The University of the West Indies, Mona

“I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious.” This quote, made famous by Albert Einstein, typically embodies Sidonia McKenzie’s journey of upward mobility in academics and research. Being the first in her family to achieve this level of academic success, Sidonia is keen on making a positive impact in the lives of those around her and the Jamaican economy by extension. 

Sidonia currently works as a research assistant at the University of the West Indies, Mona where she recently completed a MSc.in Economics (with distinction). She also holds a B.Sc. in Economics and Statistics (with first class honours) from the same university. As a research assistant, Sidonia has the opportunity to work alongside esteemed Caribbean economists such as Dr.Abdullahi Abdulkadri, Dr. Damien King, and Dr. David Tennant and hopes to further enhance her skillset by working with them. Her research interests include exploring economic development issues in the Caribbean and applied econometrics with macroeconomic applications. She has a few working papers, the most current focuses on the macroeconomic effects of foreign exchange reserve accumulation in the Caribbean with Professor Roland Craigwell, renowned Caribbean Econometrician and Dr. Kevin Greenidge, Senior Economist at The International Monetary Fund. 

In addition to becoming an economist, she aims to lecture and provide a combination of practical and academic experience to consultancy for major organisations such as the United Nations (UN), the World Bank among others and local government ministries in the Caribbean.As such, she is currently making preparations to pursue a doctorate in economics. 

Two important aspects of her life are family and church. She is also surrounded by exceptional mentors who constantly push her to challenge herself and to aim for greatness. Sidonia cites her parents and siblings as her motivation and her relationship with God as her inspiration to excel. One of her favourite maxims is by Aristotle who said, “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit”and she tries to employ this in her professional and academic life. Outside of professional and academic interests, Sidonia loves to travel, socialize/networking, cooking, organizing/planning events, volunteering and spending time with her family and friends.

Sidonia McKenzie is a young lady on a mission and she hopes to inspire others through her hard work and dedication.