K Elizabeth Cuff: A passion to educate, empower, inspire

SHE is a client relationship professional with a passion to educate, empower and inspire others.

Born in Spanish Town but raised in Mount Moriah, St Ann, K Elizabeth Cuff, now 40 years old, tells All Woman that she was always interested in helping people to develop, pursue their passions, manifest their dreams and execute their visions.

A student at Bishop Gibson High in Manchester before moving to Spanish Town where she attended St Jago High, Cuff was an active member of clubs like the Girl Guides, the Red Cross, and the Students Council.

After leaving high school, she completed an electrical engineering degree with focus on technical education at the University of Technology. It was during her teaching practice that Cuff’s desire to help people reach their true potential was fulfilled.

“I realised these students were more than bodies; they had wants and needs. It was a class of boys and they were excited about having a female teacher. So I would use the last five minutes of each class to have a discussion leaning towards issues like why we don’t do name calling, why it’s important not to hurt other people’s feelings, important to respect diversity, and they would look forward to it. This marked my teaching career. Apart from [teaching] lessons, I was moulding lives for the future; I was helping to unearth what was in them that they didn’t realise.”

This heightened Cuff’s zeal to motivate people, especially young men and teenagers. She realised that if coached the right way, they would maximise their potential.

In 2007, after a series of stints between corporate Jamaica and the classroom, Cuff took a job at Greater Portmore High which lasted five years, and which strengthened her resolve to do more for young people.

“While there, I was part of a team that introduced math, had students sitting in grade nine and passing. I introduced physics and taught it; we had students getting grade one. What was novel for me was impacting lives. It meant putting in hours in extra lessons on weekends and holidays. Many colleagues said I was wasting my time, but I believe people rise to what you expect of them. If you have a low expectancy, they’ll come up to that, but if you believe they can rise, they’ll also come up to that,” she said.

“I’ve kept relationships with students, and it’s comforting when I see them reach [certain] places and say, ‘Miss, remember you told me I could do it; look at me now’, after others said they wouldn’t amount to anything. You’re sowing [seeds of hope] into lives. For me that was buying books, paying for exams; the majority couldn’t pay for extra classes, and the money that one and two paid was used to buy lunch and give bus fare to others who couldn’t afford it,” she shared.

But in 2012, another opportunity in corporate Jamaica presented itself, and Cuff left to join J Wray and Nephew, where she is now a team leader.

Affectionately called Kaye, Cuff, who also holds a Bachelor of Science degree in counselling, aspires to be an author and has served as an administrator, educator, counsellor, trainer, community liaison officer, motivational speaker, customer service supervisor and coach.

A lover of cooking, baking, reading, games and gardening, Cuff is currently a member of the St Catherine chapter of Caribbean Women Honours and Empowerment, which has its parent group Black Women Honours and Empowerment in Canada and seeks to celebrate, unite and empower women across the globe. She recently served as a motivational speaker for the combined chapter ‘Empower Her’ event, which focused on negotiating 21st century relationships.

Although now out of the classroom, she has worked with the Church Urban Renewal Enterprise in Rose Town and Hope for Children, where she helped with summer camps for young people in volatile areas, offering play therapy, career counselling and career modelling.

Additionally, Cuff has taught part-time with HEART TRUST/NTA, worked with the March Pen Road Church of the Nazarene Community Counselling Initiative, taught mathematics with New Life Worship Centre International, and assisted with the Career Advancement Programme when it was launched.

She remains determined to keep strong, and encourages young people to strike a balance.

“I had the painful experience of getting pregnant and losing the baby. It was gut-wrenching, but it caused me to strive for balance,” she said.

Cuff added: “My motto is if you touch one life, that one life can influence five other persons, and if those five other persons influence five others, it would become better, and exponentially we’re looking at a better world.”