Community Builders: Professor Marilyn Douglas-Jones

The work of many women who help to build our community often go unnoticed. I will be doing a series of blogs to recognize the work of some exceptional women in my community and their impact on my life.

“Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man how to fish and you feed him for life” Marilyn Douglas-Jones understands this principle very well and her community service shows that she practices this principle everyday by teaching many young people how to “fish”. I first met Professor Douglas-Jones at a Jamaica Foundation of Houston meeting. I told her about my academic goals to complete my degree and she immediately informed me about many scholarship opportunities, student honor societies and other organizations that could help me realize my goals. She introduced me to organizations which include Phi Theta Kappa, Caribbean Chamber of Commerce, Missouri City Domino Club. She also encouraged me to apply for scholarships available through Phi Theta Kappa, the Jamaica Foundation of Houston, Trinidad and Tobago Association of Houston, the Missouri City Domino Club.

Over the years, whenever I needed guidance in navigating my way through the difficulties of College life, Professor Jones was one of the first numbers I would call to receive advice on the right decisions I needed to make. Professor Jones always gave me the advice I needed to move past that particular obstacle. Many students  have learned valuable life skills through her work at Houston Community College or her involvement in organizations like Phi Theta Kappa, the Jamaica Foundation of Houston, the Caribbean Chamber of Commerce and many other community service organizations in Texas and the Carribean.

Professor Douglas-Jones continues to be active in the Caribbean Community in Houston by being on the executive boards of many Caribbean and Houston based organizations, teaching Caribbean culture, organizing events, advocating for the needs of students and mentoring young people.  

Community Builders: Sijolie Braham

The work of many women who help to build our community often go unnoticed. I will be doing a series of blogs to recognize the work of some exceptional women in my community and their impact on my life.

Sijolie Braham is the founder and president of the Caribbean Chamber of Commerce in Houston. As a leader in the Carribean community of Houston, she uses her platform to educate members of the Caribbean community, especially small business owners on their rights and responsibilities while doing business in Houston, and how to equip themselves to survive in today’s society where skills like computer literacy, knowledge of e-commerce and networking with Houston’s diverse international community.

As President of the Caribbean Chamber of Commerce in Houston, Ms Braham is very active in the Caribbean community. To promote the mission of the Caribbean Chamber of Commerce of Houston which  is “Advocating the Economic Interests and Development of Caribbean Communities in Texas,” she hosts regular meetings, workshops, networking events and Caribbean themed events. She also participates in community development activities  by other organizations such as The Jamaica Foundation of Houston, Missouri city Domino Club, Houston Caribbean festival and many others.

Ms Braham’s mission of serving the community is exemplary to the Caribbean community, especially it’s youth. She works everyday towards seeing her vision of the Caribbean small business owners realizing the resources available to them, recognizing the quiet revolution taking place in the new international commerce center of Houston and taking advantage of the resources. Ms Braham continues to work towards educating and equipping Caribbean nationals with the tools necessary to survive in Houston which is rapidly expanding and developing to accommodate the exponential growth of diversity. This growth in diversity will then promote even more opportunities for trade between caribean small businesses and organizations and countries all over the world. Ms Braham is never too busy to inform individuals who seek her advice on how they can learn the skills required.

Ms Braham can be contacted at the following address:

Caribbean Chamber of Commerce Houston

PO Box 628, Houston, Texas, 77001

www.caribbeanchamber.org

Contact@Caribbeanchamber.org

281-652-8404

Community Builders: Gail Longmore-Chung

The work of many women who help to build our community often go unnoticed. I will be doing a series of blogs to recognize the work of some exceptional women in my community and their impact on my life.

If you look up the word “hardworking” in the dictionary, you may see a picture of Gail Longmore- Chung. This lady is constantly working no matter what the time of day. She gives her time and energy generously to the Caribbean Community. She is actively involved in organizations such as the Jamaica Foundation of Houston, the Montego bay Domino Club, the Caribbean Chamber of Commerce.

Ms Longmore- Chung is also very family oriented and she extends her motherly love to many young people in the Caribbean Community. When I first met Ms Chung, she was one of the people who constantly called me to check up on my progress through college, always alerting me of opportunities for community service, connecting me to resourceful people, sharing advice on how to get things done.

