Jodianne Murdock — Success from scratch

AROUND her neck you’ll see a pendant of a red stiletto, and on her feet, a replica is worn, signifying her dedication to standing tall, looking good, being bold and successful.

In addition, she’s spontaneous, adventurous, passionate, caring and is keen on inspiring young adults to own their successes.

She is 33-year-old Jodianne Murdock, entrepreneur and CEO of Zedoj Group of Companies, which does weddings and events.

Born in Linstead, St Catherine, but raised in Brown’s Town, St Ann, Murdock told All Woman that as a child her interest was in racing as she witnessed her dad, a racecar driver, have fun while participating in the sport.

As a result, Murdock’s spare time as a child was spent in Orange Park, St Ann, or Dover Raceway, and paved the way for her participation in the activity and membership with 876 Racing.

Though she had a strong interest in racing, which has followed through to adulthood, Murdock, a past student of St Hilda’s High and Westwood High, wanted to do other things.

“I went to Brown’s Town Community College, started, and then got a scholarship to New College, Nottingham, and moved to England where I did media and production. The degree focused on TV, radio, website designing, editing, producing, but I capitalised more on the graphics side and built my own websites and designed my own flyers for whatever I was doing,” she said.

Upon her return to Jamaica at 19 years old, Murdock decided to travel and started on the cruise lines where she spent six years sailing on the high seas, did six world cruises, and became the youngest excursion manager on board.

She said: “This was a new experience, but it moulded me into the professional I wanted to be.”

Following that stint, Murdock returned home in 2010, got married and began working at Digicel before resigning and started her own business.

Murdock recalled that while travelling at age 19 she had met a tour guide in India who offered to read her future. She admits that while she does not subscribe to such superstitions, she obliged.

“He said at the age of 32 you’re going to be a very successful businesswoman. All that came through before getting to age 32. After starting my business, we had won five awards from international company Wedding Wire, we do an average of 100 weddings per year, we are the contract décor and floral partners for Moon Palace Jamaica, and we have done the July 4 celebrations for the US Embassy four times,” she said.

But Murdock said though she saw the capital coming, she wondered, “Is this success?” and felt she needed to share and inspire other young people and entrepreneurs on their journey.

“I wanted to share how I got through on my journey to enjoy what is now success for me. If I can do it, they can too,” she said.

“I haven’t graduated from anywhere my entire life. In primary school teachers went on strike, it didn’t happen. In high school I was told I wasn’t good enough to graduate. In college, when I was finished with studies I just wanted to come home. I say this to say many times we deny people little things that crush them and hinder their growth. It never hindered mine, but I have seen where people don’t bounce back from little things such as these and I want to encourage them to push past the roadblocks. No one has ever asked me for a graduation certificate ever.”

Last September Murdock took the decision to use the events planning aspect of her business to host her first seminar — Red Tie and Stilettos — where she utilised a panel of people who built their successes from scratch to empower young professionals to do the same.

This year the conference, dubbed RTS (Red Tie and Stilettos) Weekend, will take place at Riu Hotels and Resorts in Ocho Rios and will span three days from September 28 to 30.

It will kick off with a beach party; day two will be a symposium featuring speakers such as Davina Bennett, Kimberly Patterson, Melissa Blake, Soyini Phillips, Alwyn Brown, Steffan-Chad Haughton, Zenmar Kellier; and day three will feature a coffee session titled ‘CEO Discussions’ with Gary Matalon.

“Everybody wants to empower and motivate. On my panel it’s not mostly established people. What people often look at are high names to use as a marker to say whether they will attend. But the difference is, the masses often think some of the high names aren’t reachable. My panellists are all young people who started from scratch who will share their journey, ways and means to success,” she said. “Young people love to party and that’s why we combined it. So, we start them off on a high then guide them into a relaxed session with Gary Matalon on the third day.”

In her current spare time, Murdock races and spends time with her family — husband Kenito and daughters Maya and Morgan.

She is also a big advocate for proper nutrition for children, especially those with Type 2 diabetes, following the diagnosis of her two-year-old with Type 1.

“More time is spent at home with family as we try to remain normal and happy. We had no choice in the two-year-old, but it opened my eyes to type 2 in children. Now we must watch the six-year-old to ensure her diet remains healthy. It has changed our lifestyle and outlook on health and well-being,” she said.

Murdock lives by the philosophy: “You haven’t got to where you need to be unless you help someone who can in turn help somebody.”

For young professionals she has one message: “Go for it. You are never too small to be noticed. Step out of the box and excel.”