We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful MERINA NEAL. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with MERINA below.
Hi MERINA, appreciate you sitting with us today to share your wisdom with our readers. So, let’s start with resilience – where do you get your resilience from?
I believe I got my super power = Resilience from my dear grandmother whom actually just passed away 03.20.24. My Grandmother’s name was Phyllis Justina DeLeon. She made it too live 100 years and died less than one month before her 101 birthdays. My beautiful grandmother was born in Trinidad and overcame many obstacles in her life including losing her mother in her early teens. When she was pregnant with her first child her hand became badly damaged in a car accident, yet she continued to bring forth life repeatedly. She buried a couple of her children and kept powering through life at full force while relocating from Trinidad to Edmonton Alberta Canada. My Granny taught me to never give up on my goals and aspirations. Most importantly don’t give up on myself. Throughout my life I have had many challenges and obstacles. Like my Granny I also relocated from my home country but a few times and currently reside in Minnesota. And just like my Granny I have had resilience to keep powering forward even when my energy was depleted.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
My day job I am a Senior Event Manager for a large Board Game Distributor. I love the Events world. It’s exciting to see people attend trade shows and conventions and learn to play amazing fun games! Personally, I have my own production company Trinny Cee Productions where we focus on Specifically organizing and hosting Caribbean Events. I am also a Media Host. I formerly had my own radio show on KMOJ for 2 years and now have a TV show I host monthly on CCX Media. I am also on a couple boards were we ensure to reinvest back into the Caribbean either through scholarships and or if there is a natural disaster or emergency.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
My advice to anyone who would like to venture into event planning field is remember to pay attention to all the details as well as communicate communicate and communicate again. Always ask the basics (Who, what, when, where & how).
For those interested in getting into hosting events and or being on a media platform I suggest to be in the spaces that you are wanting to venture into. Do the research and ask lots of questions. If that means connecting with others currently in the field or working with a mentor I believe this will add important skills to succeed slowly but surely.
What’s been one of your main areas of growth this year?
My biggest area of growth this past year has been finding creative ways to manage stress. I have learned I love to be by the water so anytime I feel overwhelmed I will go sit by the lake and relax. I also have been working on incorporating breathing exercises. My biggest accomplishment while managing stress is not overcommitting. By not saying yes to ever social activity and taking the time to rest has helped tremendously with managing stress.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/trinnycee/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/trinnyceeproductions
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/trinnycee
- SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/trinnycee
Image Credits
All of these photos were taking with my personal phone by my sons.
