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Malahoo Forte - a woman for our time
JEAN LOWRIE-CHIN
Monday, July 20, 2009
Halfway through a Women's Leadership Initiative (WLI) advocacy meeting a few years ago, we realised that we had not designated a note-taker. Not a problem for Mrs Malahoo Forte who immediately volunteered and gave us a flawless report. On another occasion she prepared a comprehensive presentation for our group on inheritance matters, which was a real eye-opener. Here, we realised, was an individual of high intellect who was no prima donna.
We were not surprised to hear that she was one of 18 selected from a field of over 900 exceptional young leaders to win a place in the Yale World Fellows Programme. As if that were not enough, she was selected immediately after completion, for the Mason Fellows Programme at Harvard University Kennedy School of Government - a unique segue for a "country girl" who spent most of her early years in the western Jamaican town of Savanna-la-mar.
The culture of that venerable old school Mannings where young Marlene Malahoo was head girl, has never failed to fascinate me. It was the first free school in Jamaica, built in 1738 on lands with funds bequeathed by a planter, Thomas Manning. I always looked admiringly at my relatives in their Mannings uniform, stopping by our little shop in Sav-la-mar. They were so well spoken, so focused on excellence.
This is the Mannings, born of a maverick's vision, which produced our fine new senator and state minister who recalls doing as much outreach work as study at her school. As Owen James said at her swearing-in at King's House last Wednesday, "She is quite a catch." Yes, we have heard the complaints about big government and I agree that some trimming can be done elsewhere, but Jamaica, Malahoo Forte is a rare talent and this is a time when we need the most capable hands on deck.
"My fellowship at Yale in 2007 (the Yale World Fellows Programme) focused on global challenges and the kind of leadership required to tackle some of the most pressing problems today," she says. "I also looked at the area of corruption, democracy and development."
From Yale she went on to Harvard. "One of my Yale professors suggested the Mason Fellow Programme," she says. At Harvard she studied public administration, public policy and management, concentrating in political advocacy and leadership.
JEAN LOWRIE-CHIN
Monday, July 20, 2009
Halfway through a Women's Leadership Initiative (WLI) advocacy meeting a few years ago, we realised that we had not designated a note-taker. Not a problem for Mrs Malahoo Forte who immediately volunteered and gave us a flawless report. On another occasion she prepared a comprehensive presentation for our group on inheritance matters, which was a real eye-opener. Here, we realised, was an individual of high intellect who was no prima donna.
We were not surprised to hear that she was one of 18 selected from a field of over 900 exceptional young leaders to win a place in the Yale World Fellows Programme. As if that were not enough, she was selected immediately after completion, for the Mason Fellows Programme at Harvard University Kennedy School of Government - a unique segue for a "country girl" who spent most of her early years in the western Jamaican town of Savanna-la-mar.
The culture of that venerable old school Mannings where young Marlene Malahoo was head girl, has never failed to fascinate me. It was the first free school in Jamaica, built in 1738 on lands with funds bequeathed by a planter, Thomas Manning. I always looked admiringly at my relatives in their Mannings uniform, stopping by our little shop in Sav-la-mar. They were so well spoken, so focused on excellence.
This is the Mannings, born of a maverick's vision, which produced our fine new senator and state minister who recalls doing as much outreach work as study at her school. As Owen James said at her swearing-in at King's House last Wednesday, "She is quite a catch." Yes, we have heard the complaints about big government and I agree that some trimming can be done elsewhere, but Jamaica, Malahoo Forte is a rare talent and this is a time when we need the most capable hands on deck.
"My fellowship at Yale in 2007 (the Yale World Fellows Programme) focused on global challenges and the kind of leadership required to tackle some of the most pressing problems today," she says. "I also looked at the area of corruption, democracy and development."
From Yale she went on to Harvard. "One of my Yale professors suggested the Mason Fellow Programme," she says. At Harvard she studied public administration, public policy and management, concentrating in political advocacy and leadership.
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