OWL-Preneurs Series
A showcase of the budding Entrepreneurs in the Faculty of Humanities and Education
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The English Tutor
Written by: Roshielle Powell
Setting the stage with her determined, ambitious and innovative personality, Breon Barnett stands tall, as a hardworking, independent young woman; striving to the top and achieving her goals as a successful entrepreneur. For as long as she can remember, she has always been a lover of the English Language.
“I love English. Ever since growing up English has always been my favorite subject. I would always do well regardless of the topics or activities and I would always help people to do well.”
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With this drive and motivation, she questioned how she would be able to use her gift in a way that could both enhance herself and other students. With that in mind, she decided the best way to achieve that goal was creating an English Tutoring business.
Through one-on-one interactions, Breon’s tutoring business sets itself apart, by providing a pleasant and comfortable environment for her students to enjoy themselves while learning. As a result of her unique mindset towards teaching, her students can easily interact with her while experiencing a cluster-free learning environment with full access to information they need.
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As a young entrepreneur dealing with younger persons, it gives her students confidence to express their matters and weaknesses to her. This creates a better teacher-student relationship, enabling her students to better grasp the concepts of the English Language.
Her vision is to use this business as a way to help students become better versions of themselves through the English Language. It is her goal to expand her business into a fully developed institution, where like-minded individuals passionate about English and helping others can also become tutors.
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“I plan on having a building where students can come into a place where they feel welcomed and comfortable to learn English a lot better.”
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As a way to proceed with lessons during the pandemic, Barnett conducts her tutoring sessions online through Zoom, Google Meets, Google Classroom or any online platform that is preferred by her students. With her university classes being held online as well, sometimes she might experience clashes with her tutoring sessions.
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However, Barnett still manages to overcome these challenges. As a student and an entrepreneur, she makes sure to plan and ensure she has time allotted for both her students and her personal life.
For Barnett, the most rewarding thing about being a student entrepreneur is seeing the accomplishments of her students, and being able to bring across that light in their lives.
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“‘Brii, I got 90%. Brii, I got 100%. Brii, I passed my CXC with 1s’, those stuff warm my heart because it’s not about the money, all this is beyond what money can pay for,”
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If you aspire to become an entrepreneur, Barnett encourages you to go for it.
“As long as it is important to you, push it! Watch what no one else is seeing. Think about what no one else is doing. Look at where no one else is going. Just have your mind focused on what you want and you will reach it!”
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Contact Barnett at (876) 793-6760 or email her at the1english.tutor@gmail.com for more information on The English Tutor.
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ECEM Major Feature Article
By Ruth-Ann Briscoe
There are countless majors at the Humanities and Education Faculty and in today’s article, we will be getting to know about the life of an Entertainment and Cultural Enterprise Management (ECEM) major. While applying for the University of the West Indies, our featured student had no idea what career they wanted to pursue and selected ECEM as their major as it seemed like the most interesting degree being offered. Her interest was to pursue a degree in something that she was interested in and after starting the major, she realised that the creative industry is something she loves and would like to see improvements in.
After officially being a student pursuing the ECEM degree, there are a few are misconceptions about the field she noted. She thinks people feel like anyone can do entertainment and be successful in it as having the talent to dance, sing etc is not all it takes. She states it's a business and regardless of talent, if individuals are not business-minded or have someone business-minded around them then they'll only go so far, as it is as serious as any other industry and not just a hobby. ECEM is not a degree that trods the non-traditional path and the ECEM major stated that traditional careers are overrated and persons frown on these careers because they're afraid of change. She says they fail to see the importance of non-traditional careers as when they're stressed, sad and want to feel better or simply want to have fun they have these careers to facilitate them. She thinks that taking a non-traditional path is a “badass” thing to do as they are knowledgable of the fact that the odds are against them but still take the few resources they have and surpass all expectations.
