The saying “reach back to move forward” is rooted in the Akan (Ghanaian) principle of Sankofa, a word from the Twi language meaning “go back and get it.”
This Sankofa ideal is typically symbolized by a bird that bends its neck backwards to grab an egg from its back, symbolizing the significance of recalling and reclaiming the past to create a better future.
While the exact phrase “reach back to move forward” is a modern paraphrasing or interpretation, it captures the essence of Sankofa, that we must look to our roots to progress with wisdom.
This idea sits at the center of what I now understand as legacy. Not legacy as in what you leave behind, but what you bring with you to the table. What you choose to carry and offer—because it shaped you, and now it can shape others for the better.
My Hospitality Story
There was a season where loss rearranged everything. For a time, a hotel room became my shelter. For my family, a temporary landing place in the middle of chaos.
Fast forward a few years, and I found myself relying on a hospitality job to rebuild. For me, that hospitality job was more than employment; it was structure, consistency, and a small but steady return to normalcy.
Those two seasons—first as a guest seeking refuge, then as a staff member offering it—taught me something no classroom ever could: Hospitality is healing work. Done well, it can hold people when life is unraveling. Done poorly, it can compound their pain.
Align Leadership with Purpose
We're in a workforce that is still reeling from what's been lost in COVID, and many are still losing, all while trying to keep up in a rapidly expanding world. The collective grief and disruption continue to ripple through organizations, families, and communities. Job insecurity, career pivots, and the blurring of work-life boundaries have created a workforce navigating unfamiliar terrain. Yet the systems designed to support us have been slow to respond, slower to shift, and often reluctant to acknowledge the depth of transformation needed. Human resources policies, leadership approaches, and organizational structures struggle to adapt to this new reality. Many individuals and institutions are just now realizing: it wasn't just the virus, but everything else it shook loose. The pandemic was merely the catalyst that exposed and accelerated underlying fractures in our social fabric, economic systems, and workplace cultures.
Leadership grounded in Sankofa becomes transformational by cultivating deep self-awareness. When leaders understand their own history and values, they create authentic connections with their teams and inspire collective achievement. This alignment between leadership and purpose is the heartbeat of an engaged workforce.
This is why I’m reaching back to those pivotal, painful moments. I’m not mining them for pity—I’m bringing them forward for a purpose. I’m pulling out the lessons learned from inside the fold-out bed of a hotel room and the behind-the-desk reality of guest services to help leaders see:
Hospitality is more than customer service—it's a ministry of presence.
It's a space where healing happens—or doesn’t. And it’s time we begin treating it that way.
Creating Authentic Connections
The legacy of the Black hotelier is the building of safe spaces when none were offered. In the face of segregation, exclusion, and threat, they created havens of dignity, rest, and refuge. Now, Torch and Table carry those blueprints into today’s industry, where healing and hospitality must meet again.
Today's guests seek more than transactions—they crave experiences that reflect their values and honor their journeys. The Sankofa philosophy allows us to create hospitality experiences that acknowledge where people have been while offering what they need now.
When we integrate cultural elements and historical understanding into the guest experience, we transform ordinary interactions into meaningful exchanges. This isn't just good business—it's healing work that builds bridges between past wisdom and present needs.
Honor the Past While Designing the Future
Reflection isn't a luxury—it's a necessity. By regularly looking back at our experiences, both personal and collective, we extract the wisdom needed to move forward with intention and purpose. This intentional retrospection allows leaders to identify the elements of a journey worth preserving and sharing.
Organizations that create space for this reflection see remarkable results: teams innovate more freely, employees engage more deeply, and leadership decisions align more naturally with core values and mission. When leaders encourage others to bring their full stories—including their struggles and triumphs—to the table, a deeper level of authenticity is unlocked that transforms workplace culture, guest experiences, and community resiliency.
The power of Sankofa lies in its selective nature—not everything from our past needs to be carried forward, but the wisdom, resilience, and insights gained through challenge become invaluable resources. Our wounds, when properly processed, become wisdom. Our struggles, when thoughtfully examined, become strength. This is the essence of legacy work—identifying what elements of your journey can serve as building blocks for others.
Take a moment to ask:
What have you survived that’s worth bringing forward?
