Journey Behind the Empire
What exists today didn’t emerge overnight. It grew from lived experience, global learning, leadership, reflection, and personal evolution.
In 2008 I lived and studied in Africa while completing a minor in Multicultural Ethnic Studies. Standing on another continent as Africa celebrated the election of Barack Obama as the first Black president of the United States was a defining moment: it made my country visible through a global lens and changed me.
Education became something lived. Perspective gained layers. Identity widened.
Since then I've traveled widely across the Caribbean, visiting islands from Jamaica and Puerto Rico to St. Lucia and Aruba, and crossed the United States from coast to coast.
Travel broadened my view. People honed my discernment. Experience sharpened my judgment.
The journey wasn’t only geographic; it was professional and personal, too. I’ve worked in human services, corporate settings, and higher education. I advanced from residential supervisor to residential director, from manager to hiring authority, from peer mentor to professor, and from employee to entrepreneur. I’ve held full-time, part-time, per diem, and salaried roles, with benefits and without, navigating real-life moments that demanded pause, recalibration, and intentional direction.
Those pauses were not interruptions; they were part of the formation. Through them, I gained a deeper understanding of how people move, how systems shape lives, and how clarity can redirect purpose.
This journey shaped everything that followed. It built the foundation.