My earliest memory of her is when I took a job training course at Liljeholmen in Stockholm in 1992. I remember how Maxette with black skin, red lipstick, white dress, white hat with plumes and a sparkling smile on immaculate teeth, sat down at a computer in the ordinary office space with fluorescent lighting and linoleum carpet. How could someone so exotic find something as anonymous as the AMS premises in Liljeholmen?

It did not take long before we came to talk. The education was called "Data for young people under 24 years". Maxette was then 42 and said to me with her lovely French accent: "Yes, but it is 24 backwards so it does not matter." Then she burst into the most resounding laugh. From that day on, I loved Maxette as if she were my sister.

Countless are the parties she has organized with people she has just met on the street and invited to a Caribbean banquet. At home, the love of her life Malte Olsson served Caribbean rum, zouk music flowed from the speakers and from her mouth was heard that laughter so contagious that after a few hours I had to go home to rest.

At the same time, Maxette was one of the most thoughtful and profound people I have ever met. Her background with a stepfather who abused her throughout her childhood left deep traces. But her attitude to life was contagiously full of optimism. She became known to a larger audience when Ikea engaged her ten years ago for a number of commercials where she talked about sports shoes and pointed to a number of high-heeled shoes.

Maxette used to say that she did not understand why people give flowers to the dead at funerals. “What do I do with flowers when I'm dead? Give me the flowers today instead!”

Despite that, I buy a bouquet of flowers for Maxette. She is so sorely missed. Rest in peace.

/Alfred Skogberg (free translation Malte Olsson)

It's hard to sit still when watching her dance movies. That was probably the point, wasn't it, Malte? You made movies and posted them on Facebook, sometimes once a week. The obituary of Maxette, written by her friend Raphaël Confiant, reads as follows: "You sing, dance, give us strength and courage to cope with life's difficulties." For Maxette herself, communication through dance, music and words was vital. She herself had gone through very difficult periods in life and reached a point where she actually took a stand for life. Having the knowledge that it can turn around and dare to talk about the difficulties in life gives weight when you, like Maxette, wanted to raise existential questions. She did it in many different ways. She was an ambassador for Life.

She describes the importance of breathing and laughing as follows:

The most important thing is to feel the joy that is good for breathing and when you take care of your breathing, you feel good. You should like the sound of your own laughter. When you laugh heartily, you think of nothing but laughing. It's pure Yoga. You are neither concentrated nor focused, you just are. What a breath of fresh air!

Free in thought. Free in spirit. Outspoken
A fresh breeze.

For many of you, it was probably just like for you Malte, an awakening when you met Maxette for the first time. She gave of herself and was super curious about other people. To really SEE another human being, not just "look" is an art. You have to be focused, curious and care - for real. Maxette did that and she made new friends wherever she went, stood or sat; on the bus, at the checkout line, at a bus stop or in a store. It did not matter where you came from or where you were going - Maxette wanted to get to know you and she did. You are so, so many who have been invited home to Maxette and Malte. Who has come there, been offered homemade food, maybe chicken with Creole spices, and then invited to dance to Konga drums... Malte you used to film and after the party it often became a book with your pictures and Maxette's texts and drawings. Memories to keep and rejoice in.

Maxette was good at cooking, she sometimes did it for larger parties but often in smaller groups at your home. Or in the TV-program "Half past seven with me" where she, among other things, according to the recipe cooked "Uer swimming in a Creole festival of tomato sauce, perfumed with thyme, rosemary, coriander, cloves, spring onions, parsley, garlic, lime.” which was then served with yam and bananas. Surely it sounds good !?

For Maxette, the Creole heritage was important to hold on to, whether it was food, music, spirituality or language. She saw it as her big task to tell about the Caribbean and the Creole language and actually lectured at Stockholm University. But there are always several parties in communication and Maxette also wanted to tell about Sweden and the life she lived here and therefore wrote articles on Creole that were published in Caribbean newspapers.