#041 - Hospitality Meets Mohamed Ali - The Powerful Story of Hope

When I started this podcast, one of my objectives was to keep things light and humorous, especially in the face of the seriousness of the lives we are all being asked to lead at the moment.But every now and again, Someone’s story comes along where light and humorous just doesn’t feel appropriate.In today’s episode we have one such story.  It’s powerful, gripping, hopeful, moving and incredibly important. It’s a story that transcends Hospitality and I think needs to be heard by as many people as possible.So today, I’m stripping things right back, no music intro, no comedy moments just me, chatting to someone with a phenomenal story of transcendence. I’m delighted to introduce to you, Mohamed Ali who currently works at those legends over at Wahaca. Mohamed has quite literally been saved by the industry of hospitality and shows what kindness really can achieve.  Mohamed’s strength is in how he is looking forwardI’d urge you to listen to every single word of our chat and when you’re done, share it to as many places as you can, even beyond our incredible industry. It’s a story that needs to be heard and could save an awful lot of people.A huge thank you to Mohamed for being so open.Until then sit back, take a deep breath, and I hope you enjoy Mohamed’s story as much as I didPlease Follow Mohamed's inspiring message of positivity in the following places:-Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGFWTvZLPb-vImhUnmvLGwgInstagram - @MI_HorizonTwitter - @Mo_HumaneskillFollow The Clink at:-Website - https://theclinkcharity.orgYoutube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOE41Y7hY6XcPHHxU7C9fEwTwitter - @theclinkcharityInstagram - @theclinkrestaurantShow TranscriptionSUMMARY KEYWORDSpeople, life, Clink, hospitality, feel, Mohamed, thinking, prison, easy, situation, realise, gun, support, guess, hear, father, Somalia, choice, story, LondonSPEAKERSPhil Street, Mohamed AliPhil Street 00:00Hey, everyone. So here's the thing. When I started this podcast, one of my objectives was to keep things light and humorous, especially in the face of the seriousness of the lives we're all being asked to lead at the moment. But every now and again, someone's story comes along where light and humorous just doesn't feel appropriate. In today's episode, we've got one such story. It's powerful, gripping, hopeful, moving, and incredibly important. It's a story that transcends hospitality, and I think needs to be heard by as many people as possible. So today, I'm stripping things right back, no music intro, no comedy moments, just me chatting to someone with a phenomenal story of transcendence. I'm delighted to introduce Mohamed Ali, who currently works at those legends over at Wahaca. Mohamed has quite literally been saved by the industry of hospitality, and shows what kindness really can achieve. But his real strength is in how he's looking forward, I'd urge you to listen to every single word of our chat. And when you're done, share it to as many places as you can. Even beyond our incredible industry. It's a story that needs to be heard, and could save an awful lot of people. A huge thank you to Mohamed for being so open. Stay tuned to the end For information on where you can follow this inspirational guy. I'll also put the links in the show notes on our website, hospitalitymeets.captivate.fm, where you can also sign up to our weekly newsletter. Until then, sit back, take a deep breath. And I hope you enjoy Mohamed's story as much as I did. Hello, and welcome to the next edition of hospitality meets with me, Phil Street. Today, I've got an absolute humdinger of a guest. As you all know by now, one of the objectives of the show was to tell as wide a variety of stories as possible from entry level all the way up to the very top of the industry. Today's guest has had one hell of a journey, just to end up in hospitality, where he now feels, I think it's safe to say, at home and has a superb career in front of him. I'll let him fill in the blanks on that but it gives me amazing pleasure to welcome to the show, Mohamed Ali.Mohamed Ali 02:04Thank you so much Phil, thank you so much. I really appreciate it. That's a massive introduction.Phil Street 02:09Excellent. I always write these things a little bit in the dark about, you know, am I saying the right things, and I've got some wrong I've mispronounced people's names. AndMohamed Ali 02:24It sounded like I was just coming, you know, to the ring for the first time, you know after being away for so long. Just about to have the biggest fight of my life. the introduction got me really excited. You know?Phil Street 02:35Nice oneMohamed Ali 02:36Thank you so much.Phil Street 02:37You're very, very welcome. How are you doing anyway?Mohamed Ali 02:39I'm doing great. Thank you so much. As you know, like, you know, there's so many, I guess, uncertainties in this time at the moment has in 2020Phil Street 02:50YeahMohamed Ali 02:50Um, but what I'm trying to do the best to the best of my abilities be as optimistic and, and, you know, hopeful about the future. Obviously, right now, I've been looking forward to having a conversation with you as well. You know, one of the things I really know I'm hoping to do is highlight how how hospitality has really, you know, helped me and change my whole perception about people in general as well.Phil Street 03:16Yeah.Mohamed Ali 03:17And I guess, you know, this is an opportunity for me to say thank you to everyone in hospitality from The Clink to you know, Wahaca who has given me an opportunity to every single other, you know, member of hospitality who have given me a helping hand. But yeah, you know, honestly, I can't thank them enough.Phil Street 03:36Brilliant. Well, that's great. I mean, we'll talk in more depth about about the The Clink because I think what they're doing is incredible, but an elephant in the room that we have to get out the way...Mohamed Ali 03:49YeahPhil Street 03:49...straight away Is your name. Muhammad Ali. Obviously, that conjures up images of somebody else that was fairly famous.Mohamed Ali 03:58Yeah. The greatest person ever.Phil Street 04:01Yeah. Well, he was he was an inspiration that man wasn't he?Mohamed Ali 04:04Absolutely. And that's why I'm not trying to be like him. You know, I'm just trying to be the next one Mohamed Ali, I'm gonna try to take his name.Phil Street 04:10Yeah.Mohamed Ali 04:10Anyway, so. No putting your gloves on you know?Phil Street 04:18Excellent. So, no, that's cool. We also had somebody on the show who was called Rachel Stevens, and still is called Rachel Stevens, in fact, and obviously, that's a member of S Club Seven. I think the band might be before your time. Showing my age nowMohamed Ali 04:34I remember S Club Seven, they were good songs, I remember, I think some of their songs.Phil Street 04:40Yeah, very happy. Very happy.Mohamed Ali 04:42YeahPhil Street 04:43Great. Okay. Well, let's, I suppose kick things off. Take us back to school hood. I know just talk us through your your journey because I think as I said at the beginning of the chat, for me, this is kind of What the podcast is all about? The diversity of people's journeys is incredible. And I think I'm really excited to hear yours in a bit more depth.Mohamed Ali 05:11All right. So I guess, you know, childhood, for me was quite happy was happy times Honest to God, if I remember, um, you know how I was, I was growing up in London, you know, I came here as a really young, young boy and growing up in London was exciting, you know, going to school life was, you know, full of different differences. You know, like, there's so many variety of people, there's so many Yeah, multicultural city, so it was nice to be able to mix it with so many different people based on that. I guess. It was also equally difficult to grasp the language having been here only a year. So I came to London, UK 2000Phil Street 06:00Where are you from originally Mohamed?Mohamed Ali 06:02Yes. So I'm from Somalia.Phil Street 06:04OkayMohamed Ali 06:05Yeah, so I came, I came to London 2000 to live with my father. Straightaway, I went to...