Whether you’re an avid Cash Pot player or you just dabble in the Super Lotto from time to time, Jamaicans across the gaming spectrum love the ladies of the Supreme Ventures draw team. Get to know more about your favourite ladies with our new feature series ‘Meet the Supremes’. Today you will meet D’Andra Collinder.

With a bright smile and a sure stride in six-inch heels, draw officer D’Andra Collinder sat down for a quick interview. The meeting caught her a bit off guard, but her bubbly personality did the rest.

“Do you want me to wear my heels or not?” she asked, changing out of her bejewelled sandals and into a pair of nude heels when we mentioned that we would also be taking a video of the interview.

She sat up, smiling and ready for the questions. She was in her element, talking about the dictates of the job, the accuracy required to produce each of the daily six live draws for Supreme Ventures, as well as the constant presence of the Betting, Gaming and Lotteries Commission and the auditors, KPMG.

But this Taurean, who has been on the SVL staff since July 18, 2015, got really animated when we delved into the D’Andra we don’t see on camera.

Away from the glare of studio lights, D’Andra describes herself, first and foremost, as a mother to her opinionated five-year-old son who she says keeps her on her toes with a personality well beyond his years. She also recently completed a Master’s degree in tourism management at the University of the West Indies; however, she does not have any immediate plans to enter the hospitality sector.

Her choice in advanced studies and even her current job as part of the SVL draw team bears little resemblance to her childhood dreams of becoming an actress.

“I wanted to be an actress when I was younger. I’m not quite an actress, but this [job] enables me to use my presenting skills, so I’m not too far off the bat.”

Getting her start in media on CVMTV as a producer and presenter, she figured that presenting the games would be right in line with her love for the lens, but she soon learned that the pressure of a live draw was not to be underestimated.

“The first time I did the live draw, I forgot to call out the numbers. When we are doing rehearsals, we don’t call out the numbers. So, my first live draw, I’m doing Top Draw and I’m saying ‘the first number is…the second number is…’ and not calling out the numbers that are actually dropping into the chamber! So they had to be in my ear: ‘Say the actual number! Say the actual number!’”

Now with two years of experience under her belt, D’Andra’s early trials are now something to laugh about. Another thing that sent her into a fit of giggles was the reaction she gets from the public.

“More than once people have come up to me and they would look at a certain part of my body and say, ‘I know this [derriere] from somewhere, you’re the girl that does Cash Pot’, so that’s how I was identified once or twice and I found it very interesting and very different, so people do recognise me from time to time,” she chuckled.

Among the things that D’Andra likes to do when she’s away from the glare of the studio lights is eat fried chicken and rice and peas smothered in curry gravy, get a good night’s rest and watch television.

“My co-workers got me hooked on ‘Power’, so that’s my favourite TV show right now. I like Angela, she’s my favourite character. We had a list made of who from the draw team is similar to a ‘Power’ character. It’s on the notice board: I am Angela and Kerry Ann [Major] is Lakeisha,” she disclosed.