In less than two months, Jennifer Flatts, the proprietor of Class and Elegance will launch her latest clutch of Professional Development Workshops in courses aimed at raising service standards, enhancing professionalism and infusing greater confidence by providing specialized instructions in business etiquette and protocol among other disciplines.
She is not unaware of the potential of the continually expanding market for her services. But she says, it is the passion rather than the profit that motivates her to accelerate the marketing of what she believes she has to offer.
The more she looks out on the world of potential resulting from the evident growth of the service sector the more she believes that her professional development skills can make a telling contribution to taking the country forward.
She has arrived at a place of wanting to add to the service she has already given to Guyana, having arrived here from Portland, Jamaica in 1981. Her father had visited and had been impressed with what he had seen. She credits her acceptance of his recommendation that she undertake a nine-month stint at Kimbia with her spirit of adventure as a young woman. It was there that she met her Guyanese husband.
After studying nursing at the UWI Hospital she returned to Guyana, underwent a one-month orientation at the Public Hospital, Georgetown then worked for the next three years at the Suddie Hospital. Thereafter, she served at the West Demerara Regional Hospital for six months before she resigned to take up farming. From her account, it appears that she thoroughly enjoyed tending sheep, goats and ducks on a farm that quickly became her income.
Her sojourn in England in support of her husband whilst he was studying afforded her the opportunity to contemplate the pursuit of a new profession. She had earlier studied Social Work at the University of Guyana and had co-founded Operation Restoration, a faith-based organization funded by the World Bank and USAID. It was concerned with the development of what she calls “the social graces.” That, she says, came easily to her since she had sat at the feet of her mother, a Home Economics teacher.
Her stint at the Protocol School of Washington in Virginia provided her with certification as a Corporate Etiquette and International Protocol Consultant. Specifically, she has received specialized training in Dining Etiquette, Business Etiquette and Protocol.
Enlightenment has emboldened Flatts and she speaks of what she can offer with a compelling assertiveness. She believes, she says, that there are shortcomings in the service sector which can he adjusted by attitudinal change. “We give customer service out of who we are,” she says adding that what she has to offer “can only challenge people to change.”
Registration is already open for the first of her scheduled workshops titled “Becoming A Better You” which will be executed from April 4 – 5, 2017. Subsequent workshops will focus on “Attitude,” “Professionalism,” “Business Etiquette” and “Office Etiquette.” Details regarding procedures for registration will be advertised shortly.
jpflatts@hotmail.com
