Courtesy of the University of Connecticut
This as-told-to essay was based on a conversation with Dr. Trisha Bailey, a billionaire who became the richest woman born in Jamaica. This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
As an entrepreneur who has reached the "pinnacle of success," one thing I notice now about other people who are extremely successful is that they share information. The more successful a person is, the more they share, but with a slight catch. They usually just give you the cliff notes of their journey — how they overcame an obstacle, or maybe a few Instagram soundbites.
My story did not come wrapped in a pretty little blue box and cannot be reduced to a 60-second viral clip. When I decided to write my own story to help other people, I knew it had to be raw, so the reader could understand my entire journey. I vowed to tell it all.
Before I was known as the richest Jamaican-born woman, my humble beginnings started in a tiny hut, where I was raised by my maternal grandmother and aunt. Although I walked miles back and forth to school daily, I didn't feel deprived, never wanted more than I had, and never felt like I was missing out on anything.
But the happiness did not last long. My younger sister and I soon arrived in Connecticut to reunite with our mother and stepfather, and coming to America was definitely not what I thought it would be. At the age of 13, I quickly had to adjust to a new environment as an immigrant. I didn't have any friends, and I experienced sexual abuse at the hands of my stepfather in the place that should have been safe – our home. During my high school years, I found a way to run away from home to escape — literally. I joined the track team and excelled at it. I managed to earn a full-ride track scholarship to the University of Connecticut.
Like many first-generation college students, I endured many obstacles. I didn't do so well on the college-entrance exam. I even got arrested because a man I cared about lied to the police. But college was not all bad. I recently gave the largest athletic donation of all time to UCONN, and construction will soon begin on the Bailey Student Athlete Success Center.
After graduating from UCONN, I became a history maker as one of the youngest stockbrokers at the age of 22 at Salomon Smith Barney (now Morgan Stanley) and later became a pharmaceutical sales executive. On the outside, everything appeared to be going great for someone who barely had the test scores to get into college. But so much of the abuse I experienced at the hands of people who I thought loved me and the emotional trauma I suppressed over the years made me attempt suicide in 2008. I cannot tell you much about how I ended up in a coma for eight days, but what happened next while sitting in a wheelchair at the airport alone truly changed the trajectory of my life.
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I remember crying as I tried to get someone to help me while waiting on my connecting flight to Florida. Fortunately, a young lady whose name I do not remember finally did come to help me. It was in that moment I realized that the disabled were pretty much invisible to the world. This experience led me to launch Bailey's Medical Equipment & Supplies with just one employee in 2011.
Over a decade later, I am now the CEO of 16 companies, including Bailey's Pharmacy, Bailey Scrubs, and more than 50 commercial and residential real estate properties stretching from the United States to Jamaica. I also own a stake in three professional sporting teams – the Atlanta Hawks, Charlotte Hornets and Phoenix Suns. I still remember the day I found out I was in the "Billionaires Club" — I was standing in the middle of my walk-in closet, talking on the phone with my estate and trust attorney.
Before anyone ever called me a CEO or rich, I was a mom. As a mom of five now, I consider it my greatest joy next to being kind.
A few years ago, I began participating in EMDR therapy, which treats mental health conditions that happen because of memories from traumatic events in your past. It helped me heal from the physical and emotional abuse I endured from people I loved.
Just like fellow billionaire Oprah Winfrey likes to start her statements off with, "what I know for sure" is that I would not change a single thing that happened to me in life. It was me literally running from a sexual predator in my home that led me right to the track field in high school. From there, I was able to earn a full-ride scholarship to college and have been running toward success ever since.
I hope by now you understand why I consider myself unbroken. What I learned as a runner and the experience of facing death made me a fierce businesswoman with a compassionate heart. I truly believe hard work takes you 50 percent of the way and God's grace will take you the other 50 percent of the way. When you are kind, loving and caring, everything you put in the universe comes back to you. To me, success is simply having happiness and learning how to be unbroken.
