Deidre Powell, profile in courage

Twenty-two-year-old Deidre Powell had just finished her first degree in international relations, landed a job in the insurance industry and was contemplating going back to school to study law when she became pregnant.

Chances are the average woman would have discarded the idea of going to law school and just focused on the baby. But not Deidre Powell.

Instead, on the very day she got confirmation of her pregnancy, she found her way to the University of the West Indies to pick up the application form.

“I realised that since the road of a single parent lay ahead of me I had to prepare myself to face it,” she shared in a very candid interview with All Woman.

She got accepted into law school but the road to the completion of her degree was some of the most challenging times for her.

“Around the same time I realised I was pregnant, I also got a promotion at work. I was transferred to be assistant manager at another branch. That time was filled with major changes and readjustment,” she reminisced.

Working hard and trying to prepare for impending motherhood, she woke up one morning in the latter part of her pregnancy to find out that her eyes felt dry and funny.

She went to the doctor and was diagnosed with Bellspalsy – a condition that causes the facial muscles to weaken or become paralyzed. It’s caused by trauma to the 7th cranial nerve, and is not permanent. The paralysis causes distortion of facial features and interferes with normal functions, such as closing the eye and eating. Persons with the condition often fear that they have suffered a stroke, with permanent damage to their health and appearance.

The onset of Bellspalsy is also usually sudden.

For Powell, it was horrifying.

“It was an awful experience. My face was twisted and I could not talk properly. I could not eat properly – most of the times I had to drink using a straw because half of my face was literally dead,” she explained. With steroid treatment she recovered in about a month – although she says her eyes still bother her occasionally.

“My left eye will run water every now and then but apart from that, I am fine,” she said. Yet, she recalls during that time how she would go to work early and leave late to avoid people seeing her disfigured face.

Another concern too at the time was whether the steroids would affect her unborn child – but thankfully, all went well.

Two weeks before she was to start law school, her daughter, Brittney was born.

“I remember the day I went in to register, I could not even sit down. I had to carry a pillow to sit on. But I was determined to do this because I wanted the best for my daughter,” she said.

Classes and work during her first year was another hurdle to overcome. Many early morning classes found her on campus with Brittney. At times, she was lucky enough to find members of the office staff in the faculty who would baby-sit for her until her class was through.

“I had somebody to help me then so I would carry Brittney home and leave her and head off to work. But it was still very hectic. I had taken student loan and I was working part-time to make ends meet,” she said.

Her struggles further mounted when the time came for her to leave Brittney to go to Barbados for two years.

“There was no way I could take her with me. I could not afford to rent a place and employ someone to stay with her or to get her in school there. So I had to leave her with my parents.”

“While I was down there, I had postpartum depression and had to get treatment. There are nights when I would just wake up because I was used to getting up to deal with her at that time. It was terrible,” she recalled.

With the support of family and friends, she decided to brave it out and she did.

“As soon as I came back to Jamaica I went for her. While I was in Law school it was also a very tight regimen because I could not afford a helper. So I had to get up like from 5:00 am and get her stuff ready, drop her at school, go to my class until 12 and then come back to pick her up and leave her at the aftercare place and go to work,” she related.

Brittney is now seven years old and the motivating force in her mom’s life.

“She is such a brilliant girl. She amazes me everyday. You ask her opinion about anything and she has an answer. She keeps me focused! I feel her love everyday and I am proud and happy that I was blessed with her,” she said.

Powell has achieved her dream of becoming an attorney-at-law and has been practicing for two years. She has opened her own firm in downtown Kingston and has another office in her hometown in Santa Cruz, St Elizabeth. She is proficient in civil litigation and lists her areas of practice as claims settlement and negotiation, personal injury and fatal accidents, entertainment law, employment law, debt collection, family law, maintenance and adoption, libel and slander and so on. She has provided legal counsel to media corporations, insurance and finance companies, security firms, musicians, building contractors, companies and individuals.

She loves her work, she said and is very optimistic about her future.

“I’m thirty years old and many say that I have achieved a lot for my age. Maybe I have, but I have big dreams and I am not afraid to dream big. I believe that ‘if I can see it then I can be it! So I’m not afraid to dream. I love to dream and I am blessed daily, as I watch them come true,” she said.

Constantly seeking to be the best she is, Powell is now applying to do her ACII – Associateship/ Certificate of Insurance Practice – a chartered insurance diploma provided by the Chartered Insurance Institute in the United Kingdom. Another major project for her now is her seminar on claims settlement and negotiation, which is scheduled to take place in October.

“I realised that there was a need for claims personnel, especially brokers, to be trained in the proper writing of statements, customer service and how to negotiate on clients’ behalf so I decided to do it,” she said.

According to her, this is part of her way to make a contribution back to society. With her busy schedule she still finds time to do mentorship at Youth Opportunities Unlimited (YOU). She also attends Swallowfield Chapel in Kingston.

“On a Sunday, we (Brittney and I) usually go to church then we go home and relax for the day. Sometimes we go to the beach or so. Since I work six days a week, I take time out to rest on a Sunday,” she says. She also abides by the motto ‘I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.’

Always an achiever, Powell was the first recipient of Professor Carl Stone Memorial Bursary in 1993. She also got sponsorship from Alpart Alumina Company to participate in an AFS Exchange programme, which saw her going to Canada to study for a while during her high school days.

At Hampton school, she was also awarded as the student contributing the most to life at the school. While there too, she was given the Joyce Francis Cup for the student displaying the most development and maturity.

She is particularly proud too of winning the “Miss St Elizabeth Festival Queen Competition.”

” I did it for the experience and opportunity to learn more about my culture. This was in 1989/90. One of the prizes I received then was for best smile. I was also a judge in the recent competition,” she said.

The young attorney also shared openly with All Woman her position on relationships.

“I took some time for evaluation and now I have very clear ideas of what I want from a relationship. If I can’t find what I want in a man, then I will do without,” she said. As part of her personal growth, she said she has cut her hair, written a book and come up with some new business plans.

“So people look at me and say why the new hairstyle? So drastic; and I smile and tell them it’s a part of the new me. I have a new hairstyle and new business plans. I’m not ready to reveal them yet but I’m putting things in place,” she said.