Kellie Simmons

Ms Kellie Simmons is twenty-nine (29) years old and lives with her family in Diego Martin. She has Downs Syndrome (DS). Kellie attended Goodwill Industries of the West Indies in Trinidad, majored in Food Preparation, and attained a Level 1 certificate of acquired competencies from the National Examinations Council for Technical and Vocational Education and Training.She was also a member of the Goodwill Steel Orchestra, where she played the double second steelpan.While at Goodwill, she was trained as an equestrian for over ten (10) years, and represented Trinidad and Tobago at the Special Olympics World Summer Games in Abu Dhabi in 2019, where she earned three (3) fourth-place ribbons.

Kellie plays the piano and holds a Grade one certificate from the Royal School of Music.She is also training in steelpan playing (tenor pan) and holds Grade one and two certifications from the Department of Creative and Festival Arts of the University of the West Indies.Ms Simmons isan Invaders Junior Steel Orchestra member and participated in their performance in 2019 when they won the Junior Panorama championships. In addition, she has played the national anthem on several occasions for events such as the Kalaida-Dash in Chaguaramas, the Red Cross Kiddies Carnival, the State Funeral for the late Hon Justice Cecil Kelsick, TC Chief Justice (Retired) of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago and the William Demas Lecture Series at the Central Bank Auditorium in 2019, hosted by the Caribbean Development Bank.

Kellie’s first job was at Therapy Works, a speech and physical therapy clinic, where she worked as an assistant receptionist for her former speech therapist after school.Ms Simmons also belongs to the Down Syndrome Family Network (DSFN), which is a non-profit organization for people with DS and, through their mentorship programme, was interviewed by the Central Bank of Trinidad and Tobago and awarded an internship in the Human Resources Department. She worked at the Central Bank for six (6) months, where in addition to her administrative duties; she sometimes assisted staff in conducting tours of the Central Bank Museum.

Scotiabank subsequently interviewed her, where she got an internship as a Customer Care Representative. She has worked there continuously for the past three years. Kellie did a small amount of sign language and conversational Spanish at Goodwill Industries.Sometimes, she uses these in her conversations with customers at Scotiabank when she encounters customers who are deaf or speak Spanish to provide them with a social presence.

In 2022, Kellie was interviewed by the Ministry of Gender and Child Affairs for an honorary position of U-reporter, which she was subsequently offered. The U-Report is a messaging tool facilitated by the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) that seeks to empower young people to speak out on issues which matter to them. U-Reporters encourage the participation of Youth in various polls developed to ascertain their opinions on several topical issues. Ms Simmons is on the communications committee and attends virtual meetings where she makes suggested recommendations for simplifying the language of proposed questions within polls for the message to be better understood by mentally challenged youth participating in the polls.

Kellie Simmons has been formally trained by SOTT in Introduction to Athlete Leadership and Understanding Athlete Leadership in December 2021 along with ten (10) other Athlete Leaders. She and the other athlete leaders’ preparation is ongoing with the view to them assuming more meaningful leadership roles in SOTT.