Reflections: Stories for Inspiration

By Yolande Y. Smith

Reflections is a compendium of stories that mark my journey from a one-bedroom, wooden house on the petite Caribbean island of Grenada to historic Dupont Circle in Washington, D.C.—the capital of the United States of America—as a senior diplomat. The book draws on the many experiences I have had over the past twenty-seven years in diplomacy and recounts stories that would inspire people to discover their voice and find purpose in a life of service. The truism is that everyone has a story to tell, but being bold enough to tell that story is a surefire way of leaving a legacy and putting a book on the bookshelf. The stories are of struggles, resilience, and giving back through advocacy and mentorship. Reflections takes you along a meandering path, revealing lessons on finding perspective, being persistent and consistent, building self-confidence and resiliency, and trusting the process.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Jun 20, 2023
• ISBN: 9798369400012

Yolande Y. Smith

Her Excellency Yolande Yvonne Smith is the former ambassador of Grenada to the United States of America, permanent representative of Grenada to the Organization of American States (OAS), and Grenada’s nonresident high commissioner to Canada. Ambassador Smith has spent over twenty-seven years in the diplomatic service. She is passionate about the environment and the empowerment of women and young people and is a personal development coach and mentor. Ambassador Smith was the first female president of the Grenada National Youth Council, cohosted a one-hour radio program, and was crowned Miss Grenada in 1989. She is the president and founder of The Colmar Group Limited and is a founding board member of the Generation Grenada Foundation, Inc. and the George’s Rock Foundation, Inc., both local nonprofits in Grenada. She currently resides at Colmar Manor in Saint Patrick’s, Grenada, and has one daughter and two grandchildren in the U.S.A.

Book preview

Author’s Note

Amid the bombardment of marketing data from social media, I noticed a pop-up advertisement for a seminar geared toward aspiring authors. That triggered a memory of my friend Katarvia Taylor’s TEDx talk almost eight years ago titled, Life Is a Bookshelf . . . Are You Going to Leave Something on It?

The proximate end of my tour-of-duty as a senior diplomat prompted me to belatedly respond to Katarvia in the affirmative. At that moment, I realized there is no better time to write a book than the present.

While there is an expectation for someone in my position to write a book on politics or diplomacy, I felt no compunction to do so. I said to myself, You are comfortable telling your story, and this is the book only you can write. I further talked myself into agreeing that it is important to tell my story for inspiration and to give people the opportunity to get to know me as defined by me and not by others. As it turned out, that was all the motivation I needed.

Because I am blessed with many experiences and have gained considerable knowledge over the past twenty-seven years in diplomacy, I ought to put a book on the shelf. This is my way of leaving a legacy—a point from which the next generation can continue. So while this is my first book, there will be others to populate the bookshelves.

This compendium of stories that mark my journey from a one-bedroom wooden house in Grenada will inspire young women and girls, minority women, women in the Caribbean, and people the world over as they discover their voice and find true purpose in the life of service they were called to lead.

My life’s purpose and what has been placed on my heart is helping young people navigate life through mentorship and personal development coaching. I have been driven by the desire to empower youth and women since the 1980s.

Becoming an author is a new and exciting experience for me. It provides this unique opportunity for me to share aspects of my Caribbean cultural heritage and highlight how my Grenadian upbringing and faith in God have shaped my perspective on a myriad of issues.

As a black woman from the Caribbean who has recently succeeded in a male-dominated field, I am willing to share my lived experiences to inspire others. I took risks, and I was able to express myself fully in all my experiences.

This book is not meant to be prescriptive nor is it a textbook because I am not a subject matter expert. Within the pages, I hope you find inspiration to make decisions that are uniquely yours, by scrutinizing the choices I have made and analyzing the lessons I have learned.

May you be inspired and motivated to aspire, achieve, and advance.

Acknowledgments

When you have fallen and gotten up as many times as I have, you become grateful to and for the people who are always there to hold you up and keep you accountable.

Thank you, Simone, for raising me. You are the most phenomenal young woman I know. You are my chief critic, but you are never shy to give praise when I deserve it. I am proud to be your mother. Thank you, Brian, for being so accepting of my role and relationship in your family, and for allowing me to freely display aspects of our Caribbean culture.

Thank you, Madison and Reiner, for keeping me so grounded that I recognize the high honor of my title as Gigi. I continue to see my purpose manifest in both of you.

