and even pass away, you start to think about time differently.

Yes, I am stronger because of everything I’ve been through, but I am also still healing from much of it. I think both things can be true at the same time. I don’t think I have to shrink one to justify the other.

Through it all, I am incredibly thankful for the friends who have consistently shown up for me through all of life’s transitions. I’m also thankful to be in God’s grace. He kept me through all of it. My relationship with my faith has been an interesting journey of its own, but today, my faith is a large part of who I am.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
By trade, I am a school counselor, I’ve been doing that for almost a decade. Recently I started putting my PhD to work. A few weeks after graduation, I became an adjust professor; I teach graduate students to hopefully become change agents…or counselors who practice cultural humility and disrupt systems haha. In the counselor ed world I’m doing “all the things.” I’m counseling, teaching, conducting research, publishing and presenting it in ways that actually makes sense to anyone who’s interested in it.

More recently, though, I’ve been learning how to merge my professional identities with my creative identity. I’ve been developing some intellectual property that explores boyhood, identity, belonging, and what it means to feel seen without feeling exposed. In a world where boys are taught who they “can’t be,” I want to create things that shows them who they CAN be. All this work lives in House of Pharaoh. It’s architecture that will later house the ecosystem I am building. I recently learned I don’t need to ask for permission to build, so I’m building.

How do you define success?
You know, I thought I knew what success was before I graduated. Now, I’m not so sure what I know.

Growing up, I was taught that people who followed the rules and did well in school grew up to be “successful.” Back then, we defined success by how much money you made and what you could afford. Honestly where I’m from, being alive and not in jail also meant you were “successful.”

I followed the rules. I stayed out of trouble. I got all the degrees. I did everything “right.” And even with this PhD attached to my name, I’m realizing how much I still have to unlearn about the things I once thought were obvious or clear.

I guess right now, success looks different to me. Success is being able to say “no” without feeling obligated to explain why. Success is being able to move through a world that is hell-bent on crushing anything that stands out without losing yourself or compromising who you are. Success is being willing to keep going when other voices are trying to convince you to stop.

Ask me again in a few years, though. My answer might be completely different haha.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://linktr.ee/iJhamarcus?utm_source=linktree_profile_share&ltsid=68cb37d5-824f-45d3-8634-973ad68f743d
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ijhamarcus/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jhamarcus-pharaoh-ph-d-236093143