Smarts, Guts, Luck

These are the keys to entrepreneurial success according to Anthony Tjan. Named by the World Economic Forum as a Global Leader for Tomorrow, Tjan reeled off so many witty and insightful observations I was scrambling for my pen to take notes. Notable phrases included: willingness to accept rejection, value creation not value capture and collective intelligence.

The entrepreneurial spirit need not be inspired, it can be inherited too. Christopher and Donahue Jarrett, sons of Terrence Jarrett founder of the Altamont Court Hotel are evidence of this. Two of four sons actively involved in the business, Christopher and Donahue have overseen the expansion of the brand into Montego Bay and have visions for further expansion across the island and even internationally. As nominees for the Observer Business Leader awards, we are sure their vision will become reality.

With the business out of the way, Smile Jamaica became a cultural explosion with representatives from Mexico, Cuba and South Africa.

Leo Williams and Eleanor Williams-Figaro are both members of the Jamaican South Africa Friendship Association. The group is promoting stronger relationships between the two nations leading up to and beyond the World Cup event in 2010. Jamaicans are encouraged to travel to South Africa and stay in bed and breakfast type facilities to enjoy a true South African experience.

Tazmoye Crawford and Imogene Reid are both participants in the Jamaican-Cuban Food and Art Festival this Saturday at the Police Officers Club in Kingston. Sadly, there was no food in studio, but there was a beautiful display of jewelry from both countries.

Her Excellence Ambassador Senora Leonora Rueda, Mexican Ambassador to Jamaica stopped by to address a concern on everyone’s mind, Swine Flu. The ambassador outlined the various steps the Mexican government was taking to contain the spread of the Swine Flu pandemic that has spread around the world, from Mexico. She noted that the economy of the Central American country will be shattered by the fall in tourism as a result of the drug wars and now the swine flu.

Dr. Sonia Copeland, Director of Disease Prevention and Control at the Ministry of Health acknowledged that the swine flu was cause for concern, but not worry. She encouraged us to wash our hands and exercise “cough etiquette” as we would with any potential flu outbreak during out Ten Minutes to Your Health feature.

Crisis averted, we turned to celebration with L’Antoinette Stines. Her outfit, L’Acadco marks its 25th year with a showcase at the Philip Sherlock Centre for the Creative Arts this weekend under the theme PASSION:fruit

Surf the Web, Travel The World

We all know that the internet is a vast repository of information, with an emphasis on vast. We took the time to visit and review some websites, so that you don’t have to. And, if you are going to be travelling around Jamaica or the world, here are some of the best sites for you to check out.

Where do you want to go
First things first, you will need to pick your destination. For touring Jamaica, I recommend:

http://www.attractions-jamaica.com/
http://jamaica-guide.info/

For touring the world, I recommend:
www.expedia.com
www.travelocity.com

Before you go, you have to check the weather, in Jamaica visit:
http://www.metservice.gov.jm/
http://www.weather.com/

Organise it all and tell your friends with:
http://www.tripit.com/
www.checkmytrip.com
www.virtuallythere.com

Then, hit the road or the airport while tracking your trip on:
http://maps.google.com/



If you could go anywhere on the planet, where would you go and why?




Tell us about it using the internet:
Interface with us:
Online: www.carlettedeleon.com
On email: famefm@rjrgroup.com
On SMS: 878-FAME

Next on Tech Time ... Websites every parent should know about

Facing Your Fears

I would not say I am afraid of snakes, but they are not my best friends either. Nevertheless, I put on a brave face and big smile when I sat down with Snake Tamer Tammy Duperrouzel for our regular pet feature. Tammy’s pet boa constrictor and I got really ‘chummy’ on the set. I am just glad that the snake didn’t confuse me with a live white mouse, which is its meal of choice.

Having a snake slither up my arm on live TV is hard to top, but with impending gas riots, we were happy to hear from the Hon. Andrew Holness on what precautions the government was taking to protect life and property following the reading of the budget. Of course, Mr. Holness has his own set of problems – angry teachers demanding retroactive pay and angry tax payers demanding accountability.

Speaking of government initiatives, Executive Director of TPDCo Earl Patrick and Jamaica Pegasus Manager Nancy McLean glowingly elaborated on the first annual Tourism Service Excellence Awards. (By the way, Nancy is a nominee.) The JTB has billed the event as the tourism Oscars and is designed to recognize the persons, not the institutions that play a part in making Jamaica special. Good luck to all the nominees.