Outside of listening to music and readingo books abut the lives of artists, she has a full 9 to 5 job and because of that, she reads whenever she gets the chance to and on her days off. Like a lot of students, our ECEM major says as it relates to her career goals and aspirations, her interests are media and intellectual property management but still doesn't have it pinned down to a final thing and hopes for inspiration soon. She does however look forward to reshaping how the entertainment industry is seen and diversifying the activities pursued Jamaica. She believes the opportunities are abundant, even in spite of the coronavirus. For example, although live events have shut down, that's just one aspect of entertainment; there's still film, food, music, gaming etc. She believes the Jamaican society focuses on music and live performances more than anything right now and wants that to change.
Study Tips and Encouragement
You know this isn’t a proper article if we didn’t ask ECEM about study tips for all of us to consider. Here is what she said, “I think you need to figure yourself out before you listen to advice from anyone else. You know yourself and what works for you, so do that. If you have to write to remember, do that. If your a visual learner, draw whatever you need... start early. Don't under or overestimate yourself. Keep working hard but don't be too hard on yourself. And don't watch anyone else's results, focus on yourself and your own progress. We're in the middle of a pandemic, and no one really knows what's going on so just do your best and you'll be fine.”
After reading hearing from our ECEM major, do you think you want to take on a course for your free elective this semester?
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The Raw Reality Behind Being a Creative
A look into the life of Shanice Natty
By Natalia Downer
From developing a love for singing through karaoke and competitions to doing unconscious voice training in the shower, Shanice Natty has now taken control of her voice and has begun to take control of her Instagram platform.
Blessed with not only a voice but also the ability to “write bodies of word,” Natty has found a way to mix her poetry writing within her musical craft.
Shanice can proudly boast being a registered songwriter with Broadcast Music Inc. and has plans to slowly work her way up to professional singing. However, she did not start off thinking that she would be in this position at 19 years old, with an experimental IGTV series, “Natty’s Room” behind her.
Music influenced her state of being, starting out as a way to comfort for her.
“As I grew older, singing became my safe haven quite literally. It’s naturally therapeutic and I use it and writing as means of expression for whatever is going on in my life for however I’m feeling,” she states.
Shanice’s efforts do not end with singing and writing, however, as she has yet another talent to offer. As a matter of fact, drawing - along with singing - began her creative journey and has now blossomed into digital designing.
This is one passion that she later plans to explore further and more professionally, but “that’s an incubating part of me,” she states. Therefore, just as she waits for her genius to hatch, we too must wait patiently to be pleasantly surprised when she is ready. She certainly does not have all her eggs in one basket.
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How She Views Creativity
As someone so talented and multifaceted one would never expect Shanice Natty to struggle with identifying herself as being a ‘creative’. Whereas this may be the case, she has not denied that she loves and is, herself, art. She also has not shied away from forming her own views on what creativity means to her.
“[It] is interpreting what’s in front of you in a million different ways, and what’s in front of you could be a concept, a building, a recipe, a way of life, an assignment. I think it’s being able to welcome diverse perspectives on one thing.”
Shanice also believes that creativity is a blend of many things. She claims that her best work comes from “a combination of complete, focused, chaotic and beautiful energy.” She sees creativity as “a muscle [that] can be flexed.”
Her Realistic Struggles
Miss Natty has pursued many endeavours and accomplishments, however, this does not mean that she has everything under control. As it happens, her “overwhelming imposter syndrome” has control over her.
Although she welcomes external criticism as a good sign that her work evokes reactions, she does not judge her own work and prefers to keep herself out of the spotlight. Shanice is aware of the vulnerability that it takes to share her work with the world
“Best to not mix the personal and professional, even in Art,” she said.
However, rest assured that Shanice is working on believing in herself and still opts to be vulnerable with her audience through her lyrics and poems as she says that type of work is usually the best an artist can put out. She even wrote a poem, “Move On”, describing her growth in thought regarding this.
Through her creative journey, Shanice has learnt quite the lesson.
“If you’re trying to create your own name and find your niche, comparing yourself to something or someone that already exists, defeats the whole purpose of your intention and it’s also a big time-wasting distraction.”