After serving the United States Navy for 23 years, Michelle Simmons decided it was time to retire and give back to society, especially to the land she once called home, Guyana. It was out of this desire and the memory of the urging of her now deceased brother that Carl’s Care, a non-profit organisation, was born. It now provides assistance to survivors of domestic violence.
Simmons has not stopped there. Now equipped with a doctorate in counselling and psychological studies, she works with incarcerated women at a prison close to where she now resides in Suffolk, Virginia, United States.
Where she is today is a far cry from where she began. Simmons recalled that when she joined the Navy she enlisted as an undesignated seaman, the lowest pay grade of an enlisted sailor without a specific military job, which saw her at one point picking up garbage. When she retired 23 years later, she was a senior Naval Officer. During those years, she completed masters degrees in National Security and Strategic Studies and Counselling Psychology. In May this year she graduated with her doctorate.