There is no denying that tourists love Jamaica for our food, we have some of the most creative culinary specialists in the world, including Nicholas Douglas. Pamela Powell delighted Neville with Tuna Run Down while giving the details of the upcoming Festival of Foods competitions island wide.

It would be good to get more kids involved with the culinary arts, especially adolescents. They are a tricky group that are often neglected by the medical fraternity; too old for a pediatrician but too young for a GP. This is exactly the concern that will be addressed at a conference hosted by the Pediatric Association of Jamaica under the theme: Growth, risks and tears: The Adolescent Years.

Kids tend to be internet savvy, so we moved online to explore two great Jamaica based opportunities in cyberspace. The first is referred to as Cyber Vendexing; RGD is training individuals to processing document applications online as a business. The second is Virtual Mall Jamaica; small business owners can secure a turnkey solution to selling their products on the internet.

Be An Internet Star

So, you have dabbled a little bit online and you are ready to take it to the next level ... to be an international internet phenomenon. Good of you, here’s what you do ...

Network, network, network
Make sure you are on and updating your account on the most popular internet sites such as:

• YouTube
• MySpace
• Flickr
• Facebook
• Blogspot
• Triod
• PRWeb

Be creative
Anything (or nothing) can make you an e-celebrity. A not-so-simple rant online, an embarrassing picture, an unusual talent, anything.

Push It
First things first, use every relevant and popular tag you can think of. Then, tell everyone you know and ask them to tell everyone they know

Be prepared
Criticism comes with the territory, so be prepared to not take yourself too seriously and enjoy your 15 clicks of fame.

Interface with us:
Online: www.carlettedeleon.com
On email: famefm@rjrgroup.com
On SMS: 876-878-FAME

Facinating Women

We may no longer have a female Prime Minister, but women still have a big role is society. We had a cadre of fascinating and engaging women on the show this morning and a few men too.

Sonia Fuller juggles family and work with elegance and grace. It's debatable weather having her husband and children work at the office makes it easier or harder. CEO/Dad Steadman, IT Guru/Daughter Shauna, Accountant/Son Junior and of course Sonia joined us as part of our continuing series on Observer Business Leader Award nominees.

I was always fascinated by Sharon Feanny and Lisa Sanfilippo. As the brainchild behind the Shakti Mind Body Fitness yoga centre, Sharon invited Lisa to demonstrate Anusara yoga. Breathing is a big part of yoga and as Lisa showed us, so is flexibility.

Whew! All that stretching and breathing got us thirsty and Patrice Wislon-McHugh was on hand to custom mix some cocktails (for me) and mocktails (for Neville). Patrice used her certified mixologist training to start her our very successful bar service business, Bars to Go. And then, she expanded that business to catering, Gourmet to Go. Woman power!

Thanks to Digicel, we had cake ... to celebrate their 8th anniversary. Sponsorship Manager Shelly Ann Curran and "Babie" delivered a cake so beautiful, we almost, almost didn't want to cut in to it.

Trudy Williams came by to tell us about the upcoming UTech Track and Field Classic this weekend. Local and international star athletes will compete in the second annual expanded event. Trudy could compete and win herself if they had sprint or marathon speaking events.

Young talent QQ took us to the end of the show. Noticably taller, the still very young entertainer let us know that he has been focused on school and not the stage. He beleives that it is important to have an education, before he relaunches his music career in a big way in a few years. Were you impressed with the young star? Post a comment and let me know.

Know the Lingo

Welcome to the new age. Kids and their parents, gamers and programmers, you and me all need to be multi-lingual. Ok, maybe is not a whole other language, but knowing the lingo is critical for social networking, instant messaging, texting and a whole range of digital applications.

Let get real, in our fast paced world, who has time to learn how to spell?!

So, where can you get the 411? A great place to start is www.noslang.com. Learn more at:

• Parents' Primer to Instant Messaging Slang
• Chat Slang Dictionary
• Cracking the code of teens' IM slang

Let’s start with the basics:

LOL – Laugh out loud
OMG – Oh my gosh
BRB – Be right back
TTYL – Talk to you later
BTW – By the way
IDK – I don’t know
ASAP – As soon as possible
CYA – See ya
K – Okay
MWA – muwah, kissing sound
OIC – Oh, I see
PLS or PLZ – Please
PPL – People
ROFL – Rolling on floor laughing
THX – Thanks
UR – Your
XOXO – hugs and kisses
L8R – Later *

For parents:
CD9 – Code 9, parents around
G2G – Got to go
PAW – Parents are watching
POS – Parent over shoulder
w4r3z or Warez – illegal software available for download

Leetspeek, or leet for short (a vernacular form of "elite") is a specific type of computer slang where a user replaces regular letters with other keyboard characters to form words phonetically—creating the digital equivalent of pig Latin with a twist of hieroglyphics. Numbers are often used as letters. Non-alphabet characters can be used to replace the letters they resemble. Letters can be substituted for other letters that may sound alike.

