Jillian Thomas – Woman power

SHE’S a hardworking entrepreneur who’s passionate about youth and female empowerment. Born and raised in St Andrew, Jillian Thomas, 52, tells All Woman that having been raised in a stable household, she understood the value of having a support system and being self-reliant from an early age.

“I did swimming up until age 14. It required much discipline, a special diet, and constant training and that was my life,” she said.

“I had good parental support as it wasn’t easy being a teen and maintaining such a structure. That support really taught me many of the values I have today.”

And so, using the values taught to chart her course though life, after the sale of her more than two-decade old business Chapeaux Hats, Thomas decided to join her husband — a pastor — in full-time ministry at Emmanuel Apostolic church in order to truly live out one of her passions.

“I was always into ministry, but this time I decided to go into it fully as the church was expanding and there was need for support,” she said.

Subsequently, she made the decision to support the youth and women’s ministry.

“I love to see the transition from a challenged young person to one who is excelling,” she said. “The youth are the forgotten group. Sometimes they are misunderstood and it’s often not just what you see on the surface. A lot of them have been abused, a lot of them have had challenges growing up, and that’s why they manifest what they do.”

Thomas has also raised many children who are not biologically hers and recently took on the task of raising two young girls who lost their mother to cancer last year.

“They attended the church and I knew their mother well. I also knew that if I didn’t step in they would not be able to continue their education. So we decided to take them in and finance the rest of their education and provide a home for them.”

Thomas, who holds a first degree in international relations from Howard University, has also helped to spearhead programmes in favour of the young people at her church to help them with personal development.

“At the end of every year we have a thing called Face-to-Face where we allow young people an opportunity to express themselves, talk about their problems, solve them and have a face-to- face encounter with God,” she said.

“We also have a programme called Incubator where we take out young people we see with leadership qualities, give them a one-year training course to help them hone their leadership skills, and help them formulate a personal development plan and set short, medium and long-term plans for their lives. Every now and then we assess them and they see if they are meeting the targets,” she said.

She added that she also enjoys dealing with tough topics such as relationship and sexuality issues as many young people wear masks which they just need help to remove.

As head of the church’s women’s department, she channels the message of women holding their own.

“I believe Jamaican women sometimes feel they have no life unless they have a man or someone looking after them. I believe women can be empowered and educated. Have your own money, not to wave it, but empower yourself and feel self-worth. While I believe in godly submission, I’ve seen women stay in marriages or situations because they had no other choice. If they just had something [of their own] to go to it would be better.”

Also the managing director of Chewsdays Restaurant in Portmore, Thomas believes in not allowing your circumstances to determine your outlook on life.

“I lost a parent three years ago and it changed my thinking. Life is short. I also had a bout with thyroid cancer last year and that changed my perspective and outlook. But I recognised that God is in control — He gives life and He takes life. It was very hard and I went through my pity party for the first aspect, then I had to grab myself and say, ‘I’m alive’. God can choose to heal me but if He doesn’t I still have to live life to its fullest and I’m doing great,” she said.