What does "being strong" mean to you? To me, “being strong” means “being alive”. This is a tough world to live in. Tougher than I think God intended, but He has given us what we need to make it through day by day if we trust Him. That's hard for me to remember most days.
How does family shape your perception of strength? My father was in an accident in March 2024. Watching my father, who had just turned 60 the month before, relearn to walk and wake up every day, and choose to get better for our family is the epitome of strength. The moment he stood again for the first time, his best friend and my mother had to help him. Strength is not about surviving on your own but having the courage to lean on those closest to you in the moments that matter the most. And being okay with borrowing a bit of their strength when yours is not enough.
How does your culture shape your perception of strength? Growing up in Caribbean culture, I noticed a stigma around mental health. This often shows up when someone says they are having a hard time and is met with flippant responses. Thinking about these moments now, I realize the strength it takes to ask for help and voice those needs in tough times, especially when the culture and community you love doesn’t respond the way you may hope.
Who is a female role model in your life and why? My great-aunt, Monica Barnes (Aunty), or Madame Justice Monica Barnes, is a female role model in my life, though she left us 4 years ago. She built the house where my mom grew up, and I eventually lived there and turned it into a home. Aunty used to help me get dressed for school every day and let me crawl into bed to watch The Little Mermaid cartoons in the morning. My aunt taught me what it means to be a community member as I watched her host etiquette and first-year orientation classes for the newest students at her alma mater. The same high school where my great-great-grandmother was third on the roster when it first opened and where my mother was a house captain. My Aunty has also taught me what it means to be adaptable. She would always remind me that when she was in college in England, she called her father only once and wrote letters once a month. This is the same person who sent daily personalized WhatsApp messages to friends and family, with special voice notes on birthdays, up to the day before she passed. She was a loyal friend with a sharp mind and held herself to the highest standards of honesty. She taught me that family, both by blood and by love, matters most and that the most important thing you can give someone is your time. Time that I still wish I could get back because of all I know she still had to teach me.
How can you be strong and vulnerable? I am currently in business school at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. Through my courses, particularly Interpersonal Dynamics (colloquially called Touchy Feely), I have learned that being honest about your feelings and meeting someone emotionally is both strong and vulnerable. It is hard to recognize how your actions and those of others affect you; it is much easier to place blame and make assumptions. Opening yourself up to saying “I’m hurt,” “I’m ashamed that what I did made you feel that way,” or “I’m scared” in a world where we are supposed to project confidence and togetherness is hard, but it also lights the way for others to do the same and know they will have a safe place to land. Why? Because the more you show up as your authentic self in life, the more life is worth living with others who will accept you just as you are.
Taf’s Intentional Act of Kindness
How did you use the $100? I used half to give tokens of appreciation to a couple of the people who made my summer internship special, and I donated the other half to Catholic Charities Eastern Washington. The little moments from my summer internship in Seattle will stay with me. My bus driver waiting an extra minute as he saw me running to catch the 7:04 a.m. bus, or the staff member who stopped his end-of-day tasks to tell me about his upcoming travels to Peru with his wife. I wanted these colleagues to know I saw them and that they made a difference in my 12-week experience through those small moments where we connected human-to-human.
My donation to Catholic Charities Eastern Washington was motivated by hearing about the fires that impacted Spokane in August. The smoke made it all the way to Seattle, so I could only imagine the devastation the community faced in Eastern Washington. I learned about Catholic Charities growing up at church in North Carolina. I wanted to do something small to help the Spokane community and trust that Catholic Charities will direct the funds to those most in need.
What was the 'Intentional Act of Kindness' process like for you? : I grew up with the concept of giving to others. Each year, my mom would choose the specific charities she would donate to and take us to volunteer throughout our childhood. What made the ‘Intentional Act of Kindness’ process special was the chance to step back and consider what would remain with me from a community I was only spending a finite amount of time in. Many times, I have tried to express kindness or gratitude as a result of an expansive relationship or in the midst of a continuing relationship. Even though my relationship with Seattle was short and is not continuing, the moment to leave a little kindness felt like I left it a bit better than I found it.