We’ve set a mid-afternoon date at the AC Hotel Kingston with Brittany Alexandria Wiltshire. The ecosystems analyst is visiting from Dubai and eager to check out all that’s new and fab since her last visit to the land of her birth. She turns heads as she steps into the lobby in her effortlessly cool ‘It’ girl ensemble of jeans and a crisp half-tucked white shirt complete with freshly blown hair. Full introductions over, and in between sips of espresso martini we are eager to glean as much as possible from the 20-something-year-old who left Jamaica and her Hopefield Prep Schoolmates at the age of five when her father, a former Air Jamaica airline pilot, took up a job offer.

What is the last memory of the land of your birth?

Shaking caterpillars out of my shoes during recess at Hopefield Prep! Looking back it feels a bit like a fever dream, and whether there were actually any caterpillars remains a mystery. 

What was the first impression of your adopted country?

When my parents broke the news we were moving to Dubai my first question was, ‘Is that near the pyramids?’ To my excitement it was (kind of)! 

What are some of the myths you’d like debunked about living in Dubai?

Dubai is not all glitz and glam, women can drive, and it’s not crazy hot all the time — the winter months can get pretty cold, especially out in the desert. 

What’s the best thing about living in Dubai?

The constant change and development, whether that’s in new places to see, people to meet, or things to do. 

What do you miss most about Jamaica?

The people, the weather, the land, and the food. Not necessarily in that order. 

How has your life in Dubai, your education in the USA at Boston University, and in the UK at Bristol University, shaped your career goals?

Having a life experience thus far that has touched so many corners of the globe has convinced me that anything is possible. I have so much that I feel I will accomplish — not necessarily on a linear path, but eventually. And I am privileged to possess that level of awareness and hope. 

What lesson has been the hardest to learn?

Appreciating my beauty and what makes me unique in a place where I am neither the norm nor the standard.

What talent do you yearn for?

I’ve always secretly dreamed of being a ballerina and I would have loved to master pointe technique! Perhaps a bit more realistic: Becoming fluent in Arabic. 

What have you never understood?

Physics. 

As the world slowly takes flight, what’s the one thing about the pandemic that you would like people to hold onto?

The new work-from-home culture is a no-brainer. It’s given so many of us the room to better balance our work and life commitments. I don’t think it needs to, or even should, be an everyday thing, but maximising flexibility and giving people options can only do good. 

Conversely, how has COVID-19 impacted the way you once viewed life?

The pandemic has really affected the mindset with which I walk through my day. I can remember the first time I left my house after being quarantined for months in Dubai (during the early days of the pandemic we were required to get government permits to leave our homes for any reason). The outside world felt almost surreal. We should never take hugs for granted. 

What’s the first thing you ate in Jamaica?

A Tastee patty — I was dreaming of having one from the moment I booked my ticket! 

What’s the one song that you cannot stop humming?

Violence by Grimes and i_o. 

Share with us the name of the last book you read.

The Alchemist by Paulo Coehlo. The book is hugely popular and there’s a reason for that! Its lesson that it is never too late or a bad time to follow your dreams is powerful. 

Finally, if you could be remembered for one thing what would it be?

True grace, but my eyes were open.