This week’s Young Professional, Janette N. Brin, describes herself as down to earth and a fun girl but is also seriously committed to the empowerment of women and possesses a bold entrepreneurial spirit. Photo: VINO

Jan poses with Jamaican Reggae music legend, Beres Hammond. Photo: provided

The cover of the latest issue of Caribbean POSH, which appears on news stands soon, boldly features local beauty and reigning Miss BVI World Kirtis Kassandra Malone. Image: supplied

This week’s Young Professional, Janette N. Brin, describes herself as down to earth and a fun girl but is also seriously committed to the empowerment of women and possesses a bold entrepreneurial spirit.

Jan, as she is affectionately known, grew up in the Virgin Islands but has also lived in Baltimore, Maryland in the United States for over a decade. There she attended Notre Dame of Maryland University where she completed a Bachelor’s degree in Marketing. She obtained a MBA in Marketing at the University of Phoenix, Columbia, Maryland Campus.

Jan previously worked for the Maryland State Department of Business and Economic Development where she was responsible for marketing the state and essentially attracting new businesses for the state to create jobs. Here, she explained, she had an opportunity to learn much about the world. Working for the State of Maryland gave her the opportunity to travel and interact with leaders of some of the greatest Fortune 500 companies.

Eventually, both personal and career decisions combined to bring Jan back to her homeland in the Virgin Islands where she took up a position at LIME for several years as a Marketing Manager.

Our Young Professional has since managed to weave a distinct and inspiring path in the world of corporate marketing and entrepreneurship.

Caribbean POSH

Driven by an inspiration for fashion, culture and her own heritage, Jan decided to launch Caribbean POSH in 2005. It was, and continues to be a magazine she sees as allowing young, talented people of Caribbean descent to have a voice and platform to express themselves.

“I had always said to myself, when I grow up, I want to be able to do something that would not only benefit myself but benefit other people,” Jan revealed.

Although the task of running a publication of that magnitude was not the easiest endeavour in the world, it was a project she approached with open arms, “I was very enthusiastic about it and took the time researching and calling up distribution companies and publishing houses…”

“I came to terms with figuring out how to grow, I had to start someplace and I was comfortable with that,” Jan stated about her entry into the publishing world.

A launch event in Brooklyn, NYC that featured a number of well-established and influential names in the entertainment industry helped to give her the push she needed for a launching pad.

Eight years later and with the assistance of a capable support team that assists in highlighting both local and regional talent, Caribbean Posh has made significant strides in growing as a niche publication which seeks to carve its own legacy in the minds of Caribbean women.

While keeping Caribbean Posh going continues to be a challenging task, the magazine’s Founding Editor related that the constant positive feedback received inspires and encourages her to keep the quarterly magazine on news stands.

“We have talent everywhere throughout the Caribbean… you don’t have to be Shaggy or Lady Saw to be on the cover of Caribbean POSH,” she disclosed. Incidentally, the cover of the latest issue boldly features local beauty and reigning Miss BVI World Kirtis Kassandra Malone.

“I want young women in particular to be inspired and be about something,” Jan articulated about the magazines’s new POSH girl feature.

It is an underlying motivation for many of the things that she does as she continues to strive to make the magazine a vehicle for the empowerment of women and young girls.

JMarketing Group

“I’m very entrepreneurial… I’m in everything,” Jan said modestly while talking about another business venture.

After losing her job with LIME through the company’s continued redundancies last year, Jan decided that there was something new that needed to be approached and saw her job loss as somewhat of a blessing in disguise.

Further encouraged by the feedback about her marketing prowess from a close friend among others, she took the step of creating her very own marketing firm, JMarketing.

Describing her role at JMarketing as one that is ‘fun’, Jan said she is now doing work which allows her greater control of developing her clients’ brands and their corporate image.

She has recognised that several local companies have struggles in getting to the next level and also have difficulty in keeping foot traffic coming to their business.

The energetic young entrepreneur has also realised that marketing is often something that persons tend to think they could do without and take for granted the little things that they can do to turn their ‘mom & pop’ into a really respectable brand.

Jan, who is currently the Public Relations Manager at CCT Global Communications, indicated that she continues to work on business concepts and has several plans in the works that she would like to launch in the future.

Jan credits her now teenage son, Keano, as one of her biggest sources of inspiration. The two share an immensely close and protective bond that is undoubtedly in some part responsible for the resonant glow that she wears with such pride. “On the many trips to New York, he’s in the backseat with me,” she said of her son.

If all else fails, Jan said, she hopes that Keano, given all the indications she has had thus far, is inspired enough to take hold of his future from the present moment instead of later in life. “I think that’s all everyone’s aspirations are for the future… as a parent I want for his life to be a whole lot easier than mine was.”

Jan also possesses a distinctive sense of style and despite her petite size, manages to leave a striking impression about her fashion choices. “I have fun with it,” she related, “I keep it as corporate as possible with a little bit of edge to it.”

In similar vein, Jan encourages young persons and young women in particular to also have fun with who they are, but to do so in a responsible way at the same time. “Find your passion and go after it regardless of how difficult it might seem,” she said. She also expressed that every young person has the potential for greatness, they just need somebody or something to help them figure it out.

To view the latest issue of Caribbean POSH visit www.caribbeanposh.com. Print issues will be on news stands soon. Also for more on J Marketing visit www.jmktgroup.com.