Thank you to my caring nephew, Prince LJ, the resident gatekeeper, and Sharia, my niece, trusty photographer, and woman of business. To my sister-in-law, A. L. Smith, for your friendship and for being there to share in my periodic bursts of fervor.

To my mentors, thank you for your wisdom and the value of your time and expertise. The insights I have gained from our interactions have made me a better mentor. To my many mentees over the years, you have helped me to grow. You have witnessed my maturity as a leader as I continue to push my own boundaries. Thank you.

To my siblings, Neil, Moses, and Nathalie, thank you for allowing me to tell parts of our story from my viewpoint.

Thank you to my sister circle and my friend, Katarvia Taylor, for inspiring me to put a book on the bookshelf.

I owe a debt of gratitude to my editor and the publishing team at Xlibris; my amazing cover designer Elaine; and my submission representative Harriet Fulton. Thank you for the tremendous help and guidance.

Thank you, Miss Mac. You would have been all over this. I miss you today.

If my life is fruitless, it doesn’t matter who praises me, and if my life is fruitful, it doesn’t matter who criticizes me . . .

Introduction

While my journey is unique, it is also akin to the greater Caribbean diaspora story. The reflection I will share has helped to fortify my resiliency and came at a pivotal point in my journey. It is characterized by an experience that many women from the Caribbean who migrated to North America, can identify with.

In the winter of 1994, I left my home on the beautiful, tiny island of Grenada in the Eastern Caribbean. I walked away from a high-paying job, a popular radio program, small-town celebrity status, and my family circle. I walked away from life as I knew it into the unknown, taking my then soon-to-be-four-year-old daughter with me.

It took me a very short time to realize that without the support of my extended family circle, I could not adequately provide or care for my daughter while trying to secure a job and attend school in North America. I was forced to send her back home temporarily to live with her father and his parents.

It appears that I had a relatively good life in Grenada, so it would be fair to ask, Why did you leave? I left home to become the future version of myself, and that required me to take a leap of faith. The vision I had of myself drove me to start over in a new country—Canada—with a vastly different climate and few known relatives. I took on a babysitting job to fund my studies in pursuit of a law degree.

Did I question those choices in the early days? I sure did! I cried on the train ride every day for months. I had to constantly remind and reassure myself of the reason why I choose to uproot. I had to focus on making a difference not only in my life—with the responsibility of raising and ultimately influencing a daughter—but the lives of the young people of Grenada on whose behalf I had by then begun to advocate. I had to tough it out.

I was great at self-talk and affirmations before they became buzzwords on social media. I kept telling myself, You know this is worth it. You are worth it. You were raised by strong women. You can survive this.

Starting over was hard, and this was the first of many times I had to, but I knew how I wanted to show up in the world. I knew how I wanted to be treated, the life I had to create, and the value of acquiring a sound education.

That was the beginning of many tough years I endured working, putting myself through school, migrating to the United States of America, sending my daughter Simone to a private high school on scholarships, and then to Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. For years we had no savings. Simone and I lived from paycheck to paycheck, but we did it on our own terms.

Simone has blossomed into a brilliant young woman, wife, and mother whom I admire and turn to for advice quite often these days. You listen to her tell the story—she raised me. Admittedly, in some ways, I think she did.

Today, I am a proud grandmother—Gigi. I am a long way from that struggling, determined young mother, but ever the advocate.

I have enjoyed many years of service in diplomacy and until very recently, I was Grenada’s most senior diplomat based in Washington, D.C. In that role, I enjoyed the proverbial best of both worlds. Operating in purpose, I was able to combine my passion and my paid position. I was fortunate to moderate as well as sit on women’s advancement panels, give keynote addresses at women’s fora, youth symposiums, and assemblies, and preside over meetings, discussions, and workshops on the effects of climate change and the sustainability of our future.

Why are the stories or my journey relevant? You may not be interested in diplomacy or international relations, and you may have no political aspirations whatsoever. Your chosen career path might be in medicine, agriculture, or the creative or culinary arts. You may be from an affluent family born on a different continent from mine. You may be thinking, My experiences are entirely different from hers. It is perfectly reasonable to rationalize at this point, but my stories are guaranteed to inspire and will be well worth the read.

The ensuing chapters are filled with experiences that have taught me how to own each role I was asked to play and even create roles for myself, the importance of mentorship, and the value of having an inner circle. I have intentionally built up my confidence through volunteerism and being uncomfortable for a moment to facilitate change and growth.

Because my journey is a meandering one, I had to become unafraid of standing out. I learned lessons on being