Gutsy Tiffany Paynter has had some set backs in her young life. She wants to be a teacher and has been trying to get a university degree since she graduated as Head Girl from Saltus in 2004. But financial difficulties and the death of her mom have derailed Tiffany’s dreams several times over the last 11 years. Now, one year away from the Bachelor of Arts Degree that has eluded her – and still lacking the funds – Tiffany has launched a GoFundMe campaign to raise the $30,000 (CAD) for her cause.
We first met Tiffany in 2011 after hearing her impressive spoken word performance at TEDx Bermuda. She charmed and delighted us with her wit, passion and candour in the Q&A article we ran on thebermudian.com. (See story below)
We feel that this young Bermudian needs to finish her degree and then Bermuda needs this young lady to come home. We are sure, a year from now, armed with her diploma, her courage, determination, charm and talent, Tiffany can make Bermuda a better place.
To hear Tiffany’s story and fund her campaign, click HERE!
From the Heart and Mind of Bermudian Spoken Word Poet, Tiffany Paynter
Tiffany Paynter fell in love with poetry at the age of 11 reading pieces by Robert Frost and Paul Laurence Dunbar. She began writing her own poetry at age 12 as a way of communicating her emotions and working through problems. In recent years, Tiffany has become a regular performer at Chewstick and recently spoke and performed at the TEDx Bermuda event where she received two standing ovations and brought the audience to tears with her poem Daddy, a heartfelt confrontation between father and daughter. Here Tiffany shares with us her thoughts, opinions and dreams for Bermuda.
What do you like most about yourself?
“That I am a highly teachable person and that my heart and mind are emotionally and spiritually mature.”
What do you like least about yourself?
“I hate how quickly I make assumptions. It’s one of those vices I do alot of work to resolve and I am very vigilant in monitoring my thoughts so I can weed out assumptions but it’s hard it’s very very difficult cause the thing about assumptions is that half the time you don’t even know you’ve made an assumption about something or someone one.”
What do you see as your life-anchors, what really drives you?
“When you say life anchors I immediately think people and poetry…sometimes it’s the people that have written poetry. But I often feel like I have an army of guardians lighting lamp posts in the darkness…laying themselves on the tracks to keep me on course. People like Stephen Broomes, Carlin Thompson, and most recently Saddhu Agam and Gordan Johnson. Poets like Audre Lorde, Zora Neale Hurston, Paul Laurence Dunbar, Langston Hughes, Lauryn Hill – their words and lives motivate me.”
