You are the sum total of everything you’ve ever seen, heard, tasted, smelled, been told, forgot; it’s all there. Everything influences each of us, and because of that I try to make sure that my experiences are positive.” – Maya Angelou
My name is Rehanna Warren. I stand tall at 6ft and I am the last of four children. I hail from the historic Parish, St.Patrick’s also known as Crown City. I attended the Tivoli R.C primary school and later went on to St. Joseph’s Convent Grenville. My years there were like any other normal teenager until I got to form four. I had always performed well in school and usually was among the top three. However, I started noticing intense headaches and they came frequently too and I also found that I couldn’t see very well. I still tried to manage and push through thinking that I was just tired. When I got to form five however my world turned upside down. I remember coming home from school one day in the first week and seeing my sister hustling packing suitcases. I couldn’t make sense of what was going on. “Way you going?’ I had asked. “Ah going Trinidad to study” was the response I got. It was so sudden. She left that same day! I was really upset. Things were just sort of getting back to normal after that when I had what I thought was an asthma attack at school. I remember some of my classmates and friends trying to fan and make me feel comfortable but I just couldn’t breathe. I don’t remember much after that, but I knew that was something I never wanted to happen again. It didn’t stop. In the first term of form five I missed so many days of school. I was dizzy all the time, fainted a lot, achy all over just generally feeling sick so I had to stay home until I ‘felt better’. I did not want to die. I managed to scrape up just enough energy to tackle the six subjects out of eleven I was now advised to do. The response I got from society? Well, “she ha demon”, “she doesn’t eat”, “ e ha ting in de school”,“man stress”. I was ridiculed and laughed at, at treated like and outcast, “well we can’t let you do that you know you does fall”. I was sad and depressed. I then attended the T.A Marryshow Community College where I had to drop out and seek medical attention abroad. I returned and started over, though not fully “well” I graduated in 2013 and received the award for academic Excellence in Arts and Humanities. I am a fighter!
I decided to take a year break before I started University. I participated in a modelling competition and I was named the Face of Grenada in 2014. This competition gave me the opportunity to embark on an environmental or community development project of my choice and I chose to improve a playing field in the community of Plains St.Patrick’s, home of the Boca Juniors football team.
Since winning the competition I’ve been on an incredible journey beyond what I’ve ever imagined or would have achieved on my own. I’ve gotten the opportunity to travel and experience things that were merely a ‘what if’ only a few years ago. I am now a student at St. George’s University and I have represented several companies and my country both here and abroad in the fashion industry.
The personal growth which I’ve experienced is phenomenal. I’ve conquered some of my biggest fears, one such fear was that of six inch heels. One of the things which has carried my thus far on this journey is humility. Always remain humble. It is inspiring when I see young people like myself, affect change in an audience and touch the lives of many other young people aspiring to be great. I live by the line, ‘Always be grateful for the little that you have, there is always someone else who is worse off.’ Do not look down on people, you do not know what they are dealing with.
So, Who am I? I am an artist, a beautician, a poet, an advocate. I am my pair of heels.
God bless.🖒