By Nordia Henry, Staff Reporter
Brown: When I'm down, I've really gone to the Bible and I've found solace. - Winston Sill/Freelance Photographer
SHE IS rated as the number one news presenter in Jamaica, however, upon interacting with her my first impression was 'Darn! She's crazy, excited but friendly and humble'. At present, she is a broadcast journalist and news reader at CVM TV. Kerlyn Brown tells Flair what she would grab in the event of a fire.
Kerlyn Brown was born in Jericho, Hanover, where she attended Jericho All-Age School. "At school, I was always class monitor or prefect. Once, when I was in primary school, my hand was broken because a rude child stretched his foot out and I fell over it.
"While in the hospital I had to use the plaster on my hand to hit a boy because he was provoking me and on top of that I was sad because I was out of school. Now, everyone knows how a hit from a plaster feels so we can imagine how that child whimpered. Maybe he even forgot who he was," she commented.
FAMILY OF TALENT
While attending Jericho All-Age, Brown was involved in dancing and singing and she vividly recalls the time she won and her group went to Peru.
"From a family of very active people who participated in drama, dancing and music, we competed in a lot of events and actually went as far as Peru. I should have brought the picture, you would never recognise me because I was so small then."
Brown spent the early years of her life in Jericho and later went on to Rusea's High School in Hanover and then Duff's Business College in Kingston. After this, she started working at Jamaica Information Service (JIS), the place where she got her first inkling and motivation to enter the field of Journalism.
"At JIS, I was plunged into journalism. Apparently, someone saw something in me, so I started off just doing voicing, presenting 'Walk and Talk', as production assistant and producer. All this happened before I went to UWI (University of the West Indies), so I went to UWI with a little experience," says Brown. There, she pursued a Diploma in Mass Communication.
"When I went to CVM it was in its early stages, so I was like the new kid on the block. At JIS, I did mostly community projects, so news journalism was totally different but I didn't mind the challenge because I love challenges. I knew that I had to prove myself. At first, I went mostly on crime scenes and then I started doing human interest stories. I would do crazy things like, I would stand on a stool in the middle of raw sewage, go on top of high buildings, or if I was in the middle of a roadblock I would find something to stand on. I wouldn't just stand and hold a mike I had to go on top of something. I had to do something different so I was known as the 'crazy reporter', I guess."
IF SHE WASN'T...
Brown loves singing but says she wouldn't do it as a career. When asked if she wasn't involved in journalism what would she be doing now, she responded, "I don't know; I love singing but would never do it as a career. However, when I was younger I used to imitate the air stewardess and say, 'May I have your attention please'. But seriously, if I was not involved in journalism I would definitely have to be doing something that involves working with people because I'm a people person and I enjoy working with children."
Her biggest fear is road accidents and guns: "I fear being hit down." As for her biggest success, "I really don't know, because I don't shower myself with praise. Everything I do I give it my best shot and I know that success comes in different stages and phases. Right now, I'm just giving thanks that I've been given a job to do and I'm doing it as best as I can."
CONSOLATION IN THE WORD
In her spare time, Brown enjoys dancing, listening to music, 'hanging out' with people, including her family, occasionally she reads but acknowledges that this is bad because "I used to love reading, not that I don't love it but work takes up a lot of my time. My favourite book is the Bible. When my father was alive he told me that I must just open the Bible and wherever it opens, I read from there. So many times when I'm down, I've gone to the Bible and found solace. When I go to the Bible I feel closer to God."
When asked if there was ever a time in her life when she said 'never will I...', she shared this fascinating experience.
"One Friday night when I was doing the news, I left the set to collect the poll results. While I was in the newsroom, someone switched the station so I didn't realise that weather was almost over, so I had to run to get back to the set to end the newscast because the sports persons were not there and they had to turn over the sportscast to somebody. When I reached the set I was breathless and my eyes were red and bulgy and I was breathing like I was about to get an asthma attack. Everybody called in that night to ask what was wrong with Kerlyn and I told myself, never again, would I wait until it's too close before I return to the set because that was a close call."
WHAT SHE WOULD GRAB
IN THE EVENT OF A FIRE
"I love everything in my house but there are some things that I cannot replace like
photos. I love pictures, not necessarily of me, but of the people I come in contact with,
especially my family.
Family photos of my parents... my father is deceased, but I will never see them (my parents) again in this stage of their lives.
"A photo frame with pictures of me in my earlier days... I've gone throughout various stages of my life so I would save these pictures of me in different phases.
"A photo frame which I received from an unknown person which has a citation about black woman... it had a ship in the middle but I replaced it with a photo of myself because I assume the person is referring to me.
"A leather elephant, a camel and my databank.... this databank has everything in there, it's not an ordinary databank.
"And one of my many teddy bears... because I still sleep with my teddy bears. I love comfort and there's also a secret about teddy bears. Everybody ask if I go to the hairdresser every day, no I don't. As a matter of fact, I'm now realising that the teddy bear helps preserve my hair at nights. You know when you curl up at nights, you can place the teddy bear at your neck and you don't have to rest the entire head on the pillow."
