Her name is Rekeema S. Turnbull and at 26 years of age she is the Human Resources and Administrative Manager at CCT Global Communications and our Young Professional for this week. Photo: Provided

Asked about her future career aspirations, our Young Professional wants to build a career in human resources and managing businesses. “Even though I have an accounting background, I see my passion being more management and administration,” she said. Photo: Provided

Our Young Professional makes a presentation on behalf of CCT to Governor John S. Duncan OBE. Photo: Provided

Turnbull is now the mother of an active four year old daughter. Photo: Provided

Our Young Professional started her working life as a receptionist at Peebles Hospital and thereafter she was at Public Works Department, where she climbed the ranks from Accounts Officer to Senior Accounts Officer and then Accounts Supervisor II. She is currently employed at CCT Global Communications where she started as a Management Analyst in 2013 “and before you knew it I became the Human Resources and Administration Manager at CCT.” Photo: Provided

Born and raised on the eastern end of Tortola to parents Reginald and Ermine Turnbull, Rekeema is the eldest of four children; two girls and two boys. She is now the mother of an active four year old daughter.

Our Young Professional attended the Enid Scatliffe Pre-Primary School, the Althea Scatliffe Primary School and then the BVI High School as it was known then.

"Whilst in the BVI High School I was in all of the top classes. I was always on the Honour Roll in both primary and secondary schools," she said.

She said that in primary school she was pretty much well rounded and enjoyed all of the subjects. However, in high school she gravitated to English Language.

“I enjoyed it because it is the language that we speak yet so many of us have difficulty in writing it correctly. So just to know that I could learn it so that am able to put it on paper…to understand the Queen’s English in terms of subject and verb agreement and stuff like that,” she said. “Even though we speak it we struggle in writing it and even speaking it properly,” she said.

Our Young Professional said that she wrote a number of CXC subjects while at high school. “I did eight subjects…I passed all,” she said.

A strong foundation in Accounting

From high school Rekeema moved on to the H. Lavity Stoutt Community College (HLSCC) where she majored in Accounting. “There I graduated [with an Associate’s Degree in Accounting] cum laude. I was also one of the first inductees of the phi theta kappa society,” she said.

“At that time I was part of the Stingettes…we did win a few medals for cheerleading,” she said.

Rekeema explained that while in high school she did not gravitate to the subject of accounting because she did not find it appealing.

After HLSCC, she moved on to the University of the Virgin Islands in St Thomas, USVI, having been awarded the Dr Norwell Harrigan scholarship. “I studied Accounting again."

“Over there I was inducted into the Golden Key International Honour Society and I graduated summa cum laude in the top ten. That was in 2009. Thereafter I enrolled in Ashford University online in Iowa. There I completed my Master’s Degree in Global Management. So my studies kind of shifted at this point to Management instead. I graduated in 2011 with high honours, summa cum laude,” she said proudly.

Rekeema also completed a Level 7 Diploma with the Chartered Management Institute in the UK in Strategic Management and Leadership.

In 2015 she completed a Business Continuity Management Programme. “So I am now a certified business continuity manager,” she said, explaining that she helps business entities to make decisions on how to keep their doors open in the face of severe challenges.

“It might be a fire, you might lose employees, it might be a natural disaster etc.,” she said.

Employment

Our Young Professional started her working life as a receptionist at Peebles Hospital and thereafter she was at Public Works Department, where she climbed the ranks from Accounts Officer to Senior Accounts Officer and then Accounts Supervisor II.

She is currently employed at CCT Global Communications where she started as a Management Analyst in 2013 “and before you knew it I became the Human Resources and Administration Manager at CCT.”

“What I like most about my job is being able to help employees…being able to assist them, to lead and guide them,” she said.

Asked about her future career aspirations, our Young Professional wants to build a career in human resources and managing businesses. “Even though I have an accounting background, I see my passion being more management and administration.”

Rekeema S. Turnbull is a member of the Apostolic Faith Youth Group and is also a business owner, the manager of an employment assistance website she created with the aim of matching job seekers to entities that have vacancies to fill. The site can be found at www.hirebvi.com.

This successful young lady is thankful to her parents who instilled in her the importance of working hard and who made sacrifices and continue to do so for their children. She also thanked God for all that she has achieved so far.

Advice to youth

Rekeema advised young people not to be afraid of failure. “I have a saying…the greatest cause of failure is the fear of failure itself. A lot of the time we fear that we fail so we don’t try…or we fear what people might say,” she said. Turnbull quoted the late former President of South Africa, freedom fighter and political prisoner Nelson Mandela who said “It only seems impossible until it’s done.”