Shantel Powell

A call to action

When I was a young girl, I used to hold myself back from speaking my truth. I come from a Jamaican household where children were to be seen and not heard. Sure, I could express myself as a child but when it came to “grown folks business”, I had to recuse myself or else. Here’s the trouble with stifling your voice at early age- it can become a force of habit into adulthood. As I got older, I challenged myself to speak up and to become a force for greater humanity. I even believed that if I earned my doctoral degree maybe then, I would have the platform and courage to speak my mind. The funny thing is, you can have the platform and never mount it out of fear of criticism, failure, or rejection.