A bit about me - Ehab James

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My website does a good job of summing up who I am at the surface.

A 20-year-old university student, Governing Member of the University of Toronto, somewhat entrepreneurial and often political…

But as the nature of digital personalities is, there is always more.

I figure it’s fair to make this kind of post, at least once.

So, who am I?

Early Life

My name is Ehab James. I’m the son of two immigrant parents.

On my dad’s side, I am British-Jamaican-Nigerian. On my mom’s side, I am Pakistani-Indian. Mostly. This is per an Ancestry test I took.

People often assume I am Egyptian, Latino, Moroccan, or have a background in any number of Middle Eastern or African states. I look quite ambiguous.

In fact, my Ancestry test, though the results change slightly every so often, shows my DNA originating from five continents! I am a bit of many things.

At a young age, I grew up with many different cultures. Born in Toronto, and named after one of my parents’ Egyptian friends, I have fortunately gotten to experience many cultures, foods, and have had a very large family, among family friends.

It takes a village to raise a child, as they say. I’m thankful to have had a city.

Having a late birthday, I was around three when I started kindergarten. As most old memories are, my early life is quite foggy.

My mom has been a teacher all my life, and my dad, a retired entrepreneur.

I grew up in Mississauga, Ontario. My family had just moved into a new house before I started school. The next 10-years of my life, I spent at this K-8 school.

I wish there were some formidable, remarkable thing that took place over these 10 years that I could speak about, but there isn’t really.

In 2014, my parents got into a car accident that rattled me. My dad had a few health issues and hospital stays here and there throughout the years. But these things happen, and life goes on.

So, nothing huge worth mentioning here, at least. Not until we get to my graduation.

Graduation #1 (Elementary/Middle School)

When I turned 13, my Grade 8 teacher Ms. Mitchell said my parents “hit the teenager jackpot.”

She was sweet. And I hope she was right.

At my graduation, I received a heartwarming speech from my principal. My school awarded me the Ontario Principals Council Award for Student Leadership 2016-17.

Her speech was as follows (school name removed):

I will never forget her words. That night has stuck with me to this day.

High School, Entrepreneurship, Grief, and COVID

I have always loved the internet. Growing up, I started making content on YouTube on several occasions. My content always got traction, but for one reason or another I would stop at some point.

When I was quite young, in 2015, I won tickets to YouTube Fanfest Toronto. I was a VIP, thanks to the messaging app Kik, I won tickets. Little did I know this experience would kick off a (so far) lifelong interest in building online communities and creating content.

Throughout my high school days, I spent a lot of time working with commentary YouTube creators, and quickly found myself in communities with creators ranging from thousands to tens of millions of fans and subscribers.

A moment I think of on occasion, is when Keemstar told me to delete my channel. Those were the days.

Discord and YouTube were quite different around this time, with the former quickly becoming the ideal avenue for YouTube communities to congregate outside of comment sections, and the latter being used as a platform for (largely) unfiltered expression.

Dabbling again in content creation, I grew a small community to over 3,000 subscribers, a few hundred Discord members, and Twitter followers. Creating content to me at this point was much less important than engaging with other creators. That, I did a lot of.

I quickly recognized my interest in growing communities - even if that wasn’t what I thought of it as back then. I was obsessed with helping my fellow creators and friends grow their followings, increase retention rates, and find ways to go viral.

I quickly became very good at it.

I spent a few years in this space, before identifying a few recurring issues creators would face with YouTube that increased burnout, pushed creators off the platform, and even killed entire communities.

Around this time, I was exploring my interest in entrepreneurship. Having broken into this world of people not much older than me making thousands of dollars online just by playing video games, streaming, talking to their webcams, or making music, I found an interest in the space too.

I’m not sure why I didn’t also start doing these things consistently. Instead, I pivoted to my first big, failed project, Watchou.

Watchou was meant to be a creator and community-oriented video platform, that would operate as an alternative to YouTube. Here, creators would have more control over their audience, revenues, and growth.

I started this when I was around 15, and ended the project at 17, for a number of reasons. One, being that I was a high schools student who did not have a consistent income.

