At only 28, study-abroad graduate student Seneca Forch cuts a striking figure in the world of diplomacy.
On a lush street in Maadi, Seneca Forch enters a silver shop to buy a cane. The store’s shelves shine, but a hip-height wooden rod with an embossed silver topper catches his eye. When I asked him “Why the cane?” he replied, “I have events to go to.”
Forch, indeed, has events to go to. The sharp-dressed master’s student from Columbia University, who is studying abroad at AUC for a semester, has worked with ministers as a policy adviser at the Permanent Mission of Jamaica to the United Nations and as a community relations officer at the Consulate General of Jamaica.
On his path to a career in foreign affairs, Forch decided to study abroad at AUC to explore non-Western perspectives on diplomacy. He says classes taught by former diplomats expanded his understanding of different political systems.
Photos courtesy of Ahmed El-Nemr
“When I made the decision to come to AUC, I wanted to gain perspective from the Middle East and North Africa, even just a general African perspective when it comes to diplomacy. And since I’ve been here, I think I’ve gotten a lot of that,” he explained.
When we met for our interview, Forch brought a suit and a pair of tan dress shoes — an outfit change for a late-night engagement party north of Cairo. This penchant for statement pieces and sharp suits is one thread of a proud Pan African heritage woven throughout his life and career, which he says gives him “a sense of pride, a sense of identity, a sense of self.”
He recalls asking his grandfather to read him a story about Mansa Musa, the famous king of the Mali Empire once heralded as the richest man in the world. His grandfather, a primary school teacher and professor, closed the book and replied, “This doesn’t do it justice. I’m going to teach you.”
For Forch, engaging in many childhood conversations about the Black Diaspora with his Ghanaian-Jamaican mother and African-American father inspired his love of diplomacy, travel and culture.
"Diplomacy is not just the work you do in the office. It is what you do with the information when you go home, when you share it with your family, when you share it with your community — not just to empower society but to empower the culture. That’s true activism, using your leverage to uplift your people."
After graduation, Forch began as a finance clerk for the Jamaican Consulate General in New York, earning a promotion to community relations officer in a few months. A year later, he started as a finance correspondent at Jamaica’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations and eventually worked as a policy adviser.
“I became a jack of all trades in diplomacy,” Forch said. His work has spanned everything from writing financial memos to conducting media arrangements for Jamaica’s prime minister, while traveling between consulates and serving as a rapporteur for closed-door meetings.
“The ambassador entrusted me with responsibilities to sit in on different meetings, take notes and create reports that were not just relayed back to him but were reviewed, edited and sent back to Jamaica to advise the minister of state,” Forch says.
Photos courtesy of Seneca Forch
Even at diplomacy’s highest levels, Forch’s vision remains rooted in a desire to empower his community. “To be a true Pan-African is to be a person who is really interested in the development of the country that you come from,” Forch says.
“Diplomacy is not just the work you do in the office. It is what you do with the information when you go home, when you share it with your family, when you share it with your community — not just to empower society but to empower the culture. That’s true activism, using your leverage to uplift your people.”
Photos courtesy of the International Programs and Services Office
"When I made the decision to come to AUC, I wanted to gain perspective from the Middle East and North Africa, even just a general African perspective when it comes to diplomacy. And since I’ve been here, I think I’ve gotten a lot of that."
Forch plans to share the concepts and texts he learned at AUC with his peers back home to spark discussions in his master’s program. He plans to pursue a career in international law with his sights set on one day opening a law practice connected to the African continent. He is also bringing new style and flair to New York City.
He showed me a photo of his latest statement piece: an embroidered eggshell-white Tuareg cape. I asked him, “Why the cape?” and he said with a grin, “I will not be shown up in all of my travels.”