By Marissa V. Foster
KIMBERLY Sattaur saw life’s potentials from an early age and couldn’t wait to grow up. She was a ‘tomboy’ who grow up in an extremely warm and loving environment. Her mother was a policewoman and athlete so she was the one who instilled a moral compass into Kimberly. She was exposed to different aspects of the Guyanese culture; Hinduism and Islam through her father and step-mother and Christianity through her mother. Due to her mother’s athletic ambitions, she also got the chance to travel the Caribbean and wider parts of Guyana from an early age. Following her earlier years of education, Kimberly moved to Jamaica through her aunt Shelon and attended the Immaculate Conception High (one of Jamaica’s highest schools). She had to adapt to a new country, language and culture. Nonetheless, she persevered. Upon her return to Guyana after completing high school, she attended the St. Rose’s High School and obtained an Associate’s Degree at the CAPE level.

Kimberly subsequently chose Criminal Law to study at the University of Guyana but had to halt her studies due to an opportunity to migrate. Currently, she lives in New York and hopes to make a better life for herself and family there. Kimberly in some ways feels very isolated and misses her home country very much. She feels the urge to come home from time to time but she knows her sacrifice is for her very own self-betterment.

Her family has always been involved in some aspect of business. She grew up seeing it, learning it and eventually gravitated towards it. Kimberly launched what she describes as her “two babies”: Karma by Kim in 2016 and The Walk In Closet in 2017. Karma by Kim is her authentic and handmade jewellery line. A friend of hers mentioned she wanted to make necklaces and as she was helping her, the idea of starting her own line of jewellery sparked within in. She has always loved jewellery and right after ‘shambalas’ were losing popularity and beaded bracelets were trending she decided to give it a shot. The variations of beads, colours and symbolisms inspired her to get creative with the process and put her heart and soul into every piece. On the other end of business, the Walk In Closet is a boutique which stocks modern and trendy clothing for women of all shapes and sizes.

Everything that glitters isn’t gold, she said, but she is happy that she was able to take baby steps towards bringing her reality through her brand. She is grateful for the support of her friends, family and boyfriend for her success thus far. Kimberly always appreciates collaborations and networking with other Guyanese because she believes that together, we stand firmer. Apart from being a successful entrepreneur, she is also a model who worked for New York Fashion Week with Traits Model Management (TMM) now Strukture The Blog and she also worked alongside Sonia Noel and Randy Madray. Sattaur was also a Limacol and Caribbean Airlines Brand Ambassador.

One day, she hopes to become either a humanitarian, psychologist or motivational speaker are these career paths resonates the most with her. The plan is to come to a place where she is working again, goal setting and achieving, enrolled in school and building a future that aligns with her vision. This young entrepreneur advises Guyanese with similar stories as hers, by saying, “I saw a meme recently that read ‘You save everyone, but who saves you?’ Like figuring out a puzzle, I realised the answer is in the question and there’s a formula to it that can then work for you. ‘You help you, then you help others.’ It’s okay to be selfish, it’s okay to say no, it’s okay to set boundaries. We are all doing the best that we can with the information we have. Choose to be kind, compassionate, understanding, choose to be better, choose change, choose to dance outside of your comfort zone because that’s where the best things in life for you exist.” She continued by saying, “Don’t isolate yourself but be careful of who you surround yourself with because it shows and tells on you. What I mean by that is, you may think you’re immune to pick up people’s habits but you’re not, the subconscious is an interesting tool. School never ends, every day and every person you meet is an opportunity to learn something new. Don’t take people personally, they’re doing the best they can. “Never wish them pain. That’s not who you are. If they caused you pain, they must have pain inside. Wish them healing”. You don’t know what another person is going through so please when you can be kind. Learn to teach and be teachable.”