Interface with us:
Online: carletteonfamefm.blogspot.com
On email: famefm@rjrgroup.com
On SMS: 878-FAME

Taking responsibility

I learned a lot on Smile Jamaica this morning, and the theme that stood out for me was, "take responsibility". Take responsibility for the care of our eyes, our community, our future, for our very lives.

First up, Neville and I had an 'eye opening' discussion with Dr. Woo-Lawson, President of the Jamaica Optometric Association. She revealed that there are unregistered and untrained persons treating eye patients. According to the doctor, this disturbing practice results in a small fine of JMD $40, so she encouraged patients to be aware of the certification of their eye professionals and report any misrepresentation to her association.

It is not easy to do the right thing, but these two make it look easy. Colonel William Walker and Lt. Loneshia Reid both volunteered for US military service and the Beyond The Horizon mission to Jamaica. While here, they have partnered with the Jamaica Defense Force and the Ministry of Health to establish and support health centres across the island.

We too can make an investment in our future by recycling. D'Arcey Crooks, Executive Director of the Protect the Environment Trust shared some startling facts on the impact of millions of PET plastic bottles on our environment. There is hope however, we initiate and develop a culture of recycling, not for profit, but for our future.

Saving your eye, your country or your future are all impressive. Equally impressive is saving a life. Giving blood saves lives! Sandra Brown-Thomas and Joylene Griffith-Irving informed us about the Scotiabank Blood Drive kicking off next Thursday.

Prime Minster Bruce Golding gave up 15% of his salary, unilaterally implemented a wage freeze and shuffled his cabinet making for a most interesting week in politics. Political commentator Kim-Marie Spence broke down the reasons and implications for us.

Of course, Smile Jamaica wouldn’t be Smile Jamaica without a little fun. For that, we had Digicel Rising Stars finalists SLR perform two original singles, Oscar B to invite us of Carnival Time and stunt riders Jeff Ferris and Matt Sager to chat about the Mountain Dew Bike Stunt Show.

Inspiration in Many Ways

I was most impressed by the life and work of Guyanese fashion designer Donna Ramsammy. She was beautiful, confident and full of stories from a lifetime of worldwide travel. Each city she lived in or visited influenced her distinctive clothing designs, samples of which adorned three models also from Guyana on our set. The designer, her designs, and the models will give a full showcase at the Classic El Dorado event presented by Bishop Gibson High School poolside the Senior Common Room at UWI this Saturday at 5 PM.

I was equally impressed by the talents of little Jamielle Gilmon, former JCDC Children Gospel Competition winner. That little girl has an amazing set of pipes. At the finals this Saturday at the Ranny Williams Entertainment Centre starting at 6 PM, young contestants will be judged on several criteria under the theme ‘Celebrating Children in Ministry’.

In keeping with the theme of exceptional individuals, I had a chance to chat with Courtney Murray and his mother Joan – Observer Business Leader Awards nominees. In their brief interview, the Murray’s alluded to the long struggle the family endured before achieving success and their commitment to enrich their community as they achieved their goals. The family diversified from the core fresh water fish retail business to a restaurant, to a sports complex, to a turf management entity, to sheep rearing, to coconut water production – diverse may be an understatement.

Mixed in with all these inspiring stories, we made time for fun. For busy people who don’t have a lot of time to shop around, we were introduced to Michi Super Centre which opened today. Michi is described as a superstore with free membership shopping. Desmond Ellis of Pet’s Unlimited tried to teach me how to feed birds and D’Lynx delighted us with entertainment.

But then it was back to serious issues, like the growing incidence of credit card fraud or the need for health insurance. Senior Product Manager ABM and Internet Banking at NCB Horace Sinclair gave Neville and I some pointers on how to protect ourselves from falling victim to debit and credit card fraud. He provided tips to merchants too, “if due diligence is not followed, the merchant will have to stand the loss, in effect the tips will save merchants money”.

Carol Hibbert, Vice President of Health Operations at Guardian Life, advised us that all Jamaicans should consider getting health insurance – after all, we all get sick sometimes. She added, “there are lots of affordable options available, so there is no need to put off getting health insurance”.