Jamaican media personality Dr Terri-Karelle Reid’s TEDx Talk at Aston University is now available for viewers across the world to benefit from her experience as a “straight A” student who still had a lot to learn socially before growing up to become a mother and example to her child.

Those lessons include understanding her own body, respecting all human beings regardless of sexual orientation, and unapologetically voicing that others make her uncomfortable when they invade her personal space.

These are among the many lessons Reid has vowed to continue teaching her daughter, nine-year-old Naima-Kourtnae Reid, as she seeks to raise a a young woman “in Jamaica, in the Caribbean, for the world”.

Reid, in her TEDx Talk on ‘Untapped conversations with kids’, says: “For me, personally, tapping into the fullest potential of my daughter means strenghtening areas outside of her academic output, her ability to learn a hard skill or even going to the best schools.”

She adds in the talk recorded last year: “I have to challenge some of my own social and cultural upbringing to fortify her self awareness, her ability to self lead and to expand her view of people beyond borders.”

Throughout her presentation, Reid goes on to give examples of some of the conversations she has had with her daughter throughout Naima-Kourtnae’s life, and some of the social unlearning she has had to do in improving herself in order to provide the right example for her child.

“I want Naima to be smart and intellectual but it is more important to me that she is empathetic and confident, that she is socially conscious, aware of differences but cognisant of commonalities, respectful of people’s choices and willing to take responsibility for her actions,” says Reid.

“And no, I don’t think she is too young. In fact, I think the younger the better. I am proud of her ability to reason and her willingness to love but her development and world view, hers and those of other children, rely largely on us, the conversations we have with them and the examples that we set. We are the anchors, we are the points of reference, the parents, the uncles, the aunts, the cousins, the friends the coworkers, the neighbours, ultimately we must lead by example.”