Who You are Matters

I was born in Cape Town, South Africa. I lived a wonderful life in my small, tight-knit Jewish community. My school was up the road from my house, as were all of my friends who live in one neighborhood. My little “Sea Point” bubble was my world of warmth and happiness.

After our house was broken into in the middle of the night and my family members were held at gunpoint, we packed our bags and left the next week. The move was abrupt and resulted in my unhappiness trying to acclimatize to the new culture of Miami.

I currently struggle with the conflict of where I belong. South Africa has and always will be my home as it is the place where I feel a strong sense of connectedness. However, I also consider Miami my home as it is where I resided for the later years of my life in which I matured both intellectually and physically.

I hope that by obtaining a degree from an American university, I will be in the position to work for several years and then move back to South Africa, ensuring that I have a secure safe haven in the United States. I would like to become a property developer to repurpose traumatized buildings for social upliftment, such as low-income housing, which I can do in South Africa and America.

I got my sensitivity from my father. Like my mother, I am quite serious and ferocious when I need to be and will always work to put my best foot forward. Although my parents want me to go the traditional route by attending university and then move into the working world, I personally would rather spend some time grasping a better understanding of the world we live in and my role in it with hands-on interactions. However, my parents gave up their lives to provide my sister and me with the opportunities in America, therefore pleasing them is my motivation.

My father is my greatest role model as he epitomizes the idea of a self-made man. He endured hardship as the child of a violent drunk and a mother who showed him no affection. After living in a trailer, he wound up flying for the Mossad, opening South Africa’s first theatrical restaurant, and developing properties in both South Africa and Miami.

I feel very connected to a lion. I do what I need to in order to survive but for the most part, I lay low and observe. When the time comes I attack with my might to achieve my goals.

As a child, my father had 3 lemurs as pets. In our backyard, we had a massive cage filled with beautiful trees and greenery. When I felt like being alone and having time to think I would enter their cage and sit under a tree and read. Although it was a cage, inside it I felt the most mentally liberated because I was in my own space, surrounded by nature.

Rising sign: 12 degrees Capricorn

Moon sign: 21 degrees Cancer

Sun sign: 06 degrees Scorpio