Rhondalee Braithwaite-Knowles
Rhondalee Braithwaite-Knowles, OBE is an attorney from the Turks and Caicos Islands who is the first island native to serve as the Attorney General of the British Overseas Territory. She was appointed in 2014, after a career as a teacher and Crown Counsel. Early life. Rhondalee Moreen Braithwaite was born on Grand Turk Island to Susan (née Fulford) and Frederick Braithwaite, as their second child among six siblings. Her father was a Barbadian, who had immigrated to the Turks and Caicos and worked as a policeman. Her mother was from South Caicos and was employed as  the Registrar of Lands. From an early age, Braithwaite wanted to study law and completed her secondary education at the Turks and Caicos High School. Career. For two years after finishing high school Braithwaite taught second grade at the Grand Turk Christian Academy, before deciding to further her education. She went on to study at the Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia, earning a degree in government and history and then returned to Grand Turk to teach forth grade for an additional two years. Deciding she did not want to become a teacher, she continued her studies, enrolling in law school  at the University of the West Indies (UWI), Cave Hill Campus. Braithwaite earned her Bachelor of Laws at UWI before pursuing a certificate for legal education from the Eugene Dupuch Law School in Nassau. In 2000, Braithwaite-Knowles returned to the Turks and Caicos and began working for the government as a Crown Counsel. Within four years, she was appointed as a Senior Crown Counsel and by 2006, she had been promoted as Principle Crown Counsel with a responsibility for commercial transactions, overseeing development documents, leases, licenses, and other business agreements. Braithwaite-Knowles became Deputy Attorney General in 2008 and  in 2013, she was made an officer of the Order of the British Empire for her contributions to public service reform. When Huw Shepheard stepped down, she applied for the position of Attorney General in 2014. After a vetting which included candidates from many international destinations, Braithwaite-Knowles was selected as the first native born Attorney General of the Turks and Caicos, simultaneously becoming the first woman and youngest person to hold the job. Personal life. Braithwaite married Gary Knowles and the couple have a son, Gary, Jr.