Beginning in this issue, Stabroek Business will be publishing a series of interviews with women owners of business enterprises. Our interviewees are selected at random and we will, as far as possible, endeavour to feature women involved in various types of business enterprises and drawn from various regions of the country. Our goal is to illustrate the significant contribution that Guyanese women continue to make to the growth of the business sector and to draw attention to the challenges which they confront and in accomplishments which they realize in their respective pursuits.
Much later in her career than perhaps she might have expected, Jackeline DeSouza is beginning to step out of the shadow of the bigger names in her profession to bring her talent and experience to bear in the local fashion industry.
At 51, she has only just ‘graduated’ from operating within the confines of her home to opening the doors of Uni-Q-D Design at 116 Barr Street, Kitty. Having emerged, she says, from disappointments and tragedies that would have long ‘killed off’ less determined people, she appears ready for what she acknowledges could be a tough road ahead.
Jackie is banking on her considerable experience and widely recognized talent to help her play ‘catch up’ in what is widely believed to be one of the country’s more competitive industries.
What will doubtless help her in her quest is her consummate professionalism, her stunning attention to detail and her eye for fashion, talents that apply in both her clothing design and her floral arrangements.
Already, clients who have had to compromise their preferences when difficulties had impacted negatively on her business are excited over her return. Fashion-conscious Guyanese women are never easy to please.
For much of her career, Jackie has sold her unquestionable styles to better-known local and international stylists and designers. Her pieces have graced tea parties and displays organised by the late Alice Thomas, arguably one of the most tasteful and charming Guyanese women of her generation and once the owner of a boutique in Georgetown. Her work has also been embraced by Rajpattie Bacchus, owner of what is now Martina’s Boutique and she has also worked with the well-known Guyanese fashion icon Sonia Noel.
Between 1990 and 1995, Jackie lived and worked in Suriname designing and sewing wedding gowns for a French businesswoman who operated a successful garment factory and boutique. She acknowledges that her French employer recognized the quality in her work, acknowledging her talent by paying her a generous salary and according her elaborate and comfortable work space. It was her boss’s way of paying for her loyalty since she earned a great deal for the establishment by declining to ‘cut deals’ with clients who quickly became aware that it was she who was largely responsible for both the creation of their stylish ensembles and the reputation of the establishment which she served. “Once persons realized that I was the person doing the dresses they offered to pay me directly but I always sent them back to my employer. I remain very loyal to whoever I’m working for,” she says.
By then a wife and mother of three, Jackie returned to Guyana in 1995, hardly suspecting that a succession of tragedies was to fracture here life and derail her career. On New Year’s Day the following year, her husband lost his life during an army fireworks display at Camp Ayangana. Almost two years later, in December her father, the well-known journalist Henry Josiah died. Fate, however, was not yet through with Jackie. A year after her father’s death her brother was murdered and the final chapter in a succession of heartbreaking tragedies occurred on January 23, 1999 when her only son, Clifford, was killed in a motor vehicle accident.
Her life now hideously transformed Jackie left Guyana, travelling to Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago in the hope that a transformed environment would help her cope with the pain of her losses. Her passion for her work, however, remained undiminished. In Barbados she worked with a company named Uniforms Unlimited and also served in various tailoring establishments in Trinidad and Tobago.
Jackie’s considerable experience in design and dressmaking is complimented by a series of courses including a doll-making programme offered by the Venezuelan Embassy in Georgetown last year. Previously, she completed courses in Designing and Tailoring in 1990 and 1995, respectively.
Having made clothing for her dolls at the age of eight and tailored her first pair of trousers at eleven, Jackie has now transformed herself into the consummate professional. She understands only too well that her current business venture has emerged at a time when competition is at its greatest. “Previously, I preferred to work in the background but now I’m ready to step out,” she says.
She has been able to retain some of her old clients while referrals have won her new ones and she is banking on her reputation to enable her business to expand. In the future she hopes to host her own fashion shows and tea parties, using her skills and experience to rekindle her reputation and enhance the profitability of her enterprise.
