IN recent times, Guyanese have lit up the international stage in academia, music, athletics, and so much more.
This one former University of Guyana Professor of Law has recently also brought Guyana recognition after graduating and securing a lofty position as Dean of the Law Faculty at the University of the West Indies Law Faculty.

Alicia Elias sat down with Pepperpot Magazine to share a bit about how she got to where she is today.
“I am Christian, I have strong faith in God and I believe with God I can achieve anything. A couple of years back I had some surgeries and health challenges, and with COVID, I was doing my Ph.D., and I had to take a leave of absence from that, medical leave,“ Elias told Pepperpot Magazine.

Elias did not start off in this career as a law professor immediately when she graduated from the University of Guyana. She took a different route to achieve her goal as Dean of the Law Faculty.
“I stayed on and lectured at the University of Guyana, then I went to the US and did my Master’s, then I went to England. I did different things before I came to Trinidad to do the Bar course to be admitted. So, I did not take the path like everyone else because I wanted to do something different. I wanted to go into academia,” Elias related.

She noted during the interview that she was grateful to get to do what she loved because many people do not get the opportunity to do what they love. They have to branch out and do something different from what they have studied and focused on after they have graduated from their field of study.
Elias reflected on the period when she could not pursue her goal because she had to care for her mother, who was gravely ill.
“I took a while to do my Ph.D. At that time, my whole focus was on my mother, whom I took [care] of during her illness. I took her to the doctor and physiotherapy, so while I continued to lecture, I did not publish much and I did not have the time to focus on a Ph.D., I just wanted to care for my mom,” Elias shared.

Elias also recalled that when her mom later passed away, she could not just jump to studies right away, but had to take some time to decompress and adjust to living life without her.
In this move, Elias also made room to be with industry insiders.
“I think if I would have done something right out of law school, and I don’t have that experience and exposure, it might have been anything theoretical to get a Ph.D., just say you have a Ph.D., it certainly would not have been as impactful as when you experienced an area, you worked in that industry when solutions are sought, your research and study becomes [sic] more relevant and necessary,” Elias told Pepperpot Magazine.

Elias is grateful and resourceful that she had taken the path she had taken. It also became quite obvious that time needs to be given to the healing of the body and the importance of good health.
“Because the more I tried to push through, I could not stand up, I could sit in front of the computer for long hours, and I am like– oh my God, I don’t have the capacity to go finish all this research and so forth, the more I pushed myself, the sicker and weaker I was getting, so I had to take medical leave,” Elias shared.

As for those who motivated her along the way, the legal practitioner said that there were some notable personalities around her at the time of her journey. “When I started lecturing at the University of Guyana, there was Professor James, who was head of the Department of Law; then there was Professor Aubrey Bishop, who was a former chancellor and he was teaching there. Peter Britton was a criminal lawyer, a very brilliant criminal lawyer, then it was Keith Massiah, so those old folks were there. I was the young one,” Elias recalled.

As a point of motivation to others pursuing big goals, Elias noted that people should do things according to their own capacity and not necessarily according to someone else’s timeline.