Women have made indelible impacts. Their barrier-breaking influence and contributions to society, innovativeness, and originality are under-told globally. HERstory has been full of pioneers — from women who fought for their rights, worked hard for equality, mastered politics, and fostered entrepreneurship to women who strive for excellence in education, aviation, science, sports, and the arts, fashion, and beauty. Women have made phenomenal strides, and like Beyonce’s hit, they have indeed ruled the world.
Dr. Maxine Wilson
Here Are The Stories Of Five Jamaican Women Who Have Etched Their Names In HERStory As Trailblazers.
Mary Anne Veronica Chambers is a former politician in Ontario, Canada, and is the recently named Chancellor of the University of Guelph. She was a member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 2003 until 2007. She was born in Jamaica and emigrated to Canada in 1976.
She was a banker prior to entering political life. She joined Scotiabank in 1976 and was named a Senior Vice-President of the bank in 1998, retiring from the position in December 2002. She was also involved in a number of task forces concerning the role of women in the workplace. In 1988, she received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Toronto with a major in Commerce.
Chambers first 26 years in Canada, were spent in the financial services sector, where she rose from the position of Computer Programmer Analyst to Senior Vice-President of Scotiabank, one of Canada’s largest banks. She is quoted as saying “I was the first and still am the only black woman to have attained that level of seniority in that sector of Canadian business. I had no difficulty securing employment with the Bank upon arriving in Canada, but within a few weeks, a colleague told me that I should not be disappointed if I didn’t get very far despite my competence and work ethic, because I was black, a woman, not Canadian born, married, a mother and Roman Catholic! This was my first real indication that my race, while irrelevant in Jamaica, might matter in Canada”.
Adapted from various articles across the net.
Jamaican-born Dr. Avis Glaze is an international leader in the field of education. As one of Canada’s outstanding educators, she has been recognized for her work in leadership development, student achievement, school and system improvement, character development, and equity of outcomes for all students. As Ontario’s first Chief Student Achievement Officer and founding CEO of the Literacy and Numeracy Secretariat, she played a pivotal role in improving student achievement in Ontario schools. Her primary focus in education is on building capacity to ensure that all students achieve, regardless of background factors or personal circumstances. It is her core belief that educators play a fundamental role in sustaining democracy.
Avis completed two Master of Education programs – one in educational administration, a second in guidance and counselling, and a Doctorate in Education at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto. She also has training in Alternative Dispute Resolution, Advanced Facilitation, and the Assessment of Emotional Intelligence. She has taught at all levels of the education system, in rural and urban areas, in public and Catholic schools, and at the elementary, secondary, community college, and university levels. Avis has been a superintendent of schools in several school districts, an Associate Director of Education with the York Region District School Board, and Director of Education of the Kawartha Pine Ridge District School Board. At the university level, Avis has been an Adjunct Professor in counselor and teacher education in faculties of education in Ontario. She also served as an Education Officer with the Ontario Ministry of Education and as a Research Coordinator with the Ontario Women’s Directorate of the Ministry of Labor. https://dccaribbeanbusinessdirectory.wordpress.com/2014/01/24/influential-caribbean-women-114/
Geneive Brown Metzger, LLD Hon. is Jamaica’s eighth Consul General in New York. Her forty-year career spans diplomacy, corporate communications, foreign trade consulting, and government and community affairs. She is a Caribbean thought leader, diaspora strategist, trade policy analyst, and social-preneur. She is a co-founder of the Caribbean American Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and the Union of Jamaican Alumnae Association, one of the largest Jamaican diaspora organizations in North America. She is the founder and President of the American Caribbean Maritime Foundation, the only entity of its kind exclusively focused on funding the education of aspiring Caribbean maritime professionals. She developed ACMF-CAREX the first maritime jobs board for Caribbean maritime professionals and workers.
She attended the City University of New York and Columbia University earning a Bachelors and Masters, and was honored with an Honoris Causa Doctorate of Laws by the University of Technology in Jamaica.
