The 1980s AIDS epidemic. Bhopal chemical plant explosion (1984). Discovery of the ozone layer hole (1985). Chernobyl nuclear meltdown (1986). Exxon Valdez oil spill (1989). The murder of 14 women at the École Polytechnique de Montréal (1989). Oka crisis (1990).

These incidents made a big impression on my childhood self, inspiring me to shine a light on injustice and work to change hearts and minds from a young age.

My parents moved to Canada from Trinidad and Tobago in the 1970s. Nearly all the major colonizers had their turn in Trinidad, which is why most of us Trinis have a diverse racial, cultural, and spiritual background. My heritage includes Indian, Black, and Spanish. With my mother’s side being Catholic and my father’s side being Hindu, I grew up integrating both traditions.

Thanks to my mother’s job at a major airline, I had the privilege of traveling extensively in my childhood and experiencing how other cultures lived. By the time I finished high school, I had learned that cultural beliefs and norms are ultimately what shape individual actions (or inactions). I spent two years studying Anthropology with a minor in Environmental Studies before deciding to take a break from academics.

For the next decade, I worked in the corporate sector, at vintage clothing shops, and housing coops. I studied Western Herbal Medicine and volunteered as a youth academic tutor and environmental arts facilitator. That’s when I decided that I needed to revisit my education. I went back to school and completed my degree in Environmental Policy and Resource Management at York University.

After spending four years learning how the government can manipulate policy and community consultations to push through harmful environmental legislation, I decided to work in the environmental non-profit sector. After spending years with organizations like LEAF (Local Enhancement and Appreciation of Forests) and the Toronto Botanical Garden in environmental education, advocacy, and community development, I moved to the health non-profit sector.

I spent seven years at the Ontario Association for Naturopathic Doctors (OAND) doing clinical education, and as Editor of their Pulse magazine. I engaged in Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI) initiatives, campaigns, and education programs to increase culturally competent care for patients while addressing racism within the sector, including supporting the formation of NEST (Naturopathic Doctors for Environmental and Social Trust) and NDDR (Naturopathic Doctors Dismantling Racism).

I engaged in both internal and external Justice, Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging (JEDIB) initiatives, campaigns, and education programs to increase culturally competent care for patients while addressing racism and discrimination within the naturopathic community.

And then the pandemic hit. As I listened to news coverage about the death of George Floyd (and others), rising health equity and access issues, higher infection rates in equity-deserving communities, and the second pandemic of loneliness, I realized that the world was finally ready for my message: health, environment, and social justice issues are merely threads of the same fabric. Unravel one, and it’s only a matter of time before the whole fabric starts to fray.

I obtained a Certificate in Strategic Copywriting from the University of Toronto and founded my first business (Daylighting Copywriting) in June 2020. Now, I’m living my best life as the Founder of Anemochory Consulting, dividing my time between organizational consulting that helps uncover how colonization shows up in ways of being, doing, and working, and communications that amplify the voices of equity-deserving communities.

It’s time to co-create a world that centres empathy and intersectional justice so that we can all be our best selves. Who’s with me?