My friend Claire maintains that when we met at age 11 on the first day of secondary school, I introduced myself and said that I was going to be a lawyer. That seemed a natural choice when I turned out to be average at languages and disliked the smell of the Chemistry labs. Plus, there were lawyers in my family, so it was an easy path to follow. I didn’t know then what type of lawyer I wanted to be, but discovered a commercial law masters program and applied, with strong encouragement from my law school roommate Lynne.

Completing my LLM provided me with many opportunities. I didn’t know which one to choose, so I chose them all – internships in London, a litigation seat in Los Angeles and I finally settled into a commercial law practice in the UK.
The next major decision along my professional journey was a very important and considered one. I had met my then boyfriend, now husband, and he was living in the USA. I made the choice to move my life and work to New York for the sake of love. It was a gamble, and it worked!

Moving to the Caribbean after working for several years in NY felt like a natural step. By then we had 2 young sons and wanted them to have a Caribbean upbringing, like we did. It was also a chance to be nearer to our aging parents and other family members.

With this most recent decision to relocate to Denmark, I was at a stage in my life and my career where I wanted to take on a new challenge. When the opportunity arose, we felt it was the right one.

Achievements and career highlights
One of my major career highlights was successfully closing my first structured finance deal as a mid-level associate at a major law firm. Even now I can recall that feeling of satisfaction and relief, knowing that the time I had invested in researching the law, negotiating and redrafting deal documents, and ensuring the alignment of all parties, had paid off. That was a personal win! One I felt very good about as I sat in the 28th floor conference room in the wee hours of the morning, reflecting on my path from Goodwill, Dominica to New York City.

Since then, while there have been other career highlights, my meaningful achievements have been contributing to successful projects devoted to equality of basic needs like improved healthcare, and access to education and sanitation services.

My major challenge is keeping an even work-life balance. For better or worse, I inherited (or adopted by observation) a work ethic and tenacity from my parents, which causes me to be conscientious and ambitious. I learned early on in my career to distinguish important matters from urgent ones. This has served me well, along with my ability to keep matters in perspective, often reminding myself that I do not work in a hospital emergency room.

Furthermore, key contributors to my success have been having a positive attitude, and the ability to rally my teams to accomplish great things. That, and the love and support I have received from my husband and family, have been integral to my success.

Aspirations, motivation and advice
I aim to be an inspiration for young Caribbean women, encouraging them to pursue ambitious dreams and achieve both their career and life goals.

What inspires and motivates you every day?
I am motivated by working in the development industry, which I have done for over half of my career. Knowing that what I do on a day-to-day basis is positively impacting the lives of people in challenging environments and underserved communities, brings me purpose.

One of the best pieces of advice that I have received is never to be afraid to get involved and go after what you want in life. On the other hand, knowing what I know now, the advice I would give to myself at the beginning of my career is to “Enjoy yourself”. Genuine enjoyment and passion for what you do will allow you to perform optimally.