Dr. Brown Metzger has been featured in The New York Times, on FOX NY television, and on Black Entertainment Television (BET). She is a founding member of the Caribbean American Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and the Union of Jamaican Alumni Associations U.S.—the largest Jamaican diaspora organization in North America. She has won many awards for her work and up until her appointment as Consul General, Mrs. Brown Metzger ran a successful public relations and marketing communications firm, Geneive Brown Associates (GBA), which she founded in 1984. The firm was merged with the worldwide public relations agency, Ruder Finn, in 1990, where she started the Emerging Markets Division. There, she served clients in South Africa and the Caribbean, helping to build a practice in travel, tourism, academia, and economic development. She launched and implemented the University of the West Indies’ capital campaign and established the university’s first U.S.-based foundation and board. She is a founding member of the Caribbean American Chamber of Commerce and Industry. https://www.geneivebrownmetzger.com/
Sanya Richards-Ross is the fastest American woman in history at 400 meters. She became the first American woman in 28 years, and only the 2nd in history, to be crowned Olympic Champion over 400m at the 2012 Games in London. The London games also set the stage for Sanya to become the second most decorated female track and field Olympian of all time. By winning her 4th gold medal, after anchoring the 4x400m relay team to gold for the 3rd consecutive time, Sanya firmly solidified her place in sports history.
Sanya Richards-Ross was born in Jamaica in 1985 and is now a retired athlete, who competed internationally for the United States in the 400-meter sprint. Her notable accolades in this event include being the 2012 Olympic champion, 2009 world champion, 2008 Olympic bronze medalist, and 2005 world silver medalist. She became the second American woman to win the 400 meters at the Olympic Games and the first American woman to earn multiple global 400-meter titles.
Following an injury at the 2016 U.S. Olympic trials, Richards-Ross retired from the sport and subsequently joined the NBC broadcasting team as a track and field analyst. She published her memoir Chasing Grace: What the Quarter Mile has Taught Me about God and Life in 2017.
Adapted from https://sanyarichardsross.com/
Dr. L’Antoinette Stines is a dancer, choreographer, actress, teacher/lecturer, administrator, author, and visionary. Creator of L’Antech, a modern contemporary Caribbean Dance Technique, Dr. Stines continues to impact the direction and future of Caribbean dance. Dr. Stines has a long and varied performing history, which ranges from classical ballet to Yoruba “Orisha” dance. Her dance career began in Jamaica with Alma Mok Yen (1961-71), continued to the Martha Graham School, and finally through to Pepsi Bethel Authentic Jazz Dance Company (1975-77) and the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (1977-78). Regarded as an expert in popular, folkloric Jamaican dance and the development of contemporary dance, Dr. Stines has lectured in Africa, the Caribbean, Europe, and North and South America. (https://www.linkedin.com/in/l-antoinette-stines-ph-d-b915791a6/)
In 1978, Dr. L’Antionette Stines founded Miami’s first primarily black dance company, L’Acadco, with a vision of bringing together the tri-ethnic communities of Spanish, African-American, and Caucasians. Returning to Jamaica in 1982, L’Acadco was reborn with a different intention to present contemporary dance with a new voice, and fresh and valid interpretations of the Jamaican landscape. Stines was the first choreographer to showcase Dancehall on a proscenium stage at the Little Theatre in Kingston, Jamaica in her renowned piece called “Bouyaka Bouyaka” (1984). Stines is also the first Artistic Director in Jamaica to fight the cause for payment of dancers.
Stines is also an actor, known for Luke Cage (2018), a Netflix series based on a Marvel Comics character, and Dancehall Is Us (2016). Dancehall Is Us is a 20-minute documentary about the culture of dance and musical traditions of Jamaica director and written by Egor Papulov. The film is a study of the nature of style dancehall, roots, street culture, and style of life of the citizens bringing the viewer to understand the country as a whole. The film is, in a sense, a portrait of Jamaica today. Dancehall Is Us has won the following awards: Best Shot at the Bellingham Music Film Festival (2016), Best Documentary at the Portobello Film Festival, Best Short at Rubber International Festival of Music on Cinema, Winner of Best Editing of a Documentary Award at TTMFF To Tylko Montaz Film Festival (2016) and Best International Short Documentary at Film Internacional de Cortometrajes Libelula Dorado and has been nominated for many others. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%27Antoinette_Stines
Allow the stories of these women to ignite your innate light if it has gone dim. Allow their lives to be a part of the game plan for your life, a part of your blueprint that will inspire you to create your own story if you have not started, and that you will become a part of the HERstory narrative. All that you need is within, say yes to the power on the inside, and BEGIN TODAY!
