Clarecia Christie

But for me the winter was, um—there was so much snow—more than I—because the snow don’t fall that heavy in other places I’ve been. And it was really cold.

And I remember one day I went out—you know everybody have an advice for you. They say to you, um, once you have your head and your neck and your feet warm, you’ll be good. Just make sure you protect your neck so you don’t catch a cold, and cover your head, and make sure you’re feet are warm and thing. I remember one day I went out, and they talk about, Oh, it’s going to be minus ten with a windchill factor of, um, minus thirty or something. It feels like minus thirty, or something like that, and it’s going to be windy. And I went out there. And I tell you, if I didn’t have to go where I was going, I would have turned back and go back home. Because this was the thing, um—it felt like the cold was burning my face, that’s how it felt to me. And I remember pulling up my scarf up to cover my mouth. And I must have looked like something else—I don’t know—because I remembered walking down the street and I looked across at—it was like a glass, somebody’s store front, but it looked mirrored. And I look, and I couldn’t recognize myself. Because all I saw was just my eyes. And I was saying, People must be wondering what’s wrong with that girl. And then I wasn’t even colour coordinated, either, because it’s like, whatever. (laughs) It was so funny. And that would have been a good picture to have. And I was, like, Oh my god. It was sad.

Biography:
Clarecia Christie was born and raised in Kingston, Jamaica. She studied at the University of the West Indies in Kingston where she earned a master’s degree in international business management.

While working on her master’s degree, Clarecia moved to Barbados to intern at a Caribbean export agency. She ended up staying in Barbados for eight years, working in the field of international trade. It was during this time that Clarecia first thought about moving to Canada. She wanted to continue her career in a more developed country and saw Canada as a safe and secure place to live.

Clarecia immigrated to Toronto, Ontario in 2005. She had trouble finding work in Toronto and spent the next two years going back and forth between Toronto and Barbados. In 2008, Clarecia was hired as a policy advisor by the Ontario Ministry of Health Promotion. Clarecia started a new position at Ryerson University in Toronto in 2012.

Clarecia has been an active volunteer since arriving in Canada. She was a board member for the Organization of Women in International Trade and was also involved with the Canadian and African Business Women’s Alliance. Clarecia became a Canadian citizen in 2011.