Charmaine Brimm – Quality leadership

CHARMAINE Brimm is a passionate, hard-working visionary who is interested in empowering people to better their lives through community interaction and nation-building.

Born and raised in Kingston, Brimm told

All Woman that her father would refer to her as ‘barrister’ even when she was quite young, and this made her want to become an attorney-at-law. But when she enrolled at Convent of Mercy (Alpha) Academy and became involved in service clubs, her focus began to change.

“Joining the high school Key Club, being student council representative, I had exposure to community service. I realised I liked it. I liked planning projects and seeing growth in the community, but while I was doing it I wasn’t focused on knowing what my career path would be,” she said.

However, when she began her studies at the University of the West Indies (UWI), she got involved in the UWI Quality Leadership Programme where she held the position of assistant project coordinator. She said this required that she identify a community project and work on it.

Although she was still unsure about her career path, Brimm next served as programme associate with the United Nations Development Programme on two projects — the Jamaica Violence Prevention Peace and Sustainable Development Programme and the International Labour Office/United States Department of Labour HIV/AIDS Workplace Education Project, where she assisted in the implementation of the HIV/AIDS programme in several corporate organisations.

When she began working in her current position as consultant technical specialist with portfolio responsibility for socio-economic development at the Planning Institute of Jamaica, she understood her impact at the community level.

“I’m representing children, men, women, different issues, and it’s about their preparedness for employment, how persons build their business capacity, and funding. It keeps me aware and abreast of what’s happening on the ground and what’s happening nationally. What I do helps me to bring change or be a part of the change — helping to empower people. A big part of achieving this growth agenda is entrepreneurship, and if you look at who our entrepreneurs are, it’s these community persons. If we could just streamline what they do, we would realise how much they are impacting at the top. There has to be a cohesion between mainstream society and this parallel society. Although I may not be a lawyer, I’m still in a position to advocate for people and implement policies,” she declared.

Armed with an MBA from the University of Leicester, England, and a BSc in public administration with a minor in political science, plus a certificate in management studies from UWI, Brimm has been a volunteer with City Life Ministries for the past 10 years, working in the Southside, Parade Gardens community with youth and adolescents, as well as men and women.

“My thesis focused on entrepreneurship, and these walk-throughs and interactions with business people in this community have really helped me with it. This is the community that provided me with the greatest opportunity to give back. We have classes on Saturday mornings for the little children and we develop relationships with the community, and… over time people started opening up. We also have had a couple of outreach programmes for the students, and from the perspective of my job, I’m able to bring relevant services to the community so they can build their capacity in skills training, doing business plans, and creating linkages,” she said.

A Christian for over 16 years, Brimm is big on female empowerment and believes in being able to find the balance.

“Growing up, there were a lot of challenges and they affected my relationships outside of home. The way those things affected me, when I interact with other women I find that there are commonalities. As women we love to multitask and take on a lot, but it is important to find the balance,” she said.

She has also worked with Whole Life Ministries and the Build Jamaica Foundation in the capacities of project manager and personal assistant, where she led the development and implementation of several community projects.

Not only has Brimm served as a presiding officer in two of Jamaica’s general elections, she has also been a delegate for Jamaica to the People’s Republic of China for a seminar on scientific and technological innovation capacity and policies of the bamboo industry for Latin America, the Caribbean and the South Pacific Region, and most recently has attended the regional World Congress of Families conference in Barbados.

She currently sits on several project steering committees — the Peckham bamboo pre-processing project committee, the Kingston Redevelopment Committee, Rose Town Community Development, the Bamboo and Indigenous Materials Advisory Committee, and the Environmental Health Foundation Renewable Energy Project Committee, which will supply renewable energies to community centres.

When not involved in work, Brimm enjoys church duties, hanging out with her friends, reading and spending time with the

Bible. As such, she believes wholeheartedly in Philippians 4:13 — I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.