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What do you do for a living?

I’m an herbal pharmacist and store manager of Orion Herbs.

What do you do to feel alive?

I guess I try to give back to my community. It try to give back to others. I think it’s more of a gratifying thing when I see people thriving and I knew that I was a part of that. Also helping animals is a huge passion of mine. I’m a vegetarian. Our species has really evolved to forget our connection with animals.

A lesson you learned from your mother:

So many…Culturally, I’m Dutch and Caribbean. My mother is Caribbean and we phrase things differently. She always says “One hand washes the other”, which means you can’t keep receiving without giving. In order to make things happen we need to work together. In order to keep receiving you must give.

A lesson you learned from your father:

How to be compassionate. I think my parents swapped roles. My mom was more the aggressor and my father compassionate. He loved animals – loved nature – a very kind soul.

What’s the most beautiful thing you saw today?

Something I see everyday. I went outside to walk my dog and positioned myself under a tree and I looked up. It’s something I do often. I saw the branches and the light through the leaves and I felt at peace. To me I think nature is the most beautiful thing we have and we are so blessed to to have it.

What’s one thing you wouldn’t want anyone to take away from you?

My ability to forgive. In order to heal and grow you have to have the ability to forgive.

What’s a thought you would like to never have again?

Just negative thoughts in general. I try not to have negative thoughts.

If you could become an inanimate object what would it be?

A beautiful painting

When do you feel most loved?

I guess around family and close friends and also around like-minded people – people that are part of this world, the “alternative holistic world”.

If your life were to end tomorrow what would be left undone?

Finding true love. I’m pretty successful in my life, but that’s the one thing I’ve never experienced that I would regret.

What global issue would you take on if you didn’t have to worry about how?

Animal rights. I definitely don’t need to think about that one.

What’s the scariest thing that ever happened to you?

I grew up an avid fisherman, which is ironic now that I’m a vegetarian. We would fish every weekend. This happened when I was a teenager. That particular day we didn’t go out with a back-up engine. The engine broke down and the boat started taking in water. We were left out at sea for over 12 hours, sinking, with a storm coming. We were bailing water out for hours. I had nightmares about that for years after. It was pretty traumatic. The waves turned from being 5-8ft to over 20ft high. It took years to get over that.