Anika Smith: A heart of gold

IT is said that children live what they learn, and 35-year-old Anika Smith has used a lesson she learnt as a youngster to shape her adult life.

Born in Mandeville, Smith said she learned philanthropy from her mother who sheltered many children in their home.

“I will always remember when my older brother was going to his high school orientation and my mother went with him, she met another parent with a daughter who lived very far — almost three hours away — and she took the child and allowed her to stay with us. She was just one of four people who lived with us while we were growing up,” Smith told All Woman.

Smith would have the chance to see other individuals pay her mother’s charity forward, when the Bishop Gibson High old girl went to Hampton School for her A levels. Smith said she wasn’t able to board immediately because of space issues, and was shown kindness from another parent who took her in.

“There were five of us from my high school who went there, and we all had to make alternative arrangements because of boarding space. I remember while at school a girl in second form invited me to dinner and her grandmother just took me in. I lived there for four months until I could find somewhere. In life, you meet people who help you out and you just have to pay it forward,” she said.

As such, Smith, now assistant vice president of marketing at Mayberry Investments Limited, has vowed to be the cheerleader for many children who need assistance or a mentor in life.

“I had cheerleaders for parents and grandparents. Every child deserves that, but it doesn’t always work that way. Being loved and having people who care for you in life will be helpful in the grand scheme of things,” she said.

Smith, who holds a first degree in French from the University of the West Indies and a master’s degree in marketing from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, has been helping at-risk youth, mainly boys, back on a right path since her return to Jamaica in 2011.

“I have nephews — several. Most times I look around and see kids their age who are on a path to destruction and it bothers me as I think these could be my nephews. In college I worked as a nanny and I always ended up in jobs with boys. So I know how to interact with them,” Smith said.

Her commitment is not only a result of the help she received while growing up, but how distressing it was to see young boys on the streets begging.

“I wasn’t used to seeing it where I was coming from and it was never like that when I used to live here and it was really, really distressing seeing them, so I became involved in that scheme of things; helping them to get on track,” she said.

But the tear-jerker for her is the horror stories she often hears from the boys she helps.

“I have questioned the boys [who were in group homes] and when they told me the horror stories and things that happened to boys there — the sexual abuse, physical and verbal — it’s terrible. When a child of 10 years old would rather be on the streets than in a home or bed, that’s telling you it’s a pretty bad situation. The homes are not as well-funded as they need to be and not many of the boys are doing well in school, but who’s held accountable?”

She added: “When you meet a child and become involved it’s an emotional thing. With the children I’ve worked with, how I connect with them is showing them love. Some of them don’t know how to be hugged, kissed, taken out to the supermarket for ice cream.”

Alongside her chairman and vice chairman at Mayberry, Smith also works with the St George’s College track team, and assists the boys in going to college abroad.

“The chairman, Christopher Berry, is an old boy and he is involved with seeing the boys do well, not just as athletes, but as students too. I help them with their college preparation, sourcing scholarships to go abroad and study, books, and I monitor and assist them with their applications,” she said.

She said having studied and lived abroad, she knows how difficult and tedious the process can be so she assists the boys to ease the pressure.

Smith’s determination to motivate young men also comes from lessons her grandfather taught her. She said he would always tell the story of never being able to wear a pair of shoes till he was 15, but nontheless he achieved a lot and gave the family everything he couldn’t have.

“Where I am today I wouldn’t be there if I never had somebody doing for me what I’m doing for the kids now. In my position I have some resources and I feel obligated to do it. It is an obligation, not a bother, and it is fulfilling,” she said.

From her grandfather’s resilience, she admitted learning how to go after her dreams — a lesson she also imparts to the boys.

Smith has over 12 years experience as a marketing executive, holding senior marketing management and consulting positions locally, as well as internationally in New York City and Paris.

Prior to joining Mayberry, she worked at the RJR Communications Group, starting out as the senior marketing coordinator, and was later promoted to corporate communications manager.

Before her time there, she worked in New York as a marketing consultant for a number of companies, including Alumina Technical Consultants, a Florida-based mining technology company and Boddie & Associates, a New York-based law firm. She has also worked as a Market Research Analyst at GFK International in its Paris office.

She currently sits on the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica’s membership committee.

Smith also knows Spanish and Japanese and has lived in the south of France. She is fluent in French, and said it was a passion she knew she had from a tender age as her mother read French to her as a child. Since that time, her mind was set on living in France.

“People used to laugh at me in high school when I said I wanted to live in Paris, but I lived there, spoke to the people in their language and no one could tell me I didn’t belong there. I had setbacks but I found a way to make it work. If you really want to do something and you are dedicated, you can make it happen. If you have a dream, know that this is what you have to do today to get to the dream and you can get there,” Smith said.

In her spare time, Smith plays tennis, runs, and watches a lot of television, particularly ESPN, which she admits shocks many people.

“It is always a surprise to people that I can play sports. I grew up as a tomboy playing football, cricket, riding bicycles and climbing trees with my older brothers,” she laughed.

She’s also a wine enthusiast and boasts that she’s able to sew and cook.

“I’m always shocked to meet young ladies who can’t sew, simply because it is something I was taught from early. I love wine and I can tell the elements of an aged wine as opposed to a young wine and I also have a pretty good wine collection at home,” she said.

However, she maintains that taking care of children is her utmost passion and she sees the proper care of them as the way forward.

“It has always been said that if you can’t take care of the children of this society, then you’re not going to progress very far as a society,” she said.