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FILE: November 3, 2009
Stacey Grinage
"I was sitting around the dining table at my aunt's house in Belmopan eating lunch when the 12:30 news came on and I heard the headline and then I said let me listen and hear who won the open scholarship. Next thing I hear Stacey Karen Grinage and I jumped up and I was like that's my name. So my aunt's babysitter was in the house and I ask her did you hear my name? Just to make sure that I wasn't hearing my own name and she told me yes, that's you and I didn't even hear the rest of the news. All I heard was my name and that's it and that's how I got the news and then everyone started to call me congratulating me and that's how I got the news."

So that was 2009, six years ago…and where is Stacey Grinage now? Well with that open scholarship Stacey went on to study law at the University of the West Indies in Cave Hill Barbados. She was recently called to the bar and is now a practicing attorney at Young's Law Firm in Belize City: living the dream. We met with Stacey to see how she's been doing all these years and what's next for her. For this child of Lake Independence, Stacey's drive, motivation and vision offers a new and refreshing outlook on the Southside narrative. I spoke to her in depth yesterday..

Courtney Weatherburne
"Did you always want to be a lawyer?"

Stacey Grinage
"It was always an option for me. But I remember when I was in primary school I wanted to be a dentist at first. At one point I wanted to be a dentist, then a teacher, then a sociologist. For me it was Always at every level of education I had a passion for something. And whilst I was attending junior college I loved sociology and I wanted to be a sociologist and so it all went with my level of education where I was. But when I found out that I won the scholarship, after speaking to my parents and even my grandfather I was advised to take up a profession - a path whereby I would have a profession forever and so I decided to since law was always on my mind an option that this is the opportunity now. But also my mother, she works at the Supreme Court law library and with her working there I use to go there all the time. I use to see the attorneys, see the judges, and see the officers of the court and that also gave me an appreciation to the profession and I interacted and that also added to it as well for me."

Courtney Weatherburne
"Describe the role of your parents and your family played in this particular dream?"

Stacey Grinage
"Both my immediate family and my extended family are extremely supportive and encouraging and they show me all the love in the world. So I know that any profession that I would have chosen, they would have supported me in it. But specifically when I decided to study law, everybody was happy for me. Everybody said we know you can do it and they motivated me."

Courtney Weatherburne
"So everyone wants to realize their dream, but it doesn't quite work out for everyone perfectly. So what's special about you?"

Stacey Grinage
"I would say is that I am blessed by God and I am blessed like I said with a family immediate and extended, that we hold certain values and principles dear to us and it is these values that we hold dear that we maintain. All of us try to maintained; education, work hard at whatever work you might do. And also I must add that whenever I need to make decisions, I consult with my family. I consult with God and I find that I have a blessing of discernment where I know what to decide and I usually make the right decision."

Courtney Weatherburne
"So you grew up on Mahogany Street. There is a negative perception or the southside. Many people say that nothing ever good comes out of the southside and there are no success stories. What do you have to say in response to that?"

Stacey Grinage
"Well I would say that a lot of the generalizations are false and the stereotypes are also - they may be false as well. Because I look at me and I look at my brother and my cousins, my neighbors. I have people who I work with, who are from my community and there are success stories. But it just so happens that the negatives is always highlighted more than the positives and that is why I am happy to be one of the positive. One of the success stories and my hope is that more of the success stories are heard of."

Courtney Weatherburne
"Did you ever doubt yourself?"

Stacey Grinage
"I never doubted myself. I knew and I know that I could be anything that I wanted to be. Whatever career path I would have chosen I could have been any of them and I know I would have put in the same dedication and hard work to any path that I would have gone down."

Courtney Weatherburne
"So you've been working here at Young's Law Firm since July. How has he experience been so far?"

Stacey Grinage
"Well my application to Young's Law Firm was successful and I began working here as an associate in July 2015 and it has been a wonderful experience. Here at Young's Law Firm, we operate like a family. We call yourself the YLF Family and it has been a good experience and once again I must say that I am blessed to have been one of the first persons from my class to have been employed. It feels so rewarding. It feels like I am living the dream - all the work. This is a manifestation of my studies and my work and you know you take up something and you say some day you will see the light at the end of the tunnel. This is my light." [Smiling]

Stacey graduated with first class honors from UWI with a Bachelor's in Law. She also received several awards including the David Nathaniel King Memorial Scholarship for the most outstanding performance in the course Offshore Financial Law, The Belizean Bar Association Prize which is awarded by the Belize Bar Association to the most Outstanding Belizean Student over two years and The William Roper Memorial Prize- for outstanding performance .

Stacey says she plans to give back to her community through volunteering.