Listen to Brooklyn-born first-generation Grenadian American Luther Masanto talk about completing graduate school at Syracuse University at the beginning of the Covid-19 stay-at-home orders in March of 2020 and losing his internship in California, leading him to make a strong pivot into grocery-shopping for Instacart. With a Bachelor of Science in environmental engineering, Luther talks about what it was like to face financial insecurity as the Covid-19 pandemic lasted months and he had to dip into his savings. At the end of the summer of 2020 Luther landed a new job working-from-home and was able to create music and to collaborate remotely with other musicians. The pandemic allowed him to reach a larger group of people. He shares about how an extended family member — a sister-in-law who is Grenadian — lost a relative and flew back to Grenada for the funeral. I met Luther through the non-profit program Prep 9, which helped us apply to boarding schools; we both attended The Taft School in Watertown, CT (at different times).
