‘My job, my life’

Dianna Fraser-Campbell describes herself as a realist — someone who does not set unrealistic goals but gives 110 per cent to whatever she attempts.

Her dedication to her job has been seen as exemplary both by her staff and by the company at which she works, Air Jamaica.

“I have been with Air Jamaica for 25 years. For the last six though, I have been working at Air Jamaica Express,” Fraser-Campbell told All Woman. She is director of Commercial Services and is one of two women on the seven member management team of the domestic airline. Her job deals with sales, marketing, staff training, customer relations and in-flight services.

“She taught me a lot of what I know about administration and going the extra mile. She is always here and tries to get the best out of us. She is easy to work with and approachable but she will get hard on you if you don’t produce,” says Laurel Bicknell, administrator at Air Jamaica Express Tinson Pen office. Bicknell has been working with Fraser-Campbell for six years.

According to Fraser-Campbell, she has worked hard to set the pace, tone and work ethic within the company so that her staff members know what is expected of them.

“I stress the value of teamwork so staff members always pull through, working as a team. They are very supportive of one another,” she said.

It was very important to her, she explained, for her staff to be well trained and know how to present themselves as the airline industry, like any Service-oriented business, depended on pleasant staff who know how to please and accommodate customers.

“I encourage my staff to further their studies as knowledge is an extremely powerful tool when used correctly,” she added.

According to 25 year old acting supervisor for customer service, Andrea Wilson, if it were not for Fraser-Campbell, maybe she would have dropped out of school.

“When I had been working here for a year I had gotten through to go to the College of Arts, Science and Technology (CAST) as it was called then. But I got pregnant and I decided that I would stop school and have the baby. She was very upset because she had been encouraging me to go back to school.

“But she still supported me. She was very concerned just like my own mother would be. Now I am doing my second year at the University of Technology and I was thinking of dropping out because I did not have the money. I approached Dianna and she worked on something for me,” Wilson shared with All Woman.

Actions like these are why she got the President’s award for manager of the year in 2000 and in 1996 the award for outstanding service to the airline.

Her work, she said was her driving passion. It motivated her to help others because she too had been helped.

“Some of my previous bosses have really motivated me by their hard work and example. My former CEO, for example forced us to realise our full potential.

“He would put us into situations that would force us to be creative and work our way through,” she said. She started out as a customer service representative with Air Jamaica in 1978 and has gone through several posts until this one.

She spoke of another boss, Maria Jones, who also drove her to lift her standards.

I can never forget the first marketing plan that I did for her. I had to do it over six times because she was a perfectionist,” said Fraser-Campbell. She moulded my career. She was a person who paid a lot of attention to detail, image and encouraged you always to do your best. I learnt a lot from her regarding self-motivation and planning one’s life to achieve one’s goal. She recalled another incident where she was thrown into a job as acting regional sales and pricing manager. “It was either sink or swim,” she said.

“Maria had told me before that I might have to act for the person, who was ill. But before the time that the person was supposed to go off she fainted.

I remember on the Friday evening Maria gave me the manual and said that I should read it because I would be starting in that post on Monday. She said that I could consult her if I had problems. But she was always so busy I had to manage by myself most of the time,” she said.

While at the time the task had seemed intimidating, now she is grateful for the experience, which she says has taught her a lot.

“I ended up really enjoying the experience after a while.”

Perfectionism is a part of her nature too, Wilson said of her supervisor.

“If she has a problem with you — believe me — she will tell you. For example, grooming is very important here so if you come with a hairstyle that looks tacky then she will say it to you. It will be done in a nice way so you don’t feel bad but it will nonetheless be done,” Wilson added.

Dianna, in turn is proud of the achievements and growth of her staff. She laughingly recalled some of the teething pains that the company has experienced since it started in 1996.

“Air Jamaica Express was born out of the government-owned Trans Jamaica Airline. We started out in November 1996 with 1 Dornier aircraft — a 19-seater. In 2000 we got the 36-seater Shorts aircraft,” she said. It was one of my proudest moments but also one of the most frustrating. I was glad we were expanding but my agents that I had trained were driving me up the wall — it was the first time they were boarding more than 19 passengers and they just could not get it right.” At that time, she recalled, the local airline was always late until eventually they got the hang of it. Air Jamaica Express has 130 members of staff.

A typical day for Dianna starts with her checking her e-mail. Then she liaises with the operations sections to see what the passenger loads were like the day before.

“We have to know how many persons travelled before so that we can discuss it with our sales people. We also liaise with hoteliers to see how things are going and what we can do to improve,” she said.

From time to time, she has to travel to some other Caribbean destinations to see how sales are going, solicit new business and attend trade shows.

“I am on the road a lot but my husband and my mother form a very good support team for me,” she told All Woman.

In her spare time she enjoys watching a game of cricket or other sports. She is thinking of doing a doctorate but has not decided when yet. She did an undergraduate degree and a diploma in Translating at the University Complutense of Madrid and Estudio Sampere Internacional in Madrid respectively. Her MBA was done at Florida International University.

As All Woman left her offices, Fraser-Campbell wasted no time in engaging a member of straff in light banter.

‘It’s the ‘comic side’ of her,” quips the employee.

“She is really a good actress — she keeps us in stitches on a daily basis,” she said.