Brenda Foreman Honourable Consulate for St Kitts & Nevis, aka “The Environmental Stylist!”

BY SIMONE J. SMITH

Here she was stuck in an elevator with a stranger when all she wanted to do was go home, lie on the couch, drink her Guinness, and read a book.

Her daughters were with their father for the evening, and her soul was aching; it had been a rough few years for Brenda, but she was doing what she could to navigate the challenges life had placed in her path.

The storm was at full tilt, and the 10-12 minutes she had been in the elevator felt like hours. What she didn’t realize at the time was that being stuck in that elevator is the reason that she was still alive…

~

Business leader, lecturer, publisher, award-winning community activist, educator; adjectives and accolades to describe one of the most incomprehensibly positive and optimistic people I have ever met. For our Woman Empowered, every day is a beautiful day to be alive, and that is not to say that she doesn’t or hasn’t experienced suffering, loss and disappointment.

I have observed her over the years use her brilliant mind to create unprecedented success and growth for young women in the Greater Toronto Area, utilizing her power to activate the power within others. She is passionate about building others up, as well as creating resilience in herself and her daughters. What I am most moved by is her ability to turn her uncanny near-death experience into a platform for empowerment that resonates within the soul of anyone who hears her story. She is truly an outstanding vessel of love.

Brenda Foreman has had a notable trajectory expanding over 20 years in St. Kitts and Nevis and the Toronto Greater Area. Throughout her career, she has worked extensively with multinational private and public companies, leading strategic programs in corporate identity, positioning and representation.

As CEO of her Toronto-based consulting firm, Brenda has left her mark on the social and cultural spheres of Toronto’s Caribbean and African communities. Her dynamic and charitable approach to community service has landed her on multiple executive boards and advisory committees dedicated to the advocacy of: political rights, the advancement of economic and social welfare, and the promotion of Afrocentric art and black creators.

In the Federation, The Honourable Brenda Foreman has managed independent projects that supported efforts for women and youth empowerment and worked collaboratively with the Ministry of Culture to curate programs that benefited workers employed in the cultural industry. Having attended the Cayon High School, she has been an active member of her graduate group, continuously fundraising to support the local schools of her parish.

From the day I met her it was instantaneous. Her energy was undeniable, and our discussions flowed easily. It was a no-brainer for the Toronto Caribbean Newspaper to want her to be the last Woman Empowered of 2022, because she brings to the table what many only wish they could, and she does it humbly, with grace, and with style unmatched by any woman in the GTA.

Yeah, I said it and I have receipts.

Despite her busy schedule, Brenda lent me her time, and opened up like she has never done before, “I was born and raised partially in St. Kitts and Nevis, and moved to Canada when I was 12,” Brenda began. “I was a quiet book worm, and an only child at the time. I lived with extended family, and everyone in our small community told me that I took a lot after my grandmother, which made sense because she helped to raise me.

One thing that I remember about my grandmother was that she was a serial entrepreneur. She was a field labourer, and she grew: yam, dasheen, and bananas, all which she would go to the market and sell. On top of that, she would make things and sell them to children who went to school across the street. She was always working, and it hurt when she died. I was 33 years old, so thankfully, I did have that time with her.”

Brenda shares with me that she used to read a lot. The librarian would call her when there were new books, and Brenda flew through those effortlessly.

“When I read, I felt like I was traveling the world. I was doing all of this in my mind. My father lived in Canada, and when the opportunity arose, I decided that I wanted to live in Canada.

Moving to Canada was the hardest thing that I have ever done. I couldn’t understand the language, so I was put back in school. I eventually caught up, but it took me a minute. I started playing basketball and running track. The hardest part of the transition was dealing with winter; it was not fun, but I started to deal with it.

I was in a Catholic school in high school, and there were only 10 Black children attending at the time. From the moment I landed in Canada I was working, and I left home at 17 years old. It was in college that I began experimenting with my life. Back then I had a baldhead, but this made me exotic looking. One day I went to a casting call with a girlfriend, and when the casters saw me, they asked me if I wanted to model. Just like that I was the bald girl walking down the runway with all these other blond-haired women.”

Brenda was working full time at 22, 23 years old. Most of the jobs that she had were created for her. She started outfitting people at a store called Giorgio. Once a season women would come in, and she would put together their wardrobe. Brenda went through great lengths to thoroughly understand her clients in order to craft their wardrobe, allowing them to leave confident with the purchases they had made.

“I would be honest with them, and the women started to trust me. I began to take care of the owner’s books, then I became a buyer next, and this was only because the buyer got sick. I learned the European lifestyle working there. During this time, I was working at Bell Canada, in addition to the freelance modelling jobs that I picked up.”

It was at this point that Brenda opened up and shared some of her most painful experiences with me. When you have survived an extremely upsetting event, it can be painful to revisit the memory. Many of us would prefer not to talk about it, and how we decide to share our trauma memories is a very personal choice. We have to choose carefully those we entrust with this part of ourselves.

Revisiting a traumatic memory can be very upsetting, triggering strong emotional and physical reactions and even flashbacks to the event. Those reactions can stay in place for years if we have unprocessed traumatic memories, especially when we’re trying to avoid thinking about the trauma. Brenda bravely shared some of those stories with me, and I respectfully have decided that some of those are for her to share, but there was one that stuck out to me…

“I settled down and had children, and went through a tumultuous time. I lost everything. It was a very tough time for me. Thankfully, I had great people in my life, and it allowed me to get back on my feet. My daughters were five, and two years old at the time, and I remember that there were times that I was literally counting my pennies. What the hell? How did I go from having so much to having barely enough to feed my daughters and myself?”

Here is where we can pick up from the story I started earlier. That night of the storm was not a good night for Brenda. She had just gone through a painful life experience, and she wanted to drown her sorrows in a good book, alone. When she finally got out of the elevator, she entered her apartment only to see that the wind had blown the window out, and shards of glass were embedded in the very same couch that she had planned to lounge on for the night.

“All I could think of was, what if I had not been stuck in the elevator? I would have been severely injured or even dead. Right there and then, I realized that I had to use the pain that I was experiencing to help other women.”

Brenda has combined style with empowerment, and has been dubbed “The Environmental Stylist,” because of her ability to style with recycled clothing.

“I started working with a women’s program (Up with Women) that got donations from upscale businesswomen. I would help women put together their clothes after they completed the program.”

Many trauma survivors I’ve worked with described the strength they found as they faced their trauma and told their story. They said they felt like they could face anything, as they saw their fear lessen and found greater freedom in their lives. It takes courage to tell your story, and Brenda’s vision and creativity is a force to be reckoned with and makes her a woman who the world needs to know.