Phaedria St Hilaire

I was born different and to make a difference. When all my high school friends were going to parties and having boyfriends, I was throwing my energies into my studies, singing in the church choir and volunteering to support handicapped children. In those early years, I was too tall, too thin, too shy and did not fit in with the “in crowd”. Yet, I was quietly determined to do what I thought was right, support others and leave the world a better place. It took some time before I finally I rebelled against my Caribbean parents conditioning that I should be a medical doctor, and instead followed my own curiosity, my own path and chose research. But I did not stay in doing basic research and have evolved into being a leader, a Business Angel Investor and a fierce DEIB dvocate. As a young girl I never accepted that there were things I could not do because of my gender or the color of my skin. My mother and father did not raise me to be less than. Although moving from my home country of Dominica and being immersed in a majority white culture tried to convince me otherwise. I realized that my experience was not unique and there were many who also lived or rather existed in environments that threatened to break them. And so, I speak my truth, our truth and educate others so that everyone can be accepted, everyone can be included. I not only speak but also act by coaching others as I believe that everyone has the obligation to tap into their power and live a purposeful life. The greatest lie is believing that we do not have any power. We all do -so tap into it.