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Jewelry
As a young Bahamian girl, attending S.C. Bootle High School in the north of Abaco, I realized that job opportunities for me were going to be hard to fing. I am one of five children born to Adele Rose and Jesse Forbes Sr. Thanks to them I am fluent in Creole and English, a skill that my employer, Peter Bradley , values very much. My mother who recently passed away, was Haitian and my father is Bahamian. Times were hard and m oney was scarce. I was not only a school student but also helped raise my younger brothers. With few jobs available for girls on the island I was worried about being a financial for my family when I graduated.
Luckily one of my teachers, Rebecca Valrejean, had been a jewelr in the US before she bercame a teacher. When she moved to Abaco to begin her teaching career, she brought some of ther tools with her. She showed e a piece of jewelry she had made out of a conch shell. I was interested so much that she taught me to make my own pieces and when my skills grew she helped me further by by recommending that I become an apprentice to the only master jeweler and gemologist on Abaco, Mr. Peter Bradley of Conch Pearl Galleries. Each summer for two years, until I graduateed from High School, I worked and learned from Mr. Bradley. The I accepted his offer to become a full time apprentice. I have never stopped learning and although I am creating beautiful work in b oth gold and silver, I continue to study with him and with the Gemological Institute of America where I am working towards the degree of Graduate gemologist.
