Wendy Wallace: I Can Make a Difference

Wendy Wallace, from Bense has become a master at juggling her involvement in community work as she is committed to helping individuals better themselves, both in her community and around the country.

"I am an academic coach and tutor, a legal researcher, and teacher," she told The Sun.

Wendy, who describes herself as dedicated to making change in individual lives says this all reflects who she is as a person.

"Who I am has really sparked this passion in me to first of all work on myself in becoming a better person and with that I can inspire others to make a change in their lives and become better people as well."

Wendy's desire to help others led to her involvement in a number of groups in which she can extend her influence.

"I am a co-founder and co-host of The Unmasked 7, a podcast \with six other Dominican law students, to engage youth in intellectually stimulating discussions on social, economic, and political importance in Dominica. I am also the Youth Director of cEEM, the Caribbean Female Empowerment Movement."

The group involvement continues as Wallace is the Youth Minister for Finance and Investment - in this year's Youth Parliament - a member of YEAC – Youth Emergency Action Committee - a UWI Court OECS Ambassador, a member of CERT – Community Emergency Response Team – and is a Legal Researcher for a legal learners group, in Trinidad.

This may seem like quite a number of institutions to be involved in, but Wendy analyses each group carefully before she commits to it.

"Before I join any group, I try to see what the vision of that group is, what are their goals, and I make sure it aligns with my personal goals, whether through my participation I will be allowed to make an impact on individual life."

To date, Wendy has been making the right choices which is evident by her influence on individual lives.

"The youth are my peers I love to engage in discussions with them, and I try to inspire them on their personal and professional development. I have been seeing an impact, persons would reach out to me an remind me of the advice I gave them and how it worked out for them."

Despite her hunger for improving the lives of Dominican youth, Wendy admits the mission does come with challenges.

"The most challenging part is engagement. I feel it is difficult to get young people to share a future vision. A lot of youth doesn't necessarily see value in long term initiatives. They now want tangible, short-term benefits."

And what does the future hold for this bright, career oriented young lady who already has an LLB – Bachelor of Laws?

"In July, I got approved to do a double Masters. So, from September I'll be doing a double Masters in Law. An LLM and an MBA."

Wendy's love for law was something that came later in life, not as a little girl. Wallace, who describes herself as shy and not talkative, says her interest in law was sparked while attending the Antigua State College.

"When I did law there, I got a Caribbean Merit lister for CAPE Law which came as a shock to me because it is a list of the top 10 students in the region. And I was like 'I really love law. I have the ability to speak and I can make a difference'. I came back to Dominica, to Bense, to make a difference because doctors and lawyers don't really come from my community."

Luckily, the double masters will be done online, which means Wendy will remain in Dominica. However, will she be able to juggle her other commitments with this increased workload?

"I don't think I'll be less involved. Everything in life there has to be a balance and I I don't think I would leave out any of the things that I am involved in."