Velma Hamilton

There are some people who seem to have it all. In January, mother, wife, lawyer, former judge and teacher Velma-May Brown-Hamilton earned her PhD in Business Administration from Washington International University, and so has added Doctor to her list of titles.

She runs her law practice from the new, tastefully decorated offices she shares with her husband, Trevor, in New Kingston. While enjoying an active social life, she still has enough time to spend with her daughter and her husband, and that’s in addition to sitting on various company boards and being an integral part of the Rotary Club of Downtown Kingston.

Even with a long list of high-profile and demanding clients, her face shows no sign of stress, and by her own admission, she is happily married, financially secure, and emotionally and physically healthy, proving to the rest of us that it is possible to have everything.

But Velma will be the first to tell you that none of her achievements have anything to do with the lotto or luck. Not being born into wealth, she explains, does not help or hinder success. Instead, planning, solid time management skills and discipline, are essential factors. Since 21, Velma-May has planned her life in five-year increments, a system that has helped her achieve her goals, on time and to great acclaim.

“I grew up seeing my mother and grandmother doing a million things at the same time,” the 41-year old told all woman. At just three years old, her daughter Tiffany Gabriella has gotten used to rising early, and she too will also learn these skills as a matter of life.

“Balancing it all has everything to do with time management. I have a schedule where no matter what happens, I must spend time with her before she goes off to school.”

Every morning by six, mother and daughter are up, a consequence of Velma-May’s years boarding at Westwood High School for Girls. At Westwood, life was structured and regulated, with little room for error regarding time.

“In terms of the discipline to manage time, there was no getting around it. If you were late, you got a detention. If you didn’t go, you got an order mark. It was telling you had to be there, and on time.”

After Westwood, Velma-May worked steadfastly, starting at the Mico Teachers’ College in Kingston where she was trained in secondary language education. After graduating from Mico it was on to Campion College, where the then headmaster, JJ MacKay offered her a position even before she was certified. While teaching Spanish at Campion, Velma-May decided to teach for five years, and read towards a degree at the same time.

“I started doing a first degree at UWI, and I used to leave Campion during my breaks, run up to Liguanea, take the bus up to UWI and it was a big challenge running back down to catch my class at Campion. Still, it was very good and I enjoyed it. In fact, I didn’t even think about it while I was doing it,” she laughs.

Essential to the working of the five-year plan system, she explained, is sticking to the goals, and after five years, without a new job lined up, she quit teaching, having satisfied her own requirements and even winning a UWI open scholarship to do an MA in Philosophy. While a full ride to a master’s degree sounded attractive, law was her passion, and so to finance her latest five-year plan, she went into insurance, working at Mutual Life while she applied for law, got accepted and even got exemption from first year to go to Barbados directly.

“Everybody was saying to me, don’t go. But I said, the Lord has given me an opportunity to go to Barbados right now, and although I was doing exceptionally well in insurance, even in just the one year, I could have said, well this money is so good I can just keep it going. But for me, the money was just the means to go and do the law that I always wanted to do – which fit right in with my five-year plan at the time.”

Almost immediately after being called to the bar, there was no honeymoon as a young lawyer, and for several months, with no experience, she managed a law office for a friend on maternity leave before forming a partnership, Gibbons, Brown and Company. But private practice at the time just wasn’t fulfilling enough.

“I’m a person who likes to do service, and so although I was doing quite well for myself in my practice, I decided to sit on the bench,” a decision she says was highly satisfying.

Velma-May, who has an artistic flair and loves decorating, counts among her many achievements in the May Pen Resident Magistrate’s Court the beautification of the courthouse, and the reorganising and reduction of the case list. While many would be satisfied to remain in the prestigious position for a long period, her appetite for learning surged once again.

“While being a judge, I made another five-year plan, and that was to have my master’s. I had started before I was on the bench, but I couldn’t finish because it was difficult travelling from May Pen to UWI every day. It took me a while to finish – it was only when I became RM in the Half-Way-Tree court that I was able to complete it.”

She resigned as RM when she got married and became pregnant, started her PhD programme, capping yet another five-year goal successfully. Today, doctoral degree in hand, she plans to spend the next five years becoming fluent in French and German, making herself even more competitive for the global marketplace. She won’t be back in school this time, deciding instead to teach herself both languages from audio CDs.

So how does the woman who has it all keep it all together?

“I just love life!” she says glibly. Gardening, watching movies, cooking, and decorating and redecorating her home and office are her unwinding activities, but Velma-May is guided by a more compelling factor.

“I’m driven by a desire to succeed. Even at this stage, people say to me all the time, you’re so successful, but you’re only as good as your last achievement. For instance, part of my five-year plan between 35 and 40 was that I was supposed to get a doctorate, and I saw 41 coming up very close (her birthday was in February) and so in January I decided, I must finish this thing to achieve my objective, because even if it’s a day before I turn 41, I would still be 40, and I must achieve it.”

“I find that when people do not plan, they are stuck in a rut for twenty years without even realising it,” she adds.

The drive to succeed cannot override the need for humility, however, and by the way she speaks to and deals with people, one would never guess her level of education or how much money she has. That attitude also helps her as a savvy businesswoman, and today she boasts a 3-day turnaround time for an impressive list of corporate clients.

“I’m giving quality service, and that’s what sells. People are no longer prepared to accept the fact that oh, she’s a lawyer, her personality is great.what they want is service, and I have to give it. If for instance, the woman who cleans doesn’t come one day, I come in and clean it. Then I wash my hands and sit very nicely at my desk and continue my work. The client would never know that I just finished cleaning the entire office. What they need to know is that the office is clean, because it’s useless to sit behind a desk in a pretty suit and the client comes into a filthy office. I prefer to do the work, clean up and forget about saying the office attendant didn’t come today. That’s nonsense,” she remarked indignantly.

Planning, good time management, humility and discipline. That’s the way to achieve.”

We believe her – if her academic success alone is anything to go by, this woman clearly knows what she’s talking about.