JAMAICAN-BORN entrepreneur Ingrid Murray has built a career out of seeing possibilities where others see limitations.

Now based in New York, Murray is the Chief Executive Officer of Prospect Cleaning Service Inc, a commercial cleaning and building maintenance company that has grown into a multimillion-dollar enterprise serving major public and private sector clients. Under her leadership, the company has expanded significantly, earning recognition on the Inc 5000 list of America’s fastest-growing private companies and establishing itself as a respected player in an industry that is often overlooked.

The company’s success has been driven by strategic growth, operational excellence and Murray’s ability to identify opportunities where others saw obstacles. What began as a modest operation evolved into a thriving business providing commercial cleaning, maintenance and environmental services throughout the New York region.

One of Prospect Cleaning Service’s most defining moments came during the COVID-19 pandemic. At a time when businesses across the United States were struggling to survive, the company secured contracts that placed it at the centre of critical sanitisation efforts throughout New York. Prospect Cleaning Service was commissioned by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) to oversee cleaning, disinfecting and sanitisation services for Metro-North and Harlem Line stations across multiple counties, while also providing 24-hour cleaning services at Grand Central Terminal, one of the busiest transportation hubs in the United States.

For Murray, however, the story behind that success extends far beyond business.

It is also a story about migration, responsibility, faith, loss, perseverance and the unique pressures Caribbean women often face while pursuing ambitious goals.

“Growing up in Jamaica, I always envisioned a life of impact,” Murray said. “I knew I wanted to create change and rise beyond the limitations I saw around me.”

Her journey, she believes, reflects a broader reality about Caribbean women and the challenges many continue to navigate while trying to build lives that extend beyond survival.

From responsibility to leadership

Long before she became a business executive, Murray learned what it meant to carry responsibility.

“I’ve been a caregiver since I was 14 years old, helping to take care of my younger brother after my mother immigrated to the United States,” she said.

Like many Caribbean women, she learned early that other people would depend on her.

“All my life I’ve been a caregiver. There was always someone depending on me,” she explained.

Those experiences shaped the way she approaches leadership today.

“I learned how to pivot, adapt and find solutions no matter the circumstances,” she said. “Leadership is a gift, but without substance and meaningful impact, it means nothing.”

Across the Caribbean, women frequently serve as both caregivers and providers, often balancing family obligations with professional ambitions. While those responsibilities can cultivate resilience and resourcefulness, they can also make risk-taking more difficult.

When others depend on you, the consequences of failure are rarely yours alone.

For Murray, however, responsibility became a source of motivation rather than a reason to remain cautious.

Building beyond circumstance

Even as a child growing up in Jamaica, Murray believed she was capable of building something larger than the circumstances around her.

“A lot of people doubted me early on, so I became determined to show the world who I truly was — not who others assumed I would become,” she said.

She remembers speaking openly about her ambitions long before she had any evidence they would become reality.

“I used to say all the time, ‘When I go to America, I’m going to be rich’,” she recalled. “But it was never only about money. It was about proving to myself that my environment did not define my future.”

Eventually, personal circumstances led her to establish a life in the United States after reuniting with her daughter.

“It was one of the hardest decisions of my life, but also one of the most important,” she said.

Migration has long been one of the defining features of Caribbean life. For many immigrants, however, arriving abroad is not the end of a journey but the beginning of another. New opportunities are often accompanied by new challenges, unfamiliar systems and significant pressure to create stability.

For women in particular, the pursuit of economic security can leave little room for experimentation or risk.

Yet Murray believes meaningful growth often requires both.

Faith in moments of uncertainty

While popular culture often frames success through the language of manifestation, Murray offers a different perspective.

“For me, manifestation is about aligning my vision with what God has already designed for my life,” she said. “It’s not simply wishing for something and waiting for it to appear. It requires discipline, faith, hard work and obedience.”

