Fri | Mar 29, 2024

Business | Chorvelle Johnson - Making Indelible Marks

Published:Monday | March 4, 2019 | 12:00 AMRocheda Bartley - Gleaner Writer
Chorvelle Johnson
Chorvelle Johnson
Chorvelle Johnson
1
2
3

It’s not easy living in a man’s work, if you’re a woman. Though Chorvelle Johnson keeps proving many wrong.

With over 20 years experience in the financial services industry, Johnson, the chief executive officer of Sagicor Bank, sits at the helm of success and has repeatedly proven that women are proficient business leaders too.

“Some will find it surprising that I am actually a trained teacher and I did not study banking. I taught business subjects at Kingston Technical High School. That’s how I started my professional life, but now I’m a career banker given the number of years and experience I have amassed over the years,” she explained to Flair.

HOW DID SHE GET HERE

A summer job at Allied Insurance Brokers in her first year of teaching opened the pathway to the corporate realm for a keen, enthusiastic and hardworking Johnson. Her prowess here captured the attention of the banking institution and before she knew it she had officially been inaugurated into the financial services sector. Since then, she has not only taught in a classroom setting, but has made use of every opportunity to impart invaluable knowledge to those who desire it- after all, she asserts that she breathes simply to teach.

Johnson has and continues to etch unforgettable markings of her greatness everywhere she goes, especially while she served as the Regional Vice President of Sales and Service at Scotia DBG Investments Limited and as a director of Proven Wealth Limited in previous years. Absolutely, she strives to be successful, but her efforts are also to encourage other women to conquer fear and excel.

FUN FACTS ABOUT CHORVELLE

“I didn’t get my passport until I started teaching. I got my visa years after when I had a good job. I couldn’t get it when I was a teacher because one couldn’t survive on a teacher’s salary and persons figured that you would run off to another country if you had a visa,” she said.

She added: "Any man in my life has to know how to cook and do other things around the home. Because growing up I remember my dad doing everything for me and my four other siblings, except comb our hair, when my mother couldn’t.

Aside from banking, Johnson has also tested artistic waters. Author is another title she added to her name when she wrote and self-published Simply Vegan, The Jamaican Way, a recipe book in 2012.

The powerful and effervescent boss lady is motivated by her parents. She stressed that she’s the product of a closely knitted family. Together they form the fuel that keeps her going.

And as for striking a balance in her life, she declared: I don’t set out to try and find it, I think it automatically happens, depending on what is the order of the day. Sometimes you’ll have the balance and sometimes you won’t. But I don’t worry about it.

rocheda.bartley@gleanerjm.com