Why should you trust me and my research?
I am Diana, a young woman who grew up on a farm in the most rural parts of the Caribbean. I defied all the odds later leaving the farm,to work in the world’s best retailer in finance. Then moved on to write for some of the world’s biggest organizations.
My Grandparents were happy healthy farmers. We planted every fruit tree and owned every farm animal you can think of: cows, goats, donkeys, chickens etc.
Our breakfast always included freshly boiled cow’s milk and every meal consisted of freshly picked fruits, vegetables, and ground provision eg cassava, plaintain, potatoes.
Growing up on a farm i knew absolutely no stress, I spent my days playing in nearby rivers, sitting in apple trees, singing reading, and playing with children living nearby.
The strangest thing was, even though I spent most of my young years outdoors in nature,i was surprisingly very smart.I would read endlessly to the cows and talk to the trees.
Life was great but the real struggle started around age 12
In Jamaica, exams aren’t easy but if you study extremely hard you could pass. It wasn’t easy because it was a crucial step to be able to do any job no matter how small.
I remember failing my first real exam. Even though I was young I still understood something wasn’t right. I was outside playing basketball that evening, my dad walked up to me and said “Hey, don’t give up trust me, you will get out!
I failed almost every exam after that and had to resort to an alternative route to get into high school, which ALSO included an entry test.
Fast forward to many years later, my parents worked extremely hard to guide me along, they paid for extra lessons, and every single way they could to help me.
It got me far enough to community college and then trouble started again.
Now it was time to pass my exam to go to university but couldn’t seem to get past a certain stage 1. So my parents made a very difficult decision to not send me to the main campus but to get me enrolled in the smaller part of the university through teachers college.
It wasn’t difficult to get into teachers college but as God had it planned, this was where I would learn some core life skills that would enable me to thrive outside of my comfort zone later in life.
At the college we had normal degree courses plus leadership training, mannerism training, how to meet and talk to people, public speaking, cooking classes, eating well and caring for myself, higher-level writing skills, etc. These weren’t skills I could never learn on the main campus.
Fast forward years later I met someone whom I thought was my life partner, that person would lie, cheat and go missing for months and yes I still believed I was in love.
I was abused and still thought it wasn’t the person’s fault. I was embarrassed in public and still thought I could work harder on the relationship so it could work.
After many years of heartache, pain, brokenness i finally left and started to pour love and time into myself.
At age 27 i left my whole life in Jamaica and moved to the USA to restart my life.
I had no money and with a caribbean education, no one would hire me here in the USA . I could not get a good paying job except to be a sitter and nanny.I knew that could not work for me long term.
I went ahead and borrowed money for a student loan to pay my way through school, with not much money coming from babysitting I used some of the funds from student loans to support myself while in school.
Coming from the caribbean , I have never experienced winter and what the word winter really meant..I remember sitting one evening at the bus stop , it was christmas eve a very cold evening and i had just left class, PLUS spent 10 HRS babysitting, i was exhausted.
I saw an update saying the train would be late, i sat for one hour no train, two hours no train, i was so cold my feet started to hurt . They started hurting until it was unbearable.
I remember sitting there alone and i just started weeping , then i started praying . i wept somemore. I made a promise to myself that i would keep going and i would never stop until i could give back to someone who was in need like i was that day .When the train finally came i was almost frozen. I literally could not walk !
This continued for many years , i was working , going to school and at the same time trying to date and trying to network.
At age 30, i was so sick of public transportation, i prayed and walked into a dealership and said “hey i need a car. The guy looked at me and said how much do you have to put down ?, i said none, he then turned to me in astonishment and finally said “well ok, lets get you a car”.
I left the lot with a car that day . I never understand my life path but i put myself in the best positions , by getting prepared to get the best of what could come.
I experienced some really dark days, there were days i couldnt pay my car note , gas and buy food. I would pay my car note, buy gas then go to the pantry.
I got to the point where i couldnt pay rent and send my parents money for help at home ,so i got a room mate, i had a few horrible room mates who made my life a living hell.
During my dating years , ive had guys try to sexually abuse me but thank God i was gifted with strenght . Most of these guys seemed innocent but were just wolves in sheep clothing.
I never complained , i was very happy with the little i had . I was never envious of anyone , i was happy to see people succeed.
Hardship didnt stop there , for 10 years my life was absolutely difficult , on top of lifes difficulties, i gained a lot of weight that took so much hard work and dedication to get rid of.
I could go on and on about my hardships , but among the hardship i did find myself.
I have started writing blogs not as a way to earn money but to find something creative to do that would develop my research skills .
The more i wrote , i would have small brands reach out and ask me to write for them, then larger brands . I now write for many blogs as well as i work in finance .
I started working in finance literally by accident.After i received my MBA i updated my linked In and few months later someone reached out in my DM asking me to apply .
Based on the salary and benefits i thought it was a joke so ignored it for a while. One day i was just bored and sent my full resume to the lady who sent the message and the rest is history.
I am blessed today with everything the world has to offer , i found myself and i never gave up and through it all i found happiness in my heart first by enjoying the small moment, loving my family even when they were very far away and appreciating small things in life.
I take a moment to breathe, i take long walks when i can , i sing out loud, i dance and twirl around, i stand look at the water , i watch a spiders walk by , listen to the sound of children playing , i go to brunch , make my own picnic . I take moments to admire nature . I love to cuddle with my husband , take long walks and laugh out loud to silly jokes.
Life is simple, live in the moment , and set yourself for the next chapter by doing all you can by taking small steps to ensure the dreams you have become reality.