Spotted at: RuJohn Foundation Awards Banquet at Iberostar Rose Hall Beach Hotel and Suites

Magnet attraction.

It’s not my first time to Jamaica. I have visited Kingston several times and I have been to Montego Bay once before, but it’s my first time serving with the RuJohn Foundation.

The RuJohn connection

A good friend of mine who I went to college with is originally from Jamaica. She and her husband had served on the RuJohn Foundation in the past and she reached out to me when I visited last year to Montego Bay. I’m the type of person that, when I travel to countries, I tend to like to pour into the country in a way that does more than pouring into the consumerism. I sought out a girls’ home where I could talk to high school-aged girls who had gotten pregnant and were pulled out of school. I have a heart for that kind of service and young women in particular. My friend told me to talk to Ingrid Bachelor (a RuJohn director) as our hearts spoke the same language, and true to form, when Ingrid reached out ot me, I could feel her warmth and I was so excited to take part and coming here has far exceeded what I could have imagined. I have been served 10 times more than what I could have given.

Charity is important because…

I grew up in Brooklyn, New York and I had experiences in life that showed me that it takes an absolute village, and sometimes the village is not your immediate family and can be strangers. I knew I had to be one of those people to help someone else’s life and be an unexpected vessel. An unexpected vessel stepped into my life — a woman named Sharon, who is from Montego Bay — at a critical time when I was a teenager, who took the place of my mother and father who at that time were absent. That’s why I’m so sensitive to the development of teenagers as I know anything can happen to shift the direction of their life.

Is being a bald, black woman an advantage or disadvantage when you go on auditions?

Ironically, moving to Los Angeles to pursue a commercial career I grew my hair in an attempt to look like what I saw on screen. My definition of beauty was fully elucidated after moving to LA and running out of funds to uphold the maintainance of long tresses. I saw my eyes, my lips, my nose, the structure of my jawline once I didn’t have the hair consuming my eyeline every time I looked in the mirror. The heightened sense of self carried over into my auditions and I walked into rooms knowing and feeling confident they would see nobody else like me. Gratefully, they liked me over and over.

Coming up…

God has been so gracious to me. I have been blessed to work on so many different projects, some simultaneously. Currently you can see a movie on TV One called Runaway Island that will air Saturday, July 25. It’s a special project for me and close to my heart. It’s about a woman who creates an environment for people to come where they can deal with problems.