SEATED behind a gorgeous mahogany desk in her corner office with a view at MegaMart in Portmore, St Catherine, DelRose Shirley, 39, is having a girl moment. But she won’t readily admit it. Moreover, she’s reflecting on her life 25 years ago – a time when she probably wouldn’t have such a warm Mona Lisa smile on her face or that sparkle in her eye. For Shirley, there was little to smile about back then. She encountered turbulent times – dark periods marked by trying emotional crises that threatened to derail her life for good.

But like the warrior she is, she bounced back to claim what’s rightfully hers. And what a party she’s having! Today, she is the administrative and promotions manager at MegaMart, one of the country’s premier retailers, and she will unreservedly tell you that the journey to her destination today included unfulfilling stints as household helper, cashier, counter clerk, secretary and even as a florist over the years. But for her, it was well worth it as she has evolved from a round-the-way girl from Falmouth into a successful woman in charge.

In her post at MegaMart, she oversees administrative matters for the company’s two branches in Portmore and Kingston.

“I love to work. I love challenges. Challenges give me an adrenaline rush,” she says with a chuckle. “I love this job. I’ve been here since 2001 and because it demands that I plan and organise, it challenges me. I think my main strength is in planning and organising. I love order, but at the same time I love change.”

In the opinion of many, it would have been convenient for her to collapse under the weight of disappointment during those turbulent times in her life. But Shirley, who rose from the depths to find success and claim happiness, demonstrates that she has the strong will of someone who will not be denied what’s rightfully hers.

“I am blessed. I’m from Trelawny. I grew up very poor and it was hard,” says Shirley, who grew up with her mother, grandmother and siblings. She describes the death of her grandmother four years ago as her “biggest loss”. After graduating from Cedric Titus High in the mid-1980s, Shirley left her birth parish and followed her heart to Kingston, where she got her first job as a household helper.

“My mother didn’t really like the idea of me moving to Kingston but nothing was happening for me in Falmouth. So when I came to Kingston, I moved around. I’ve been involved in a lot of jobs,” she tells SunDay. And there are no regrets.

With little financial support, she enrolled in diploma courses at the Fitz Henley Business School and at the Institute of Management and Production (IMP) – now a part of the University College of the Caribbean – where she did studies in Supervisory Management. She also took voice and speech classes in radio presentation at the Creative Production and Training Centre (CPTC).

“Early in life, there was no financial support for me to really accomplish anything substantial. I had to decide that I wanted more for myself,” she shares.

The fact that drive, determination and her never-say-never attitude has changed her for the better, is certainly not up for debate. The results speak for themselves.

Like the remarkable women she admires (legendary actress Cicely Tyson, the late Gloria, Knight and Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller) she defies classification. One thing you’ll realise after talking with her though, is that she is not controversial. And, thanks to her infectious demeanour and her matchless love for challenges that borders on awe, the Jamaican business machinery couldn’t have a better poster girl than Shirley.

She becomes rather intense when lamenting the hurdles that women have to overcome on the road to success, especially in the Jamaican context.

“Women are still being fought but you see the changes everyday. You see more big vehicles on the road being driven by women and whether people want to accept it or not, things are changing. You will still have opposition because some men feel challenged by a woman with power. In some cases, if the woman in the relationship makes more than them, they feel insecure about it but it’s not the woman’s fault.”

But she feels the situation is changing gradually, as more and more women are being welcomed into positions of authority.

“I’m not one to say ‘It’s woman time now’. I’m not like that but [Simpson Miller’s appointment as prime minister] in particular, is something that showed that women are being accepted in positions of power now more than ever. It’s just another acknowledgement. And to me, women are strong, very intelligent and very supportive and I believe in the strength of a woman. I absolutely love power (Laughs). Power turns me on.”

Like many Jamaican women, Shirley grew up without a father in the family household and as she reflects on her life, she says that his absence created a void that still haunts her today.

“I didn’t have a relationship with my father growing up,” she says quietly. “I don’t even know him. I have a name but I never met him. Up until yesterday, I was saying to two different friends of mine that I missed that and I still do. I’m not saying that I’d be a better person, but I miss not knowing what it is like to have a father who you can relate to. People will tell you that you can’t miss what you don’t or never had, but I do because I have friends who are very close to their fathers and you see other people who have their fathers in their lives. It would have been nice to know,” says Shirley, whose mother worked in the hotel industry.

In the meantime, while admitting that she’s single and not “thinking about children right now”, Shirley has vowed to stay open and pace herself in matters of the heart. And she is not the least bit perturbed about the future and what it might bring.

Her enthusiasm is infectious when she speaks of her upcoming assignments, including her budding desire to pen another book of thoughts and poems (her first Sweet Essence Cover Me is available at several stores in the corporate area).

“MegaMart is also more and more becoming a household name and I am very excited about the upcoming opening of a new branch in Montego Bay. This means more opportunities for me to challenge myself and see what I can accomplish,” she says.

She has also enrolled again at IMP to further her studies.

Shirley, an avid reader, is a big fan of self-help and inspirational authors Iyanla Vanzant and Shakti Gawain. She is also an amateur photographer and a part-time actress, having appeared opposite Leonie Forbes on the local TV show Pullet Hall in the 1990s.

“I consider myself as a level-headed person, someone who is serious but funny. I love to make people laugh even here at work, I’m like the office clown. I will hide in the bathroom and frighten people (Laughs),” she tells SunDay gleefully. “But on a regular day, I am quite focused and probably take things a bit too seriously and other times I don’t. Because if you take things too seriously it means they matter and if they matter, you care and if you care, you become vulnerable and when that happens, you can get hurt.”

But as things stand, Shirley is content with what she has been able to accomplish since leaving the country for the city. And she counts her blessings every day, displaying astuteness and drive while accepting her past failures and shortcomings.

“I am a hard worker. I love to work; it is at the core of my being and I welcome the challenges as they help me in becoming stronger and much better at what I do.”

Clearly, climbing the ladder of success has always been her thing and while she’s just getting started, you can’t argue with the results thus far. But for today, she’s just living for each moment, enjoying the here and the right now, and all of its possibilities.

reidt@jamaicaobserver.com