What happened throughout the term of that project, however, ended up being my #1 reason for stopping.

During the Family Day weekend in February 2020, when COVID-19 was this thing, we heard about on the news but hadn’t yet really reacted to, my mom, dad, uncle, and I drove down to Virginia to visit family.

We didn’t know it at the time, but this was the last time we’d see our family for years, as COVID closed the land border between the United States and Canada just weeks after our return.

It unfortunately, was also the last trip I had with my dad.

.

Shortly after arriving back home in Canada, we had just unpacked our things from our car, and my uncle was headed back home. Now inside, it was late, and I was ready to shower and sleep.

Not even 5 minutes after making it in the door, my mom called me to my parents’ bedroom.

My dad was slumped over on a couch. He was not breathing and had no pulse.

My dad went into cardiac arrest.

With my mom screaming, I quickly called 911. It took almost a minute to get to an operator.

I told the operator what was going on. She quickly asked if I had moved my dad onto the ground yet, and whether anyone started CPR.

I did that and started CPR for nearly 5 minutes before firefighters and paramedics arrived. They took over.

My dad was taken to a local hospital. His heart was restarted successfully, and a doctor told me that I saved his life.

Unfortunately, he never woke up, and passed away a few weeks later.

I think about that night a lot. I don’t like to, but I do.

I had CPR and first aid certifications. I was certified to work as a lifeguard. Yet, when I needed to spring into action the most, I froze.

I think about whether my dad would still be here, had I acted faster. I wish I treated him more kindly as a kid. I wish I could still hear his voice, ask for his advice, and get his guidance through life.

I miss my dad a lot.

COVID-19

During the few weeks my dad was in the hospital, I had a week or two in school, and then March break came around. This was the break that would end up being “extended by two weeks.”

I finished 11th grade online that year.

The day my dad passed away was around the time we were told our March break was extended. I didn’t have an opportunity to grieve with friends, or family.

Our house was much quieter. It was now just my mom and me.

His funeral was the day after. I sat in a car and couldn’t bear to watch.

We didn’t expect any of this.

The next few months were difficult. I spent a lot of my new found free time riding my bike around deserted streets in my city.

When at home, I was working on my project Watchou - because I didn’t want to think about what had happened.

This is a part of my life that I don’t enjoy discussing. It felt like a cumulation of bad things happening at once, that I never have made much sense of.

This didn’t send me on a spiritual or religious quest. I didn’t become more hardworking because of it. I’ve never felt as if some big lesson or discovery came from it.

Though I suppose, it taught me to be much kinder to others. To my mama, to friends, family, acquaintances, and strangers.

My dad was a good dad. He aged and got sick as I was older, and was less able to perform his fatherly duties, but it wasn’t because he didn’t want to. He was a good man.

He taught me a lot. He told me to be proud of my skin. “You’re a Black boy” is something he reminded me of, often. He reminded me that I have a lot of cultures to celebrate.

He would tell me I’d have to work twice as hard for half as much.

He left me with a lot of good memories.

I don’t tell this story to anyone, really. It will live here on the internet now. I hope I don’t later regret it.

Graduation #2 - High School & Travel

My final year of high school was entirely online, including gym class!

I waited all throughout my high school years for prom… and it never happened.

Not sure I would’ve gotten a date anyway, so maybe it was for the best.

I wasn’t in Canada for my graduation, which ended up being clear bags with our diplomas and awards handed out by administrative staff from our school. I didn’t miss anything.

For that summer, I was in the US with family. I was antsy to leave the house and do something - anything - with people outdoors.

I spent quite a while in Virginia. Over this trip, I discovered my favourite bike trail, the W&OD trail.

Riding that trail in (almost) full for the first time made my year. It was the happiest I’d been in a while, at that point.

I selected my university courses for the first time on this trip and made some good memories all around.

University

I’m now entering my fourth and final year at the University of Toronto. The time really flew by.

My first year was almost entirely online due to COVID. Second year was my first full year in-person. During this year, I ran for my first ever election.

