For those who feel the need to put me in a box - I am British Afro-Caribbean. My Dad, Harry, came from Jamaica and my Mum, Gloria, came from Trinidad & Tobago. My parents came to England in the 1960s and so are from the Windrush generation.
My Mum went to stay with her Uncle and my Dad to his Auntie who lived in Bedford where my parents met and I was raised. They both worked shifts whilst I was growing up. My Dad as a toolmaker, often taking on other co-workers night shifts at Vauxhall Motors in Bedford, where the Bedford truck came from. My Mum worked 2pm to 10pm shifts as a Quality Assurance Inspector at the electronics firm Texas Instruments for many years.
Rubbing off on me at this time was that hard work must pay. Things like lower taxes were good so if you were prepared to work hard opportunities would be there and you were rewarded with a livelihood. If occasionally things were harder because of the colour of my skin, it was still achievable if you were ambitious enough - so in other words go for it regardless of a setback every now and then. Go forward do not look back - I live by this.