Ayana Wellington-Pitterson may have left Trinidad and Tobago to live in the US when she was 12, but decades later, her recollection of the country of her birth remains strong, as are some of the practices she learned from her modest childhood.
“I could walk my way through the path on how I got to school. I went to San Fernando Methodist; I remember some of my teachers’ names. I remember that I got skipped so I could take Common Entrance exam, but right when results were coming out, we moved. I remember the food and the beaches. Oh, how I loved the beaches...
“I remember how you had to go outside looking like you put yourself together, no matter how poor you were, because dressing well was and still is a sign of having good manners," even on a tight budget, she told WMN.
[caption id="attachment_1078554" align="alignnone" width="779"] Ayana Wellington-Pitterson says 90 per cent of her wardrobe is second-hand clothes. -[/caption]
The move and the culture shock were stressful at the beginning, but Wellington-Pitterson, the eldest of six children, adapted, worked as hard as she had to and is now a Judge Advocate General (JAG) Commander in the US Navy.
“I never envisioned coming to this country (US) at all. We moved to the Bronx, I went to middle school, high school, and then college and law school in New York.
[caption id="attachment_1078558" align="alignnone" width="640"] Ayana Wellington-Pitterson has over 100,000 followers for her thrift shop, Thrifting Divas. -[/caption]
"Then I decided I wanted to get out of NY badly, but wanted someone to pay for it. I wanted to see more of the world and the US.”
She applied to and was accepted into the JAG Corps the year after finishing law school. And although she passed both the New York and Connecticut bar, she has never practised civilian law a day in her life.
[caption id="attachment_1078560" align="alignnone" width="720"] Ayana Wellington-Pitterson says dressing well is a sign of having good manners. - Photos courtesy Ayana Wellington-Pitterson[/caption]
“After that it was five weeks of indoctrination school that taught about being in the navy – how to wear the uniform, the rules and etiquette of being an officer – then ten weeks at the Naval Justice School, where you learn the practice of military law and what you would be doing as a military lawyer, which is different than the civilian side.
"Then you go to your first command. My first command was in Jacksonville, Florida, where I was a prosecutor.”
She is now based in San Diego. Her job entails offering legal advice to the commander in charge of the entire fleet of surface vessels for the Pacific.
[caption id="attachment_1078561" align="alignnone" width="790"] Ayana Wellington-Pitterson believes you don’t have to have a lot of money to look and feel amazing. -[/caption]
“It’s me and two other attorneys – I’m the deputy right now.”
She said while the Navy in general is mainly male-dominated, there are a lot of women in the JAG Corps.
“But African-American at my level, there are only three
