Delrose Bahadure’s ride through adolescence wasn’t the smoothest.

She grew up in the tough community of Russia in Savanna-la-Mar, got pregnant at 15 and lost the baby. She rallied, however, to become the proud proprietor of Dellusions Designs, an events planning and promotions décor store which she set up on Rose Street in Savanna-la-Mar.

Today at 30, she’s an accomplished businesswoman, the type that the Rotary Club of Negril decided to choose as a guest speaker at its ‘Lunch with a Leader’ programme at Travellers Beach Resort last week.

Nineteen teenagers who were among those that attended the luncheon benefited from the inspiration that Bahadure had to offer.

“Whatever you want to do with your life; wherever you are now, no matter your age; you can still do it because you have time…time is gonna go by anyway so (if you don’t) in ten years you will be ten years older but would not have moved,” she said.

In a recollection of her childhood Bahadure said:

“I grew up in a community where I was not socialised to aspire to anything but for the resilience of my parents who decided that come hell or high water I was going to get out.”

And get out she did.

After the miscarriage, she successfully completed Manning’s Fifth Form earning 8 CXC and 4 GCE subjects. She then gained a Diploma in Hospitality and Tourism from the University of Technology, Kingston and a Bachelor of Science in Culinary Arts from the Florida International University. With ten years’ experience working in various management positions in the Hospitality Industry both in the USA and locally, last year she established Dellusions Designs..

The Lunch with a Leader Programme began this year as the brainchild of the 50-year-old Rotary Club of Kingston, and was held for the first time by the Negril Club. Its President, Sabine Bolenius-Brown, noted that 12 of the youngsters were from the Negril community and seven from the USA, “some from troubled backgrounds, some from normal background but all are seen as potential leaders.”

The USA seven, from the Key learning Community of Indianapolis, Indiana, were accompanied by four teachers and were at the end of a week-long visit to the island doing community clean-up and tree planting in Negril alongside the Theodore Project of Reverend Margaret Fowler.

Praising Bahadure’s speech, Renee Motz, one of their teachers said, “It is just what the young people need; they need role models and some of our students are also in desperate situations.”