FROM she was six year old, Lacey-Ann Bartley knew joining the family business was what would make her family ultimately proud.

The 26-year-old graduate of the University of the West Indies said she knew it was not through sole academic achievements, but through carrying on the mantle of Bartley’s All In Wood, that she could make her parents, Sanford and Carlene Bartley, happy.

The 2014 Jamaica Business Development Commission (JBDC) Entrepreneur of the Year, who has a degree in management studies, said her father has always been working with wood.

“My father, since the age of 15, has been involved in woodwork. Additionally, I grew up around business owners and entrepreneurial people, thus business ownership was a given for me. I had an elaborate plan in my head for a business involving woodwork. When I went to UWI I put that plan on paper from inspiration from my lecturer Dr Kadamawe Knife,” Bartley said.

She said being an entrepreneur is a lot of responsibility, but she has grown to enjoy it.

Bartley’s All In Wood is located in Hanbury, Manchester, and designs, manufactures and sells 100 per cent Jamaican handmade wooden traditional and contemporary furniture, jewellery and home accessories along with custom made objects.

Bartley said after the inspiration from her lecturer to draft her business plan, it took more inspiration offered by Joan McDonald, her former mentor, to get her to kick off her business in 2011 and register it.

“Jamaica was going to host the World Council of Churches event in 2011 and I was assisting Joan McDonald. She was looking for wood products for exhibition and asked me to ask my father to satisfy the need for that. That is when I really started making items,” Bartley said.

She said each of her products has a one of a kind design, especially her collection of earrings.

“The inspiration from my jewellery comes from everything around me. I have a collection of earrings named after a sweetheart named ‘Woogie’,” Bartley laughed.

Bartley said entrepreneurship has brought her to a point in her life where she feels she is connecting well with her soul.

“My work is a window to my soul, bearing things that words cannot express. Woods can be used to express emotions and they can be shaped by love,” she added.

Copping the award is one of her biggest career achievements to date, she said.

She was also awarded one of the National Bakery Bold Ones of the Year awards in January.

— Ainsworth Morris

Craft items made by Lacey-Ann Bartley.

Bartley, JBDC’s Entrepreneur of the Year.

Bartley standing with some of her products.