Mayberry Investments Marketing Manager Stephanie Harrison is a petite ball of positive energy wrapped in a fierce snakeskin printed dress. Upon meeting, she greets Flair with a hug, smile and an apology. She’s left her laptop behind in an effort to lessen her load while she’s carrying her newest and best bundle. Upstairs at the Toyota Jamaica coffee house, she settles into the booth comfortably and gives a bright smile that reaches her eyes. “So you’d like me to take out all my stuff?”

Stephanie admits to walking with a ‘bag ah tings’ but since her pregnancy, she’s cut back and has emptied her bag, mostly. Luckily for us, she hasn’t cleared house completely so we have more than enough to talk about and marvel at. From her Ralph Lauren tote comes her notebooks; one is a planner, ready to hold all her notes for the start of a new decade, and the other is her journal where she writes her affirmations. Something we can all emulate for the new year, exhale all the negativity and invite some positivity to your life!

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In her bag is a smaller bag which she uses as a secondary purse because it has a wristlet which makes carrying it around way more convenient than her work tote. Another smaller bag emerges; she uses that little drawstring sack to take along all her garment needs, from a lint roller to a tide pen, perfect to attack those stains before they settle in. Her phone has its own accessory, a battery pack with a built-in cable that plugs directly into the phone which she swears by and encouraged us to get.

Stephanie has a couple of interesting things in her bag, her sunscreen stick from Baby Bum, yes, that’s right, a sunscreen stick that you swipe on instead of spray. We can only imagine how much less oily she should feel. She’s-mom ready with this safe for kids brand of sunscreen, which while it’s only SPF 30, it’s easy to apply. Next are her blotting sheets, which we’ve seen before and we’re always happy to see women looking and feeling their best, and finally these clear scrunchies that brought back a lot of ’90s nostalgia. She even managed to sneak out a Haus ‘MiFi’ portable modem which provides WiFi on the go so you won’t get bogged down by having to be in one place for good connection. Of course, our ultimate favourite, the mini bottle of perfume, which she laughed and admitted she stole from her mom. “I normally have a big bottle but I’m trying to carry around smaller stuff.” Well, her mom has good taste in perfume.

When Flair asked her to pick her five must-haves, the mini panic attack everyone has came out. “Wait, can this all be one?” she grips her ‘on the go’ makeup kit. It’s small but definitely chock full and not even we could allow her to sneak that in. Sorry, Stephanie! She giggles at her plan failing and began to sort through what she just couldn’t do without. Finally, she landed on:

• YSL lipgloss
• Journal
• Hand sanitiser
• Purse
• Phone (and she snuck in her portable charger to make it one)

Story by Danik Frazer

danik.frazer@gleanerjm.com