My story has humble [poor] beginnings. I was born in the South Bronx to a Jamaican immigrant single mom who had escaped an abusive marital relationship. While my mom’s escape was thought to protect me from the harsh realities of being a person of color living in America, her efforts did not protect me from the violence in our own family. I experienced physical, emotional, and verbal abuse from an older half-sister and was molested by an older male figure in our family for years. Instead of finding solace in the presence of my mother, what I found was constant criticism about any and everything pertaining to me as my mom placed her hopes of future financial security on my dreams of becoming a medical doctor. For me, my abject impoverished beginnings did not cloud my views about the possibilities for my future; I needed only to keep focused and work hard and anything would be possible career-wise.
Such focus and success did not translate into my peer relationships, though. Throughout my childhood and teen years, I found it hard to socially connect with others and I defaulted to remaining quiet, mulling around my own thoughts about things I would observe. Despite my reserve, other people—peers and adults—often sought me out for advice and solutions to their problems, commenting, “You’re so easy to talk to” and “You’re such a good listener.” Being a deep thinker, as I’d listen to others, I found that I could easily see the possibilities regarding their situations and since I did not have anyone encouraging me, I found great pleasure in exhorting others towards their (personal and social) goals.
Such focus and success did not translate into my peer relationships, though. Throughout my childhood and teen years, I found it hard to socially connect with others and I defaulted to remaining quiet, mulling around my own thoughts about things I would observe. Despite my reserve, other people—peers and adults—often sought me out for advice and solutions to their problems, commenting, “You’re so easy to talk to” and “You’re such a good listener.” Being a deep thinker, as I’d listen to others, I found that I could easily see the possibilities regarding their situations and since I did not have anyone encouraging me, I found great pleasure in exhorting others towards their (personal and social) goals.