ELLEN JOHNSON SIRLEAF, Liberia’s president and the first woman elected to lead an African nation, said in New York last week: “If your dreams don’t scare you, they are not big enough.”
The Nobel Peace Prize winner made the profound comment during a “public conversation” at York College of City University where she was part of the Women’s Month celebrations.
After talking about the tough road she travelled to her country’s presidency, the Liberian leader summarised what she would like her legacy to be.
“I would like to be remembered for making a difference,” she said.
And that’s precisely the attainment of a long list of Bajan women who are or have been making a difference here.
Shirley Chisholm, the first black woman elected to the House of Representatives immediately comes to mind. Daughter of a Barbadian mother, she spent some of her early and formative childhood years in Barbados before returning to the United States. A Democrat, she also dreamt of the American presidency and it led her to be the first black to seek the presidential nomination of a major political party. In a real sense, her aspirations helped to pave the way for Barack Obama’s election.
Thelma Pollard, the Broadway make-up artist who has been preparing the faces of the Phantom Of The Opera on Broadway for the past 27 years, is making a huge difference.
Giving insights into her success, she said “I see my presence and role at the highest professional level of make-up as more than just getting the actors ready. I believe I have to help open doors for people who aspire to be professionals in the theatre, in movies and on television. I encourage young women, especially black women to get formal and practical training and to remain ahead of the game,” she said recently.
Thelma’s sister, Pearlita Price, a former school teacher in New York, is also one of the leading make-up specialists on Broadway and she too works on the Phantom, making him up twice weekly.
If the Bajan women are on the cutting edge behind the scenes in the performing arts, Dr Juliet Michelle Daniel, a professor in the Department of Biology at Canada’s McMaster University has exceeded that in science. She owns an independent lab which studies a range of complex scientific issues, including the fundamentals of cell proliferation in the human body. Professor Daniel has discovered a new gene, which she named “kaiso,” and which links the calypso musical art form with the world of science and helps to save the lives of cancer suffers. According to a biographical dictionary on “some Barbadian Canadians,” kaiso “regulates the expression of genes that control cell proliferation and adhesion”.
Bajan pride of attainment is also justly showered on Judge Sylvia Hinds-Radix, who sits on the New York State Appeals Court in Brooklyn.
She was elevated to the higher level of the bench because of a successful stint as the administrative judge of Brooklyn’s Civil Court, one of America’s largest. She was the first black “to serve in that role.
Gail Brathwaite, one of the most highly placed black women in banking, is executive vice president and chief operating officer of Bankwell Financial Group, the holding company that owns Bankwell Bank in Connecticut.
“I try to make a difference through scholarships for students at the University of the West Indies and other institutions,” said Brathwaite.
Karen Blackett, a Barbadian, was hailed recently by the Independent newspaper in London as “the most influential black person in the UK”. “She grew up in Reading, often called “mini-Barbados”. She is chief executive of MediaCom, one of the largest media buying and planning agencies there.
Big dreamers all, these women are making a difference up north.
Tony Best is the Nation’s North American correspondent.
