Maia

Mother from Russia, father from Trinidad - House renovator

When I was a child, I wanted to be like everyone else, to melt into the majority, but whatever it was, I was never in it. I envied those with their hair in fine neat plaits or the others who had hair that blew in the wind. Instead, mine was a huge nappy for that neither my mother nor I could control.

Older now, I value my sense of being like no one else. Each time they now ask "what are you?” the answer is mine alone to give. I can reinvent myself each time. Now the power I feel in defining myself is the envy of my friends. (My dreads are neat and blow in the wind!)