10 things you didn't know about Eva Myers

She is easily one of the most recognisable personalities across Jamaica, but specifically on the north coast. Her brand, Evita's in Ocho Rios, is one of the most recognised across Jamaica and within tourism circles internationally, as well as one of the island's leading culinary establishments. 

No doubt, Myers is the pioneer of pasta here in Jamaica, being the first entrepreneur who decided to capitalise on the wotrldwide favourite by establishing  a pasta restaurant.

Known and celebrated for her charitable work; her commitment to the betterment of Jamaica's tourism industry and product, Myers is as colourful as she is an interesting businesswoman. However, she is far better known for her civic-minded enterprises and initiatives, and service to organisations such as the Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association; Kiwanis International; the Chaîne des Rtisseurs; and the St Ann Chamber of Commerce.

Italian by birth, born to a a german mother, Myers first started visiting Jamaica as a tourist before making Tryall her winter home. Since then, she has immersed herself in the Jamaican way of life, its culture and people, and is an acknowledged proud Jamaican.

A very charming lady, Myers' commitment to Jamaica is demonstrated by her total involvement in the communities in which she does business and resides, as she is a firm believer in the educational and social empowerment of the people.

Today, Outlook Magazine, shares 10 Things You Did Not Know About Eva Myers, north coast entrepreneur and socialite, who possesses a charismatic and charming personality that she once utilised to talk a would-be rapist out of raping her!

1 Eva Myers was born in Venice, Italy, to a German mother and Italian father, so she grew up speaking two languages. Currently, she is fluent in four languages; Italian, German, French and English.

2 She started cooking at age seven. At age 13, bored to be at home during summer vacation, she applied for a summer job in Jesolo, a beach resort near Venice, and landed her first job. Since she was the only person speaking German, she worked everywhere, including waitressing in the restaurant. She continued doing so until she was 18, when the family migrated to the United States.

3 She lived in the USA for 15 years, in New York and Chicago. While in the USA, Eva finished college and worked two jobs: 11 p.m.-7 a.m. in the foreign ledgers, IBM department, of Northern Trust Bank, and from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. as a waitress, at the Germania Club, in Chicago.

4 It was while on the job at Northern Trust Bank that she met her first husband. When he proposed to her, she felt it was time to get married, so she accepted.

5 She met husband number two, Walter Myers, on Air Jamaica, when she was on a familiarisation trip as a travel agent. Under the Jamaican moon, she fell in love with him, and, upon her return home, asked for a divorce from her first husband and married Walter six months later, while on a cruise ship in The Bahamas.

He surprised her, told her that the captain had the power to execute a marriage on-board his ship, and asked if she would like to marry him right there and then and she said yes.

6 In 1980, Walter died, and, since Eva was always entertaining, she remembered that when she and Walter came to vacation at their villa, at Tryall Club, in Montego Bay, they could never find a good dish of pasta, and so she decided to build an all-bamboo restaurant in Jamaica - Evita's by the Sea, in Montego Bay, in 1984. Hurricane Gilbert destroyed it in 1988. Eva then was called to run a restaurant at the present location, in a gingerbread house overlooking Ocho Rios. On December 4, 1989, Evita's was reopened.

7 About four years after she opened Evita's, she was confronted by an armed robber in her apartment at the restaurant. The masked robber, along with demanding the cash from the sales, also wanted to rape her. She convinced him that this would be too complicated. To her relief, he agreed and, after he received the money, quickly disappeared in the garden.

8 Since age five, Eva fantasised about living in the tropics, in a gingerbread house or one made of bamboo, to have a parrot sitting on her shoulder, to ride in an open crazy car. It all became a reality in Jamaica.

9 During her tenure as president of the Kiwanis Club of Ocho Rios, in 1993, Myers, along with a handyman, built the One Love Basic School, in Mansfield Heights, in Ocho Rios.

10 She does believe in exacting harsh measures in order to get the best out of her employees, and was able to reduce 50 per cent tardiness of employees to a now 0.05 per cent by giving back what she was receiving. She refrained from firing, suspending or fining, opting instead to use psychology.