I spent the year working for a Canadian Member of Parliament and cabinet Minister, which drove me to see whether I could win an election if I tried as well.

Having seen a number of problems on my campus up close, I threw my hat in the ring and ran. I had little idea what I was doing or how to run a campaign and ended up winning with the strongest mandate of all.

The next year, during my term from July 1st, 2023, things have been exciting. I’ve accomplished a lot that I am proud of, and am working on many more things with and for the university that I am privileged and thankful to have been involved in.

I’ll write more about these in separate posts.

I ran for two elections this year - one re-election to my role on the University of Toronto Mississauga Campus Council, and a second for the Presidency of my student union. I was successful in the first with a strong mandate, and narrowly lost the second.

Suffice to say, I’ve learned a lot about what good governance is like. I’ve enjoyed having constituents and am excited to continue having constituents until June 30th, 2025, when my term will end - at least for now - and I will (hopefully) be graduating and moving on to law school.

Life outside of the books so far

Outside of university, during the last few years, I’ve primarily been working at the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, a YCombinator-backed startup Pangea.app, Canada’s House of Commons, and now work in International Affairs and Crisis Response for the Government of Canada - working primarily with refugees.

Throughout, I’ve also worked on a number of political campaigns, spent a lot of time volunteering for different causes, and generally remained engaged in politics from the municipal to the provincial and federal level. My CV and LinkedIn have more info on this.

Each of these jobs has taught me a lot - which is about the most I’m allowed to say about each of them. I am incredibly privileged to have held these roles throughout my undergraduate years.

I’ve met many friends I consider family and have had colleagues who are among the most talented and intelligent people I know.

I often find that in spaces like these, given the nature and difficulty of the roles, people with high levels of self-belief, grit, determination and intelligence self-select into these positions.

Observing the many people I’ve had the pleasure of working with and around for the last three years, I can say with confidence, they will all lead very successful lives. I’m thankful to have met them all.

Now, and why.

Entering my final year, I’m focused on studying for the LSAT, and taking a good hard look at everything I’ve accomplished over the course of my undergrad.

Much like I did for myself in the final year of high school, I am just starting my final summer of university in my undergrad. In other words, the final summer where I will return to undergraduate studies again in the fall.

I’ve given you the who, what, where, and when. Here’s why this, why now, and why it’s happening.

I’m alright at a lot of things, but great at fixing problems and building communities. I love entrepreneurship and communications. I’ve helped many people with it, but despite this, haven’t committed to creating content the way I’d like.

Many people ask me for advice here and there. I like listening and helping solve life’s trivial problems with others.

After hitting 20, and with my many years of experience working, I feel I’ve got a number of good stories to tell, and some wisdom to pass along to anyone who will listen.

I’ve also learned one thing consistently through all of my professional experiences. Nobody actually knows what they are doing.

The people I regard as intelligent and talented all have something in common, which is a persistent and unwavering commitment to pushing through tough times, iterating, changing when things aren’t working, and remaining disciplined. They know that you learn best by doing, and they aren’t slowed by failure.

Now, without killing my chance to write my next 100 posts, here’s why I’m doing this now.

I’ve always wanted to improve my speech. Sometimes my mouth runs ahead of my mind, and so, I need to improve the way I gather my thoughts and write, too.

I’m starting to post on platforms like TikTok and YouTube, with the intention of practicing my speech and writing skills, learning to care less about non-constructive opinions and to document my experiences as I keep moving through life.

I’m also learning to fight the urge to make things perfect. It’s the enemy of progress and I’ve had trouble with this all my life. I will now hit send or post imperfect videos, newsletters, and whatever else now. Not everything is being graded like my uni papers are. I will bad grammar, use rong word and add tipo intentionally.

I’m also working on building a communications firm - more about that soon. I enjoy the idea of building in public and want to use social media as a tool to do just that.

So, that’s me. I’m Ehab. This is more personal than I’ve been with most people online, ever. I look forward to writing more in the weeks, months, and years to come.

Happy Friday. Thanks for reading. Genuinely.