I was born in Trinidad and Tobago – the southernmost Caribbean island nation that has been colonised by the Spanish, French, Dutch and, most significantly, the British.
I grew up without much money. My mother worked numerous low-paying jobs to support me and my siblings. When I was 13, she migrated to the US and became a domestic worker, sending us money to buy food and to support our education.
I was fortunate to benefit from public scholarships and a chance to escape intergenerational poverty due to increased revenues from Trinidad and Tobago’s oil and gas reserves, which once produced up to 60% of the British empire’s oil output.
