My dreams and goals first started inside a 200 sq/ft shack shared with a family of 8 nestled inside a village on the island of Grenada. Everything that we would take for granted today; electricity, running water, telephone and store-bought clothes was not an essential but rather a luxury growing up. I was convinced we were the poorest family in my community. How does someone get out of such a situation? How can you dream big when all odds are against you? I will like to think somewhere in the universe someone was looking out for me,
I really don’t have any other explanation as to why I was given the chance to migrate to Canada at the age of 18-year-old. So many days spent in my shack wondering what my life would be like if given the opportunity to explore outside what I’ve known all my life.
As early as my teens I became determined to find ways to better my situation. I did whatever it took, washing clothes, house cleaning, making coconut fudge and any other menial tasks that I could get my hands on. The need to be independent and constantly learning was the start of my entrepreneurial journey.
With no money and a handful of donated clothes on my back my arrival into Canada in 1998 was no walk in the park. Armed with nothing more than high school education and the need to better myself I had to learn how I communicate with others already accomplished and more accustomed to the diversity that is Toronto. Once again determined to make the most out of a challenging situation I took whatever opportunity I could whether it be babysitting or working in a factory. Nothing was going to stop my progress no matter how uphill the journey felt.
Through sheer determination I learned the ropes of the warehouse and logistics industry and became Logistics Clerk, transitioned into a Supervisor and finally landed a Manager role within an internationally known company. Feeling pigeonholed, I decided to take a leap of faith to become my own boss. I acquired Colt Paper in 2017 and later that same year I founded Antione Fulfillment. Only through years of hard work, blood, sweat and tears I managed to turn that girl dreaming in a wooden shack stricken by poverty into something much more than what I had dreamt on that day in Grenada.