Patrice’s Instagram and Facebook accounts combined describe her as mental health advocate, lifestyle and transformational coach, bar and beverage consultant, wife and mom.
Yet, as I scrolled through a timeline which revealed testament to her qualifications, I felt a certain disconnect. Everything was too — arranged. Too perfect. Too fairytale-esque. The pictures begged me to see Patrice as a superwoman who had it all together. Which only made me want to bypass the well put together public persona.
Now, mind you, I was sure she was deserving of all the accolades and praise. It was just that my spirit wouldn’t stop nagging. It wouldn’t stop telling me there was sup’m much deeper behind Patrice’s smile.
Something that made her go after every goal with great urgency, firm conviction, and relentless passion. But what the hell was it? I called a mutual friend.
“JJ, who is Patrice? How would you describe her?”
“She’s real.” That’s how JJ started before she went on to expound on just how real Patrice was. She said: “I didn’t know Patrice when I reached out to her to get some help with a webinar. I expected her to be standoffish or even a bit hype, but I was amazed at how open, friendly and helpful she was.”
JJ, went on to highlight more positive traits inclusive of the fact that Patrice was dedicated to family and she had an astounding work ethic. She said:
“I remember one time she called me to discuss sup’m for a presentation that would take a normal person two or so weeks, but she put the ideas together and was ready to present in two days. I really admire that. She doesn’t just talk — her life is action”.
All this was enlightening, it piqued my interest and I wanted to learn more, so I reached out to the one person who could tell me what I needed to know. “Patrice,” I said, “Who are you when you strip away these titles? Who is Patrice when no one is watching?”
And then I waited — and waited — and waited a tad bit more. I was about to give up when she said: “If you strip away what I have now — who I am — you will find a broken individual.”
“Start there,” I told her. “Let’s start right there.”
The Pre-Teen
Eleven-year-old Patrice lived in an inner-city in Kingston, Jamaica. She described it as a place ‘where gun shots rang like school bells.’ A place where everyone around her had two or three children by age eighteen.
“My plan was to slide under the radar,” she said. “My dream was to do well in school and use my education as a way to flee to college or university.”
But this was Kingston. A place where pretty girls living in an inner-city area couldn’t just slide under the radar.
“This was a community where a don could rape you repeatedly and you’d have to hide it because who can you tell? Surely not a mother who constantly reminded you that an abortion would have been better than carrying you into the world. And definitely not the police —not if you wanted to be a long – liver.”
The Teenager
Sixteen-year-old Patrice refused to be broken. Adamant that she wouldn’t become a statistic, she went to school wearing torn clothes and worn shoes. She had limited family support, but that did not stop her.
“I stayed with friends and relatives,” she said. “I moved from one place to the other because I was determined to stay in school.”
Eighteen-year-old Patrice got her first job working at McDonalds in Constant Spring.
She said: “I’m the person you’d hear saying ‘Welcome to McDonalds, how may I take your order?’ when you enter the Drive-Thru and the one you’d sometimes see with a big yellow mop cleaning the floor when you enter the door.”
Even though former schoolmates would pass by and laugh at her, she remained steadfast on achieving her sole goal of doing something different with her life. She ignored her schoolmates’ jeers and worked hard cleaning floors at McDonalds at night and attending Duff Business College in the daytime.
The Woman
Patrice, the young adult, applied for a position as a bank teller at one of Jamaica’s leading financial institutions and was turned down. But not before she was given a word of advice from her interviewer.
“Moving forward,” she was told, “review your information. Never put your Seaview Gardens address on your job application.”
Patrice went back to school — bartending school. She learned the art, studied the craft and at twenty-four years old became Jamaica’s first master mixologist.
She has created every job for herself ever since. In 2015, in true Patrice form, she changed her lifestyle from fat to fit.
She lost over 40 lbs in three months, and naturally decided to make a career out of it. Meet Patrice J. White, lifestyle and body transformational coach.
A broken woman? Hell nah. This is a woman who has played every single card dealt. A woman who turned her mess into a message. Her test into a testimony and decided circumstances would not define her destiny.
Single-handedly, she reshaped and changed her reality. Her personal journey has made her an advocate for physical as well as mental health, and she has been championing this cause for Jamaicans at home and abroad.
Her entire life is her qualification, her accomplishments speak to her dedication and if you want her to help you transform your life — you can. Join her ultimate fit fun 30 day summer challenge done in conjunction with Queen of the Stage, Spice Official.
Be sure to contact her on her socials here or email info@patricejwhite.com
Also, puleese check out new Jamaican author Latoya Patterson.
Her new books I wish mommy would come home and Rhymes and Riddims of Jamaica can be purchased here and here.