Meet Gail McIntosh De Peza, Assistant to the Dean
I thought that I would never live anywhere else but in my native Trinidad and Tobago with my family. But life has a way of setting you on journeys that are far removed from where you thought you would be.
Photo: Gail McIntosh De Peza
Life brought me to Canada a few years ago in 2008, where I was suddenly an immigrant, a wife, and unemployed. Then life thought it would be interesting for me to experience “giving” life … so my son was born and I became a mother, and seven months after his birth, I began work at a not-for-profit organization in Mississauga.
The Newcomer Centre of Peel taught me about life in Canada, about the education system, about immigration, about citizenship, and diverse friendships among a team of settlement workers from various lands. But my roots of having worked at a tertiary institution kept calling. My life at the University of the West Indies (UWI) at the Centre for Creative and Festival Arts (CCFA) held memories of student life: I had completed my BA in Literature and Social Sciences, a Certificate in Theatre, through the CCFA, at UWI and then went on to complete a Post Graduate Diploma in Human Resource Management from the Institute of Business at UWI and a Certificate in Arts Administration at New York University. My first job as a graduate was at UWI supporting faculty, working on theatre productions, exhibitions, concerts, conferences, and symposiums.
Life led me back to the tertiary environment in the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at Sheridan where I can once more interface with and experience the thrill of assisting with creative activities. Life is calling!
Gail McIntosh De Peza answers Alchemy’s Proust Questionnaire:
Favourite virtue: Courage.
Most important lesson I’ve learned this year: The power of positive thinking and action.
My idea of perfect happiness: Spending time with my family.
My favourite quotation, motto, or phrase: “Reveal your presence clearly and wound me with the beauty you possess.” –St. John of the Cross
If I weren’t a teacher/administrator I’d be: A short story writer.
Languages I’d love to be able to speak: Spanish and French.
My favourite historical, literary, or cinematic character: Sherlock Holmes.
My favourite food/meal and drink: Oil Down (made with breadfruit and coconut milk–- You can Google it! :J)
