Never let your past define your future. If it’s one person who lives by that mantra it’s 31-year-old Sheena Lambert.
In 2011, the beautiful and well-spoken woman found herself on the wrong side of the law and ended up behind bars at HMP Dodds.
She said it’s not a part of her life she is proud of, but not something she’s ashamed of either.
“I’ve been to jail. I’m not embarrassed about that. I went up December of 2011 and I came home in February of 2012, so I did almost three months in jail on remand,” she said.
The charge was fraud and the case has since been dismissed.
Sheena said it was an experience which humbled her and gave her a completely different perspective on life.
“It taught me a sense of not having. I never used to eat sardines before I went to jail and now I love sardines. I went without a cell phone, a car. I was going to bed at 6 p.m. It gave me a completely different perspective on life. I made a decision about prayer and keeping God in my life. I even made a vow to make sure that my daughter was in church. There were prayers and requests that I made to the Lord because I wanted to be out of there so badly. But me going there was for a reason. I was going, going, going, and something had to stop me. So I used it to my advantage. I’m not embarrassed about it anymore,” Sheena said.
But she is not completely over it.
“I’m not sure if I have completely moved past it because I still get teary-eyed when I think about it. My daughter was around six at the time and she would be coming to visit me every other Saturday. That was the most hurtful part about it. I asked her about it recently and she barely remembers and what she does remember she doesn’t really care about. It was all a learning lesson. I know for sure that I won’t be in jail again, that’s for certain,” she said, while getting a bit emotional.
She said while it doesn’t bother her like before, it was also an experience which people try to use against her even to this day.
“Jail is for people, not for animals. And that was my answer to a lot of people when they had stuff to say about it. Human beings are in there. I had 57 year olds, younger girls, and pregnant women there with me. I’ve passed that stage in my life. But a lot of people are not. I still hear about it to this day.
“When I first started working at Buzo, I had people calling my job asking to speak to my manager, telling my boss I shouldn’t be working there. It has been a laughing matter to some and ‘I glad’ matter to others; it was a learning experience for me,” she added.
She said even though it was six years ago, people seem unable to let go
of the past.
“Everytime my name comes up, they say ‘that’s the girl that did this or that and went to jail’. That was six years ago, I’m not that girl anymore. Two, three years ago if you spoke about it you probably would get me in a passion and I would want to curse you or say something negative back to you but now I don’t even study it,” she added.
These days, Sheena is living her life like it’s golden and has no plans on ever looking back.
She now has a full-time job and is also the proud owner of the clothing store Glammed by Glammerts, which she opened against all odds.
“I made a pact with a friend of mine to have my own business by age 30. One day, I just decided that it was time I did what I had to do for me. I didn’t have any money but I went and found the spot for my shop. I found half of the amount of the money I needed. I used two weeks’ pay to do that.
“I started the store but I had no idea what I was going to put in it. I knew I had paint and board to make a counter and that’s where I was going to start. That was May of 2016. I was on my way to 30,” she explained.
Sheena said she doesn’t know how, but everything fell into place to make it possible to open the store.
The entrepreneur said she never had the benefit of having her parents being a part of her life.
“God put people in the way for things to happen. So He put things in place for everything to work out for me for this store. I eventually found the money I needed . . . for the stock and so on. My store is very recognisable. I built a brand for myself. It’s two years and a few months since I opened that store. It has been challenging but it doesn’t make sense to turn back,” she said.
Flashing her killer smile during the interview at home, Sheena said she is glad her ‘bad days’ did not define her.
“After a while, you start to want more for yourself. You see yourself going in a direction that you really didn’t envision so things had to change and I’m glad I did. It dawned on me that I have a daughter and other young girls that look up to me, so I had to do better. I told myself this isn’t how I want my life to be.”
Sheena said she opened up to EASY magazine for the interview because “I wanted to tell my story.”
She is in the process of opening a second business, showcasing one of her other passions, cooking.
“I want to do the food business. I’m trying to figure out what aspect I want to get into, I’ll decide very soon,” she said.
Sheena said her change has been a holistic one. She told EASY God is now a major part of her life and she is loving the results since placing Him at the forefront.
“I have made a drastic change over the years and this is because I have found God. Not saying I didn’t know Him or believe before but the more I read and see things working out for me, I have noticed that if I’m not grateful and thankful for what I have, how I can expect more?”
She has even roped in several friends for daily devotions.
“Every morning, we do devotions and we pray together. Before I go to bed, I pray. I don’t ask anymore, I find I’m just always thanking God for my blessings. Which means I’m gaining. It has worked out for me in that sense. I have dropped a lot of bad company, a lot of bad habits and thoughts,” she said.
Sheena said she was never one to give advice, but stressed that one thing she would tell anyone was to never left their past define them.
“You define your future and you can’t let your past define your future. If you’ve been through a lot, your target is in front of you so if you keep worrying about what happened before, there’s no way you are going to go forward and excel if you keep thinking about the past. Why worry when you can pray?” she asked. (DB)
