The Story of Janet, By Victoria Cole
“I grew up in Melbourne Avenue, Salt Spring Road, in Montego Bay, an area where most of the people were poor. I watched my three neighbours, three boys, die as a result of the gun,” veteran Journalist Janet Silvera solemnly recalls on her veranda overlooking the hills of Montego Bay, a glass of sorrel in hand. “
I bathed outside, even at nights and we had a pit latrine for years. Regularly, I had to fight with roaches, forty-legs, scorpions and all the rodents you can think of that one would have to fight with when you have to go out at nights to use the out-house, carrying a candle or lamp, in those days. So, I grew up knowing what it felt like to be poor.
There were many nights that we went to bed hungry, but my father was one of those men who felt that his children should not go to bed without food. So, when he could, he bought Jolly Rogers’ Chicken and put it over our noses while we were asleep, and the whiff would wake us up and we would eat and go back to bed. He would also walk to work early in the mornings, just so we could have taxi fare to get to school.
My father was truly the best. I grew up in a very loving home.”
Though from humble beginnings, Janet Silvera’s success has earned her several titles, including ‘Award-winning journalist’ and ‘Jamaica’s Tourism Guru’. From 1985, beginning her career as a Jamaica Tourist Board (JTB) Hostess at the Sangster International Airport, Janet has trail-blazed her way to a dominant thirty-five-year career in both media and tourism, copping numerous awards such as ‘News Journalist of the Year’, 2009, for the thought-provoking piece ‘Dad Raped Us’ and again in 2014 for her investigative pieces on the Mario Deane’s death and her most recent Caribbean Media Exchange (CMEx) Leadership Award 2019 in Miami, Florida for her commitment to sustainable tourism development. Janet also made history in 2012 when she became the first Jamaican to be honoured with the Marcia Vickery-Wallace award for Travel Journalism.
“Can you imagine that I wanted to become a teacher? But, within three months at Excelsior Community College, I realized that I was too flamboyant for the classroom. I could not be a teacher; not the with the kind of personality I had. So, I returned to my hometown in Montego Bay and started working for the Tourism Industry. That is where my love for the industry grew. Within six months on the job at JTB, I was named ‘Hostess of the Year’ and within five years, I became Marketing Officer in the Overseas Relations Department.”
Inspired to go the extra mile in order to deliver excellent service, Janet moved to Rennes, France to study French in order to effectively communicate with the French travel agents, tour operators and media persons who she was assigned to. “I really didn’t know that I would be who I am today in the industry, over 30 years later,” Janet shared, “But Tourism is the lifeblood and the engine of growth for this country. It is an industry that I believe has and continues to transform lives in this country. That is why I love the industry to this very day.”
This powerhouse of a woman seems to know no bounds when it comes to achieving her goals. In addition to holding numerous top positions in various companies, including the Jamaica Gleaner, and on some influential boards over the thirty-five years, Janet, today, wears more hats than even she herself can sometimes count. These include certified event manager, President of the Western Jamaica Media Association (WJMA), President of the Montego Bay Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Vice Chairman of the Montego Bay Infant School, which is the Caribbean’s largest early childhood institution.
“My mother knew that I was one of the most determined child that she had in that house,” the animated media personality expressed. “I was the last, I was the wash-belly, but I also was the leader. From as early as age eleven, I knew that my beginning was certainly not going to be my end. I knew that I was someone special and that I would have excelled in life. In fact, I was one of those students who gave a lot of trouble in school because I always felt like I was the best and anybody who tried to say I wasn’t, was in trouble.”
In addition to studying short courses at Foyer Guy Houist in France and George Washington University in the USA, Janet holds a Bachelor of Arts degree with First Class Honours in Media and Communications from CARIMAC – University of the West Indies, Western Jamaica Campus. The esteemed writer admitted that she was not interested in holding a degree at first, but not being able to lecture on tourism, despite her extensive experience, lead her to reconsider.
“After I became a journalist and after years in the Tourism Industry, I thought that I was qualified and did not need a University Degree. For years I thought I was so great and wonderful and University education was overrated,” Janet shared as she burst out laughing. “Moreover, UWI was not in Montego Bay at the time and I was determined to not go to Kingston. But, it was the best thing I have ever done.
My university experience was fulfilling. ‘That single story’ literally changed my life as well as the classes that dealt with agenda setting, the gate keepers, and so on. I didn’t learn those things as a journalist. It was in Dr. Patrick Prendergast’s classes that I learned about media, such as Aljazeera, that will tell you the truth in comparison to a CNN or a FOX News that were setting a certain agenda. So, for me, a university education was one of the best gifts I could have ever given to myself.”
Regardless of the world’s thrust towards STEM subject areas, the impact of being a Humanities graduate in shaping her personal and career path is irrefutable in Janet’s view. She explained that the benefit of a humanities degree is the emphasis it puts on teaching students how to not only carry out research, persuade, critique and think critically, but also to learn soft skills and ethical-based skills, such as empathy, that are instrumental to self-development and positively impacting the world around us.
“It’s like you’re going to University to learn to have a heart. You already have a heart you know, but man’s heart can get cold after a while. Humanities helps you and gives you that extra push as it relates to understanding how to treat people around you. For example, if you’re studying medicine, it can help you with your bedside manners. I would encourage any young person to pursue a degree in humanities owing to the impact that those courses will have on their lives, how it would change how they view others, how it would allow them to treat others. Humanities for me is that course with a heart.”
Though she is known for her big personality, contagious laughter, unique sense of style and take no prisoners approach to achieving her objectives, Janet is a humanitarian at her core. Her philanthropic journey began while at UWI, when she realized that there was a number of students who could not afford to remain in University. Janet started auctioning her clothes on Facebook and would donate the money she earned to students, especially those from depressed communities. Her most important achievement to date, she shared, has been the birth of MoBay City Run, a 5K/10K run and walk race which she founded in 2014 to raise funds for struggling tertiary level students in Western Jamaica. Since its inception, the event has donated over JMD $23.5 million to institutions including UWI, Montego Bay Community College, UTech and Sam Sharpe Teachers College, and each year $500,000 is also donated to either a high school or an early childhood institution.
“Growing up, if I had followed the people who saw me – because my hair was very, very low and I would pick out my hair and eat it. So, they used to call me ‘macka’, ‘picki-picki head gyal’, and I had knocked-knees as well. But it didn’t matter to me. I changed that macka that they called me, and named myself ‘Makeba’, as in Miriam Makeba [famous South African singer, songwriter, actress, goodwill ambassador and civil rights activist]. I always thought that I was a fabulous woman, a fabulous child, a fabulous Jamaican, a fabulous black person. Nobody could tell me anything else.
And I want to encourage my young Jamaican women, no matter your background, no matter where you live, no matter what you look like – you are beautiful and capable of achieving anything. Don’t let anyone tell you different.”
With many ventures in the works aimed at impacting the social, infrastructural and economic state of the second city, Janet Silvera continues to prove that she is more than equal to the task and her numerous accolades attest to her titanic feats.
