The small fabric banner hanging on a bookshelf in Kelly Tomblin’s office bears a quote attributed to Jamaican reggae icon, Bob Marley — ‘You never know how strong you are until being strong is the only option.’

What is it about the quote that resonates with her, the

Jamaica Observer asked.“Because sometimes you don’t know, and I believe in life you think you can’t handle this, you can’t handle that. But sometimes handling it, dealing with it — whether it’s this job or when crisis happens — much more when you lose a loved one, we are resilient, we are strong, we do have a source of power and that sometimes we forget it,” Tomblin responded.Is Marley one of your favourite artistes? was the next question.“Yes,” the outgoing Jamaica Public Service President and CEO, who is American, replied then went on to explain before the

Sunday Observer could ask why.“Because he was ahead of his time, and you could see him evolve over time, whether it’s Three Little Birds, everything’s gonna be alright, or get up stand up for your rights, and I think that’s always the balance we have… and the reason I love what he’s been able to do was this combination of one love, but sometimes love says no. Sometimes love says I’m not riding at the back of the bus. In my estimation he didn’t belong to anybody but everybody claimed him and I do believe he tried to maintain the sense of, again, one love,” Tomblin reasoned.Marley, easily the world’s greatest exponent of reggae music, was only 36 years old when he died on May 11, 1981 from cancer. Many of the lyrics in his vast discography are regarded as prophetic.Tomblin pointed to a line in his song

Exodus — ‘Open your eyes and look within; are you satisfied with the life you’re living?’ — saying that she uses it a lot as it is a call for introspection, which, she argued, is good for companies and individuals.“That’s what we spend a lot of time [doing] at JPS, and we like who we are,“ she said. “Marley says wake up, and in our finest hour, corporations, all of us, are waking up more and more every day and that’s another piece of him that… he calls on you to be your own. You can’t be a slave unless you agree to be a slave, however we define that bondage.”Tomblin also revealed that she listens a lot to culture singer Chronixx, pointing specifically to his

Here Comes Trouble and

Smile Jamaica as two songs that she likes, as well as Protégé and Nesbeth, whose hit single

My Dream she enjoys.With her five-year tour of duty at JPS coming a close next month, Tomblin also shared her love for Jamaican foods.“I’m a big ackee fan. I could eat it every day for dinner,” she said. I also like cabbage and fish. Before I got here I was more a vegetarian, but every time I went to Hellshire or somewhere I had to get the fried fish.”That love extends to local fruits. “I think that once you have fruit here, it’s hard to go back and have fruit anywhere else,” added Tomblin who is heading back to the US.