JOLANDA RENEE SMITH

Black Female

1. What is your physical description?

I am of moderate height and strong athletic build and just about to hit thirty years old. I ran track in college and run several miles every day. I work out religiously and only eat organic foods and proteins, so I have an impressive physique. I have long hair that I often keep pulled back in a ponytail. My smile has been described as mischievous.

2. What is your current occupation, and how did you acquire the skills needed for it?

I am a chemist and love spending time in the lab. Chemistry was my best subject in college, and I took an internship with a research company during school because of my 4.0 grades. There was a job opening after I graduated, and I have worked there ever since.

3. Outside of work, what hobby, interest, or sport occupies most of your time, and why do you find it interesting?

I am a born athlete and love physical activity. I am particularly skilled at running and am very fast. I have developed some problems with my left knee, though, and I am not as fast as I used to be. Occasionally it gives me trouble with pain and swelling, but ice and ibuprofen help.

4. What motivates you to get out of bed and keep going each day?

I love learning, and my job lets me discover new things. Twice I have worked on top-secret military projects involving explosives research. I know how to make common household items into explosives, and sometimes I like to just blow something up for stress release like an old junker car or other salvage.

5. What is your greatest fear, and how do you react when you face it?

I am afraid of losing my mobility and athletic skill. My knee problems worry me tremendously, and as I get older I become less and less likely to take risks. Things that could cause me to harm my leg give me hesitation, such as running and coming across hazards or obstacles.

6. When people talk about you behind your back, and they do, what are they saying?

People tend to stereotype me, and that makes me very angry. I am a hard working person with a good education. I have earned respect and my place in the world. When people doubt my skills or lump me into categories, that infuriates me.

7. Everyone indulges in something from cheating on a diet to something dangerous; what is your guilty pleasure or vice?

I am a whiz at chemistry. I have dabbled in creating some of these fancy designer drugs you read about just to experience them. I do not trust anyone else to make them. I am not an addict, but I have had some really bizarre and crazy trips in the last few years. It is completely recreational; I am not trying to escape a horrible past or numb any emotional pain.

8. Why do you wear glasses (with non-prescription lenses) despite having perfect vision?

I find wearing glasses makes people treat you with more respect. It is like they assume you are more intelligent or something. As an attractive and athletic black woman, there are so many false labels and stereotypes people thrust upon me. This is just one way I have found to combat some of that.

9. Your father taught you how to hunt something very dangerous. What was it?

My father spent some time in the military in Asia. He developed several survival and hunting skills in the jungles. He developed a passion for it, and even after leaving the military, he would organize hunting trips into exotic locations. Some of these I doubt were legal. I accompanied him on several in my younger days, and he showed me how to hunt dangerous predators like tigers. I know how to craft punji pits, spiked spring traps, and more.

10. Why won't your family acknowledge your existence?

My father died on one of our hunting trips and was carried off into the night by some predator. My family blames me. Because his body was never recovered, there is no way to prove what really happened. My family either thinks I should have been able to save him or that I somehow was involved.