British | Jamaican

Mum Jamaican, Dad British. I grew up with both cultures kinda prominent in my life. I have my own battles and crisis going on but I don’t think it stems from being mixed race, I think it stems from maybe ambition, social economic background perhaps and being quite a spiritual person & quite self reflective.

I probably do have issues but choose to switch off from it… I grew up eating West Indian food, listening to West Indian music in Bexley, which is a predominantly white. I went to an all girls mainly white school, it probably reflects in my voice.
Growing up I did stick out, I don’t know whether it was mixed or because I was tall, well spoken or introverted. I love people but I often get tired and overwhelmed, but fascinated by what makes people tick. I suppose people did wanna touch my hair… from the white side of my family, I wasn’t put on a pedestal but I received comments like “oh you’re beautiful"… I suppose people want to make you feel special… they worry maybe when you have a mixed kid. I hung around with a mixed race group of girls from school… I’ve had friends from different groups. I guess I gravitate towards people who think for themselves and are quite individual. I think I’m quite open… I have an idea of what I want in a person and maybe I just need to dig a little deeper to find that. (Younger) The boys were often like, “I don’t like you, you don’t have blond hair and blue eyes”. I suppose my defence mechanism was, in ten years time you’ll be chasing me anyway. I think that was the attitude, drummed into me by my mother, my favourite person in the world.

I love being me, I have my own insecurities that I think come from more of who I am as a person, rather than my race because I’m more than just my body.

I think there’s just more and more of us, people are just gonna have to get used to it… along the line somewhere… everyone is mixed.
You get exposure to different cultures on a deeper level and I think that’s enriching. I’ve come from a loving family background with both cultures prominent… I know who I am, I can see where it is difficult for others, for me it’s actually been a privilege.