Graduation Year: 2008
House: Jordan House
Major: Engineering Science
Extracurriculars: Smith African and Caribbean Student Association (SACSA), including serving as Cultural Chair during my junior year and Co-President during my senior Year; International Students Organization
Fondest memories of Smith: I have a lot of great memories, but one that will be with me forever is graduation day. You are grouped with your house to cross the stage and have your name announced. Alix Davie and I were right next to each other, and our friends Michelle and Lauren was just a couple of people behind us. As we were announced, it seemed like a very serious affair… until Michelle was announced. There was sudden mayhem as we all broke out of line and ran towards each other, screaming and hugging. We made a huge scene and we just did not care because for us, this moment was all that mattered. That same day I had to pack up and leave campus with my family. I was one of the first newly-minted graduates to leave the quad. Michelle and Alix ran behind the car yelling and waving for as long as they could, and we were all bawling. Today, 12 years later we are back together in the Bay Area and loving every moment. Those bonds are forever.
Getting to Smith: I was born in Guyana and moved to St. Lucia with my family when I was 4 years old. I was always a strong student and had my sights set on going to school overseas. I had heard of someone from St. Lucia who had recently gone to school in the US, so I reached out to him to get advice. He introduced me to a woman in Trinidad who helped me through the process of applying as an international student, and made a short list of schools that I should research, including Smith.
Not only did Smith accept my application, they provided a generous financial aid package and named me a Smith International Scholar which allowed me to take paid internships for two years.
I never visited the campus before the day I moved in. It was a black box to me.
When I arrived on campus, I was immediately blown away by the beauty. But mostly I was COLD. It was late August and this island girl was not prepared for temperatures in the 60s. All new international students were invited for pre-orientation, so we got an extra week to acclimate to a new country, including walking us through opening our first bank accounts! (As an aside, every Spring, the Dean of International Students would invite us over as a group and we would all do our taxes together. The support system at Smith for international students is truly amazing and really helped lay a great foundation for my new life in the US.)
Studying at Smith: At Smith I decided to major in Engineering Science (fondly known at the time as the only "BS" at Smith). My professors made everything fascinating and inspiring. I took a junior year semester at Princeton to study in their Aerospace department, and the following summer I took an internship at MIT to work on algorithms for docking satellites at the International Space Station. My algorithms worked! It was a very cool project.
Playing at Smith: I’m from an island, but I learned how to swim at Smith. Pools were hard to come by at home! After a near-disastrous adventure that includes first-years, Mill River, and a rope swing (this is a story you can hear over drinks at a virtual cocktail hour!), I took a swimming class for credit, along with learning how to play squash, falling asleep in yoga class, and taking tai chi and a few modern dance classes, including one in the beautiful boat house studio.
After Smith: The financial crisis of 2007 made it a bad time to look for a job as a new grad, so I applied to grad school and ended up at MIT again to study Aeronautics and Astronautics. I quickly realized that coding all day did not fully leverage my strengths; I needed a path that would allow me to take the technology we were developing into real-world applications, so I expanded my studies into Technology and Policy and graduated with a dual master’s degree.
I started my career in an analyst role at a wealth management firm in Boston where I helped build portfolio management applications. It wasn't the most ideal, but I went from needing a student visa to needing a work visa, and my options were definitely limited at the time. Next, I took a program management job with a healthcare tech startup, building and implementing patient portals that integrated regulatory and compliance policies dictated by HIPAA. The company sponsored my green card, so after fulfilling my contract with them, I finally had the flexibility to look for a job that really let me tap into all my skills and education.
In 2018 I landed at a company called Mendix, that was later purchased by Siemens. While I started out as an individual contributor, I’m now managing a team of people and working with our strategic customers. Managing a team is something that I absolutely love. Using my skills to guide my team and customers through the challenges that we need to solve, while helping people grow in their careers and transforming how businesses operate has been truly fulfilling, and I credit a Smith education for that. My liberal arts background helps me think holistically about problems, consider how things going to be impacted down the line, and take a big picture view – both in our technology decisions and in our career paths. Plus, this job allowed me to move out to the Bay Area to support our growth, and as an added bonus I get to reconnect with my best friends from Smith and make new friends at the Smith College Club of the Peninsula!
In my downtime, I love to travel. Whenever I travel for my job, I always take an extra day or two to explore the area, even if it’s in the middle of nowhere. I’ve been to so many countries and definitely making my way through all of the States. I've gone to places ranging from the Houston Rodeo to the opera in Vienna, tulip festivals in the Netherlands, and some excellent hole-in-the-wall local dives to find the best bar-b-que. I also strive to learn new things as often as I can. I just bought a new condo that needs renovations, so I’m learning how to build walls, including sheet rocking and spackling, so if you ever need a need to prep your place for painting, I'm your gal. I love practical skills! (But please don’t ask me to keep a plant alive.)
