Dr Sacha John-Charles-Baynes shares her journey in Warrior Women

Educator Sacha John-Charles-Baynes overcame many challenges while earning her doctorate in social policy, but stopped at nothing to get it. She said though she felt as though she was an imposter, she tried to move past that and excel in her academic pursuits.

John-Charles-Baynes was asked by broadcaster, author and motivational speaker Michelle Borel to write a chapter on her journey to be added to Borel’s book Virago: Warrior Women Butterfly Edition. This book features 14 local women all of who came from different backgrounds and professions varying from women in the entertainment industry to pilots to educators like John-Charles-Baynes.

John-Charles-Baynes recounted her experiences that led her to be able to tell her story in Borel’s book.

“My PhD is in social policy and my thesis focused on assessing school climates and how it impacts self-concept and academic achievement among students, both girls and boys in various schools across the country. It was a very challenging journey because when I started, I had in my mind that I would finish it within a particular point in time and throughout the process, I was working full time, married and had my son and my daughter a little closer to the end of the journey,” she said.

She added, “It was a lot of challenges in terms of thinking of myself as an imposter, not having that belief that I would be able to be as brilliant as some of the other scholars and really battling with completing research and with analysis. I really stretched myself in terms of engaging in so many techniques that I never did before. Eventually I was able to overcome those challenges, my doubts and re-centre my thinking of the value of myself, and I was finally able to finish after I started in 2006.”

John-Charles-Baynes eventually graduated in 2018 from the University of the West Indies (UWI) since she moved from her bachelor’s degree to her PhD all while having to teach herself the necessary material.

Social policy focuses on the ways societies across the world meet human needs for security, education, work, health and wellbeing and John-Charles-Baynes said it’s been a dream of hers to be in this field since secondary school.

“I really appreciated the importance of school and the school climate and how it shaped who you are. I was always very interested in terms of thinking our programmes and writing in terms of that. So, when I started the process of thinking of going further in terms of postgraduate studies, it was a no-brainer, I wanted to focus on that.”

As for her contribution to Borel’s book, she said it was an emotional experience as she had to go back into her journals, letters and old e-mails to relive those times again.

“I think I was really able to reflect on that emotional, so writing this chapter, it was really a journey in which I had to confront how I felt, my challenges, doubting myself, engaging in self-help with support groups to be able to overcome it.”

She said she did feel a bit shy to share her story, but she appreciated the support she got from her friends and family as they also shared their perspectives with her.

Now, John-Charles-Baynes is a teacher with the Ministry of Education and an assistant lecturer at UWI where she teaches many courses within the sociology department.

She said working on the book was also an inspirational experience as her work was surrounded around women like comedienne and actress Nikki Crosby, entertainer and talk-show host Destra Garcia and designer and businesswoman Anya Ayoung-Chee.

“I think that sometimes you think that people have it easy, but I think in sharing various stories in the book, you really get to understand the importance of the human experience. The human fragility and the challenges that we all face. The beautiful thing about the message of the book is that even though we face challenges, there's always an opportunity to overcome. So it was really quite encouraging to be among women of that calibre.”

When she’s not working, John-Charles-Baynes spends her time walking, hiking and recently riding bicycles with her family and Borel. She added that she and Borel have been longtime friends since they were students at St Francois Girls’ College in Belmont.

Virago: Warrior Women Butterfly Edition can be found at Charran’s Bookstore, Trincity Mall, Nigel R Khan’s Bookstore nationwide and Amazon. Part of all proceeds go to charity one of which is the Trinidad Shelter – A Safe House for Domestic Violence Victims.