20 years of opening doors for Rhode Islanders
By MIMI REITZ Beacon Media Contributing Writer - 06/17/2026
Cranston resident Dawn Apajee recently celebrated 20 years of owning and operating City Personnel, a top-rated Providence-based staffing agency.
At the heart of her decades of professional success is a simple approach.
“The type of philosophy I have in my office is you treat everyone with respect,” she says – a lesson she learned early in life from her parents.
Apajee was raised with three siblings by parents Ed and Eslite McMillan, who had emigrated from the Caribbean to London as part of the “Windrush generation” – a wave of immigrants from former colonies who were encouraged to help rebuild the United Kingdom’s post-war economy.
She describes her parents as hardworking individuals who had limited opportunities to advance their education, but instilled its importance in their children. After a childhood spent in the impoverished Hackney neighborhood, all four children attended university, excelling academically and professionally in diverse industries.
After earning her bachelor’s degree in Social Policy at the London School of Economics, one of the U.K’s top universities, Apajee discovered a passion for staffing.
“I loved the thrill of making relationships,” she remembers.
And 35 years later, she says she still drives into her office every Monday thinking “What’s in store for me today?”
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