That philosophy would be tested dramatically during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In the early days of the crisis, Murray’s company lost approximately 90 per cent of its clients almost overnight.

“For a moment, I lost hope,” she said.

After praying, she felt compelled to invest the last available funds in her account into specialised sanitisation equipment, despite having no guarantee that the decision would pay off.

“At first, even my late husband thought it sounded unreasonable,” she recalled. “But like always, I asked him to trust me — and he did.”

The gamble proved transformative.

That investment positioned Prospect Cleaning Service to respond to an unprecedented demand for disinfecting services and ultimately led to contracts that changed the trajectory of the business.

“That very day, I was contacted by the MTA, and it became the biggest deal of my career,” Murray said.

She remains convinced that faith played a central role in that outcome.

“I have lived a life filled with ups and downs, losses and victories,” she said. “I have witnessed God’s work personally — miracles too numerous to count.”

“Without God, I would be nothing. Every success I have belongs to Him.”

The barriers Caribbean women continue to face

Although Murray’s story is one of achievement, she is candid about the obstacles she believes continue to hold many Caribbean women back.

“Fear of failure is one of the biggest obstacles,” she said. “There’s also a lack of support, and often a lack of self-worth that develops from years of being underestimated or overlooked.”

Many women, she argues, spend years battling both external and internal limitations.

Some face financial barriers. Others lack access to mentors, professional networks or opportunities for advancement. Still others struggle with the effects of being consistently underestimated.

Murray also points to another challenge that many Jamaicans will recognise immediately.

“As Jamaicans would say, sometimes there’s simply too much badmind,” she said.

She experienced that reality first-hand when she entered the commercial cleaning industry.

“When I took over the business, especially within Caribbean circles, people questioned why I would want to be a cleaner,” she recalled. “Even when I explained that I was building systems for the commercial cleaning and building maintenance industry as a CEO, people often looked at me with disbelief.”

Rather than allowing criticism to discourage her, she focused on execution.

“Not everyone will understand your vision,” she said. “Sometimes you have to keep building anyway.”

Why resilience is not enough

Caribbean women are often praised for their resilience, but Murray believes resilience alone is not enough.

“We were raised in some sort of trauma,” she said. “We became natural self-soothers.”

While resilience helps people survive hardship, she argues that expansion requires something different. It requires action.

“The challenge is that many people never move beyond the dreaming phase,” she said.

Throughout her career, Murray has repeatedly chosen movement over hesitation, even when certainty was unavailable.

“Bet on yourself 100 per cent,” she advises. “You can’t succeed or fail if you never try.”

Her message to women who feel stuck is straightforward.

“Start where your fear feels the strongest, because often that’s exactly where the greatest opportunities exist.”

Creating a legacy for others

Today, Murray sees success as something that should extend beyond personal achievement.

Through mentorship, philanthropy and her work with aspiring entrepreneurs, she has become increasingly focused on helping other women recognise their own potential.

“Growing up without support or people believing in you can be deeply traumatic,” she said. “Sometimes all it takes is one person truly listening to you, hearing your vision and reminding you that your life has value.”

That experience has shaped the kind of leader she hopes to be.

“It made me want to become the person I never had growing up,” she said. “I want women to feel seen, heard and inspired to believe in themselves again.”

As she looks toward the future, Murray says she remains focused on expansion, both personally and professionally.

“I am manifesting expansion — more businesses, new opportunities and becoming a gateway for future leaders who need guidance, wisdom and insight,” she said.

Her story ultimately speaks to a broader reality experienced by many Caribbean women. Success is rarely built under ideal circumstances. More often, it emerges through persistence, sacrifice, faith and a refusal to accept limitations imposed by others.

“Doubt is one of the greatest thieves of joy and potential,” Murray said. “Don’t allow it to rob you of your future.”

For a woman who left Jamaica carrying both responsibility and ambition, those words are more than advice.

They are the philosophy that helped transform a vision into a thriving business and a life of impact.