10 things you didn't know about Becky Stockhausen

Becky Stockhausen is known and celebrated for her work with the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham). As president of AmCham, she has led the organisation to do pioneering work in some of Kingston's inner-city communities, spearheading urban renewal and the development of human potential in these communities ravaged by under employment, and the absence of the requisite numerate and literate skills to qualify the young for employment.

Today, we share 10 things we did not know about the socialite who has made crusading for inner-city renewal, part and parcel of her mandate as president of AmCham.

1. Attended school in Akron, Ohio, untill 1977. She was captain of the cheerleading team for both the football and basketball teams. Perhaps she was being groomed for her current role in which she has often been referred to by those at JAMPRO, and/or members of successive governments who have seen her in action when speaking about the potential of her adopted island homeland and refer to her often as "Jamaica's greatest cheerleader" and often ask her to meet with potential overseas investors who may need a nudge, where she offers a testimonial on her 30 years of living in Jamaica.

2. A little-known fact in Jamaica is that her very happy childhood school days were supplemented by her friends and activities of her very active Baptist upbringing, which she feels provided her with an excellent foundation for life, including a singing career of sorts when she performed gospel songs as both a soloist, or often with two friends as a trio - not only on a regular basis at their church in Akron, but others within Northeast Ohio area - and even produced a record.

3. There was a time in her late teens and early 20s when she had three jobs at the same time: Prudential Insurance Company, JC Penney and the Chestnut Ridge Dairy, during the week and on weekends, while attending Akron U in the evenings.

4. Upon moving to Florida in 1977, she was sent by an employment agency to her first and only appointment, to the man who would years later become her husband, and was hired for a position in that Sanford, Florida, company. However, having never met a Jamaican man at the outset, she was shocked by his sometimes very loud voice, speaking with a very strange accent, and kept insisting on spelling labour with a 'u', which simply wasn't done in the US, she was unsure how long this new employment association would last. However, as the years went by, a mutual respect grew between them, evolving into friendship, then more.

Thereafter, several years later, a series of requests for this Jamaican man she was dating to return to Jamaica were forthcoming from Desnoes and Geddes, where he had been director of engineering for over 17 years prior to moving to the US.

Paul was under the strong impression that an American woman who had never had to live with long power cuts, water shortages and empty shelves in the supermarkets couldn't possibly be happy in early 1980s Jamaica. But Becky, with her adventurous spirit, suggested that he take her there just for a few days to have a look and he did so. Three days later, having experienced Jamaican parties at their best, she said to Paul: "This is the place for me!" Anxious to begin this exciting adventure, the couple were married three weeks later in Florida, and arrived in Kingston, with a container full of furniture, two months later.

5. Her mother often told her friends and relatives that Paul Stockhausen was "the only man she had ever met who proposed to a woman saying he wanted to marry her and take her off to an exotic island and actually did it!"

6. The marriage also included a ready-made family, in that she became stepmother to two teenagers - Ingrid and Anthony. Although thrown into the deep end of parenting, the relationship she has with her stepsons could not have been better. Years later, she became grandmother to four lovely grandchildren.

7. Prior to taking up her first position with AmCham in 1995, Becky opened and managed a ladies boutique in Kingston, named Pizzazz in 1983, where she imported ladies clothing from New York and eventually began designing dresses for the boutique in house.

8. Becky insists her life has been a blessed one in every aspect, and that includes her employment with AmCham. This organisation has provided a wonderful link to her homeland.

9. One of Becky's favourite loves is travel, and through the years, via the couple's employment and personal holidays, she has visited nearly every corner of the globe.

10. Becky often remarks that she has a life that is full of joy, and blessed beyond words and strives to remember and be grateful of that each morning as she is reminded of the ways in which her husband of 31 years quietly but steadfastly supports her in every way and has always made her believe that she could accomplish anything she sets out to do.