Ms Longmore-Chung is the person that is constantly working behind the scenes while you are sleeping to make sure that things appear to go smoothly during an event. Her commitment to civic responsibilities has earned her the respect  of the Caribbean community in Houston. She ensures that new members of organizations like the Domino Club on which she has served as an executive board member, experience the warm hospitality of the group and stay connected through community service activities and projects. Ms Longmore-Chung is the type of person who will go the extra mile to ensure that new members of the domino club are surrounded with supportive people and are treated like members of her own family, which is the general atmosphere of the Missouri City Domino Club.

As someone who has benefitted from her kindness, I just want to recognize her efforts and let her know how much she is appreciated not only by me but by all the other people whose lives she has touched. 

Community Builders: Gloria Campbell

The work of many women who help to build our community often go unnoticed. I will be doing a series of blogs to recognize the work of some exceptional women in my community and their impact on my life.

Gloria Campbell is someone who understands the true meaning of community service. She has served the Caribbean Community in Texas for many years. A graduate of the Edna Manley Performing School of Arts in Kingston, Jamaica, Ms Campbell finds joy in engaging in Jamaican cultural activities and teaching everyone in her circle about Jamaican culture.

As a member of the Jamaica Foundation of Houston, Ms Campbell is responsible for organizing the Independence gala which brings together over 500 Jamaicans and other members of caribbean community each year to celebrate Jamaica’s independence. Ms Campbell has also helped to organize the JAGA (Jamaica Galveston) Festival in the past as well as other events that foster cultural awareness.

As a member of the Caribbean community, Ms Campbell reached out to me constantly to ensure that I was aware of the resources available to help young people in Houston, and followed up regularly to check on my progress and always had a word of encouragement for me whenever I felt discouraged. She constantly goes the extra mile to share her motherly love with young people, connecting them with leaders in the community or opportunities to help them in their journey towards self sufficiency.

Community Builders: Pauline Miller

The work of many women who help to build our community often go unnoticed. I will be doing a series of blogs to recognize the work of some exceptional women in my community and their impact on my life.

Many girls go through adolescence without suitable role models. As a result some end up pregnant, drop out of school, turn to drugs, alcohol and other negative ways to cope with the changes they are experiencing. Others go through their daily lives struggling to understand the world, confused about the changes in their bodies and the expectations of society on how a “normal” teenage girl should act. I was fortunate to meet Mrs Miller just as I started adolescence and needed a role model and mentor to help guide me through this significant phase of my life. Growing up without my mother who passed away when I was 5 years old, at times I felt alone and I felt like I had no one to talk to and that no one quite understood what I was experiencing. Mrs Miller opened up her home to me, treated me like her own daughter and helped me navigate the roller coaster known as adolescence.

 Mrs Miller worked as an executive secretary at Herbert Morrison Technical High school, under the leadership of principal Lloyd Whinstanley. Mrs Miller was one of the staff members who worked at HMTHS since it started in 1975 and saw the school go through many changes and overcome many obstacles to become the institution it is today.

To help you understand her personality, she can be compared to Michele Obama. She was intelligent, strong, tall, elegant, very straightforward, looked you straight in the eye, commanded your respect and reciprocated that respect. She can be described as the person who works behind the scenes to help the school achieve it’s goals. She is very focused and work oriented. She may be described as quiet by many and a lot of students who may not have interacted with her.  I am very fortunate to have had her as a positive role model in my life. As a young confused, 11 year old, the first thing she taught me was that I should learn to love myself and I should learn to love the color of my skin. She also encouraged me to be confident, to speak up and to always look people in the eye.

Many students may not realize the huge significance of her administrative duties and how her daily work activities had a huge impact on their lives. To put her job function in other words, every major decision that affected HMTHS, every major document that was signed by Mr Whinstanley was either prepared by her or required her signature, her approval on it’s way to or from Mr Whinstanley’s office. She was present at every staff meeting where decisions were made to affect the lives of the students that attended HMTHS. She did all this work quietly behind the scenes. Most students only interacted with her while she was busy at work and so they may only see her as a  serious, hardworking , strict administrator. However for those students who could  catch her on her break, she would greet them with the biggest smile and share encouraging, positive words.

Herbert Morrison has named one of the competitive inter-school sports house “Miller” in her honor. I am very blessed and fortunate to have had Mrs Miller as a role model and I can attribute many positive habits that I now have because she took the time to teach me. She is now retired from HMTHS, but her influence on the lives of students who attended HMTHS while she was there is very evident in their daily lives. 

Community Builders

The work of many women who help to build our community often go unnoticed. I will be doing a series of blogs to recognize the work of some exceptional women in my community and their impact on my life.