Ibaneiah: an Enthralling Entity

Ibaneiah: an Enthralling Entity

     Ibaneiah is a caring, bright, courageous, driven and strong young woman. Born to Jamaican parents here in Los Angeles, her father was not much apart of her life and she never lived with him, save a combined total of about a year. Other members of her family, with the exception of an aunt and uncle in New York, still live in Jamaica. So, growing up, it was just her and her mom, here in California.
     The two of them struggled a lot – bouncing around from house to house, as they were often unable to pay rent. Ibaneiah even recalled times when they were living in their car, the first time being when she only eleven years old. Since then, she and her mom have gotten back on their feet only to be knocked down again and forced to repeat the process. Additionally, there have been times in her life where she has been separated from her mom, Who had gone to jail, and Ibaneiah was living on her own. With everything they have been through, Ibaneiah maintains that her mom is the strongest person she knows, and despite the fact that they had been homeless at times, her mom always told her to always do good in school, because that is her way out.
     “Education is my way out of poverty, and to become successful in life,” Ibaneiah continued. She Was always on honor roll even as a young girl, but at eleven years old she became more serious about her schooling. Around that same time the hardships began, and for Ibaneiah to push forward and keep working hard shows her courageous and driven character. It was also at this point in time that Ibaneiah discovered she wanted to be a doctor, a neurosurgeon to be specific, so she started working even harder, striving for straight A’s. As a result, her academics were always her main focus, but she was also volunteering at the ER and interning with an orthopedic surgeon while in high school, which allowed her to confirm that she would be physically capable of pursuing her desired careers.
     Ibaneiah outlined the future that she has planned for herself – clearly she wants to be a surgeon, but through her career she wants to help people, become well-known for what she does and advocate for low-income children to let them know they’re not alone, no matter where they are. This stems from her own experience as an individual who grew up struggling in a nice area, because no one in her community, other than her counselor, principal and family members, knew what she was going through. Kids like her, the ones in the nicer areas, are the ones she wants to become an advocate for, in order to make sure they know they have options, as Ibaneiah is living proof of that. Enduring the hardships that she has have gotten her to where she is today and shaped her into a wonderful young lady with a strong head on her shoulders, and she wants others with similar experiences to have the same opportunities.