What is your idea of perfect happiness? Debt free, a modest but comfortable home, health, happiness and the love of my husband, good friends and family

What is your greatest fear? A long and painful death

What is the trait you most deplore in yourself? Impatience.

What is the trait you most deplore in others? Envy.

What is your greatest extravagance? A day in bed with a book

What is your current state of mind? Cautiously optimistic

What do you consider the most overrated virtue? Virtue.

On what occasion do you lie? When it causes no harm … it is called manners.

Which living person do you most despise? Anyone who takes pleasure from the suffering of another

What is the quality you most like in a man? Integrity tempered by experience.

What is the quality you most like in a woman? Same as above

Which words or phrases do you most overuse? “Actually”

What or who is the greatest love of your life? My fiancé

When and where were you happiest? When I first moved to New York from Kingston, Jamaica

Which talent would you most like to have? To play the violin

If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be? Less procrastination

What do you consider your greatest achievement? Making my parents proud

If you were to die and come back as a person or thing, what do you think it would be? A cat living on a farm with a lovely family, in the French countryside

What is your most treasured possession? My Louis Cartier Tank watch. I’ve been saving for it since I was 20 years old. It’s a symbol of my hard work and independence.

What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery? Losing a child

What is your most marked characteristic? Curiosity.

What do you most value in your friends? They love all of me—the good, bad and ugly. And their honesty…

Who are your heroes in real life? My father, mother and grandmothers

What is it that you most dislike? Judgement… and marmite

What is your greatest regret? Things that I could have done but didn’t.

How would you like to die? In my sleep having lived a full and long life, family by my side

What is your motto? Let history be your guide