If anyone had told me when I was a young girl growing up in rural Jamaica with my parents and 8 siblings that one day I would feed up to 2,000 families monthly in America and it would happen during a pandemic, I would have laughed, told them no way - we could barely afford our dinner right now. I would have told them it was impossible!
And it was, until God decided it was time to fulfill my true Kingdom purpose.
I've discovered my true passion and purpose and I walk boldly and confidently in it everyday. There is nothing more rewarding! I've successfully launched my own business plus non-profit, and published my first book. My greatest joy is helping others do the same so they can live a fulfilling and rewarding life.
I'm a former Hospitality Executive with over 25 years in the industry with solid expertise in sales and marketing, customer service, training and development.
Growing up in Jamaica, hospitality was always in my blood. I earned my Hotel, Restaurant & Tourism Management degree through a full academic scholarship at the University of Maine. Going from tropical Jamaica to -20 degrees below is a whole other story for a different day!
I had tons of fun working in the hospitality industry. It was actually an emotional roller coaster with some unbelievable and hilarious experiences - honestly you can't make some of that stuff up! I would constantly wish there was a way to do a reality show.
In 2016, I walked away from my job and launched my non-profit and hospitality consulting company. As an entrepreneur, my knowledge and skills garnered from the hospitality industry has proven to be priceless.
Even with the sacrifices and challenges, I am having a lot of fun on this journey! I've learnt some incredible lessons and leveled up my skills. I even wrote a book sharing my advice about making the big jump. It's Time for YOUR Transition was published in January 2019 and is available on Amazon and other major book retailers.
I am now passionate about transforming the lives of new and aspiring entrepreneurs through the services provided by The J Tucker Group including my Purpose on Fire Transformational Coaching Experience.
How much time do you have?...no really
I walked away from my lucrative hospitality career for no other reason than God called me to my real purpose to launch my non-profit so I could transform the lives of others. I also became an entrepreneur, launching my hospitality consulting and training company, which was the only logical way to make a living and have a flexible schedule to grow my non-profit.
Being an entrepreneur is very sacrificial and nothing works unless you do, contrary to the glamours life of jet setting and yachts that the world and social media paints. That can certainly be achieved through hard work, but success does take time and the only other shorter route is if you have some awesome friends with those cool assets.
God has called us to be the salt and light. This only way this can manifest is through serving others. So if you feel led to start a non-profit, then do it. However, you can impact lives without having an organization. Just start with what you have and where you are.
My non-profit The Jamaica Project USA serves both Jamaica and the USA. My husband and I founded this non-profit in 2016 through inspiration from both of our parents who had a passion for giving back. Our mission is to transform lives in rural communities and schools in Jamaica and to serve the underserved communities in Georgia, USA.
We are the little non-profit that could. We operate on a "shoe string budget", without compensation and without large financial contributions. But God is so faithful! He has provided us with resources to assist thousands of families in both Jamaica and the USA since we started. Remember I shared about growing up in rural Jamaica where we could barely afford our dinner to being able to feed up to 2,000 families per month in the USA during the pandemic? It was all God! Coincidentally he also made it possible for us to serve 10 rural communities in Jamaica during the pandemic by providing resources.
I am so excited about where God is taking us and that countless lives will continue to be transformed through sharing resources, building our first rural community center in Jamaica, completing more school and church improvement projects, and increasing our annual sponsorships of students in Jamaica way past the 40 that we have done.
How do we have rock solid faith that we will accomplish all this? We believe the bible verse printed on our volunteer shirt which says "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" ~ Philippians 4:13