Latoya West-Blackwood: Young entrepreneur

SHE’S a 32-year-old wife, daughter, mother, entrepreneur and friend who is passionate about books, reading, publishing, storytelling, genealogy, volunteerism, and who supports several community-based and non-profit initiatives promoting literacy and reading.

In addition, she’s known as Ms English because of her passion for the language, and considers herself an introverted extrovert as she’s often perceived as super serious, but in reality she enjoys laughing and making people laugh.

Latoya West-Blackwood grew up on Rosemount Avenue in Kingston — a cricket ball away from Sabina Park, and tells All Woman that it was here she learnt many life lessons from her late mother Leonie Smythe-Melhado, then a young police officer in the Island Special Constabulary Force who taught her by her actions to dream big, treat people well, be grateful, and never let others define her.

“My mother was born into very humble circumstances and recognised early that she could not make the impact she wanted to if she didn’t dream beyond her reality, being the youngest of 11 children born to small farmers. Though her parents, Aneta and Thomas, were not rich, they were known for their generosity, and my mom made sure to adopt that principle of caring for others and treating people well.

“She was a young, unwed teacher at Coleyville All-Age when she became pregnant with my sister Romayne, and in those days it was like having a scarlet letter attached to your forehead. She overcame some major challenges and discrimination by the sheer will to succeed and benefited from the kindness and mentorship of elders who saw her potential along the way. She taught me extraordinary confidence in myself and also humility in achievement and a life of service. I am forever grateful for her belief in me and my ability to do whatever I put my mind to, as well as her constant encouragement and unconditional love,” West-Blackwood said.

Subsequently, West-Blackwood would draw from these lessons to chart her way through life, moving from pursuing a political science and criminology degree at the University of the West Indies (UWI) to pursuing a career in publishing — the launching pad for her entrepreneurial journey.

“At UWI I discovered that my passion for books and reading could become an actual career. I actually wanted to be a lawyer up to the end of high school at Wolmer’s Girls. But I met Caribbean publishing pioneer Ian Randle while volunteering at a conference with Professor Verene Shepherd and struck up a conversation about publishing which led to my first job in the field under his direct mentorship at the independent publishing house he founded in 1991,” she said.

Since then, she has successfully completed training in various areas of publishing to include editorial, desktop [publishing] and marketing and has attended major international publishing events such as the Frankfurt Book Fair in Germany — an opportunity that came by way of the Caribbean Publishers Network.

Additionally, West-Blackwood holds a certificate from the Joan Duncan School of Entrepreneurship, Ethics and Leadership (University of Technology) in Human Resource Management, and in 2015 completed the Branson Centre of Entrepreneurship Caribbean’s virtual training platform to become an official entrepreneur.

She is also one of the first female founders to be accepted to the Mona Business Support Services Incubator at UWI, run by Dr Sharon Smith, which alongside Jamaica Business Development Corporation (JBDC) offers additional training and other technical support to entrepreneurs.

And, her company, iPublish Consultancy — a full-service publishing consultancy —was the only Caribbean entity represented at the 2014 staging of Innovation Enterprise’s Digital Publishing Summit held in San Francisco.

For West-Blackwood, this accomplishment meant much to her as her company was a few months old and she had barely buried her mother who lost her battle with breast cancer.

“I knew I had to be there at that moment,” she said. “This move set the stage for my participation at the Caribbean’s first Digital Publishing Summit held in 2015 and hosted by the Jamaica Copyright Licensing Agency. You have to work and be prepared for the opportunities that you pray for. I am en route to completing my project management certification in 2017.”

As well as being chairman of the Book Industry Association of Jamaica, West-Blackwood has been selected as one of four finalists from Jamaica in the Young Leader of the Americas competition from a pool of over 4,000 applicants across 30-plus countries in the Caribbean and Latin America.

The initiative was launched during President Obama’s visit to Jamaica in 2015 and represents a genuine acknowledgement of the creativity and innovativeness of youth and entrepreneurs and how they can play a role in transforming whole communities and countries across the region.

She believes in the power of stories and sees storytelling as an effective tool to teach, persuade and understand ourselves.

“You will notice that most developed countries foster and promote a culture of documenting, packaging and distributing their stories; they control the narrative about who they are. That hasn’t always been our reality, and I see my role as a publisher as helping with that effort especially for the sake of our children and youth with impressionable minds who have more access to technology but who are less informed about themselves than perhaps at any other time in history,” she pointed out.

And her community service initiatives are a dime a dozen.

“As a student and member of the Marcus Garvey Movement (UWI, Mona) I worked as a part of teams actively engaging inner-city communities by way of homework and mentorship programmes. I particularly enjoyed working with Mr Michael Black in Rose Town and Mrs Marilyn Nash in Flanker (both now deceased) as they both had a transformational passion for their communities, especially the youth. I have also served on the board of Youth Crime Watch of Jamaica, a youth-led violence prevention movement launched in 2004 by former US Ambassador Sue Cobb, and my work as a palliative care advocate sees me volunteering as of last year with the Palliative Care Association of Jamaica to raise awareness about the need for proper specialised care, facilities, counselling and access for terminally ill people and also support for training health practitioners in this emerging field.”

Her encouragement to other young people is: “Never define your destiny by your current reality. Imagine, dream and ask the universe.”

For other women, particularly female entrepreneurs, West-Blackwood said: “Be deliberate about supporting and mentoring other women and don’t be afraid to make mistakes and to fail. Women sometimes feel the pressure to be perfect in their personal and professional lives; never let the fear of the unknown stop you from pursuing your passion. Be prepared to work, learn and listen.”