I was born in Spanish Town, Jamaica where I learned from an early age that facing adversity would be key part of life. At seven, my older brother and I left Jamaica to live in Toronto, Canada. The culture shock and dialect barriers were overwhelming, but I was able to combat these fears through playing sports and getting involved in local extracurricular activities.
Through the love of competitive sports, I was fortunate to be granted a full student athletic scholarship at 18 years old playing American Football for a NCAA Division 1 team in the American South. As a student athlete, it was critical to balance both classwork and tackling my opponents. Being able to manage the two and prioritising my day to day schedule helped me transition from the football field and classroom to a reporting insights position at my university.
My experience of working in reporting and analytics opened the doors to my first role in Financial Services at the Royal Bank of Canada as a Business Intelligence Consultant. The transition to RBC, meant that I would be relocating from Boston Massachusetts and forfeiting my precious work permit to move back home. I had to trust the process.
