TheMosaicofMe

My name is Natalie. I was born in Brooklyn, New York — first generation American, daughter of parents who crossed an ocean from Trinidad and carried an entire world with them in their hands. From the very beginning, my life was shaped by the courage it takes to begin again somewhere new, to plant roots in unfamiliar soil, and to hold on to who you are while the world around you is constantly changing.

I grew up moving — from neighborhood to neighborhood, city to city, community to community. What might have felt unsettling to some felt, to me, like an education no classroom could offer. Every new place brought new people, new customs, new ways of speaking, cooking, grieving, celebrating. I was immersed in cultures that were sometimes in stark contrast to my own — and somewhere in the middle of all that contrast, I began to see something remarkable: how deeply we all resemble one another.