Debbie Chin shares world experience through 'Groom to Bloom Initiative'

Carl Gilchrist, Gleaner Writer

OCHO RIOS, St Ann:

DEBBIE CHIN has been around the world and back. And now that she's back, she's passing on some of the positive things to the youth in Ocho Rios, St Ann.

A reluctant model at age 17, she finally grew to love the art, and after years of runway and photographic modelling, doing television and radio commercials and voice-overs, she started show production.

Today, she operates DC Productions at the Double V Complex in Pineapple, Ocho Rios, training young minds in the right attitude.

The Gleaner caught up with her earlier this week, and she shared her story.

"I was in New York City and somebody kept telling me 'you should be a model'. I was about 17 then, so I tried it and I liked it and one thing led to the next," Chin related.

"Then one day I said to myself, you know what, I want to do this for myself, I want to produce shows." She started producing shows and, according to her, she got the break as a show producer for Air Jamaica.

The shows were on land, mostly in New York, to help promote the Air Jamaica brand.

"I did those seven shows for Air Jamaica and after that, I was doing a show every single weekend."

Build self-esteem

During her time onstage, one of the things that grabbed her most was: "I would say, believe it or not, when the young kids come up and say 'I want to be like you, how do you do this?' And they asked me for my autograph," she laughed as she recalled.

"It really does build your self-esteem, that's basically what it does and I want to pass it on to others."

And she has been doing this through her 'Groom To Bloom Initiative' which currently has more than 20 youngsters from age six and up.

"It's a training programme," Chin said of Groom To Bloom. "There are a lot of modelling agencies around, but how mine is unique is that I groom the ladies and gentlemen from scratch, so it's teaching them in terms of customer service, learning how to speak in public, customer relations, presenting yourself onstage, learning how to be confident. So basically, modelling to me is more than just putting on pretty clothes and walking on the stage. It comes from inside out.

The initiative first started in 2005 before breaking. It resumed about two years ago, after owner of Double V, Colin Mills, who was impressed by the programme at the beginning, invited Chin back to the location to resume training of the children.

"He (Mills) saw what I was doing to the youth in the community, I was getting them off the street."

Apart from the aforementioned activities, Chin has also started a book club.

"I find that people don't read a lot, so I started a book club and all my students, they have to read at least a book a month," she explained.

"Basically, I start from the root, get everybody all shaped up to do something positive. Some of them in the group want to be lawyers, doctors, this, that. To me, you can do this and aspire to be what you want to be; use this (training) as a tool."

But even as Chin gives to the youth, she is already getting back. Thirteen-year-old Brandy Clarke, one of her students, made her proud recently, in an interview on RJR.

"She said something on the air that really touched me and made me realise that I'm doing something worthwhile. She said 'Thank you, Ms Debbie Chin, because do you remember when I first came, that bad attitude I had? And look at me now'."

The Groom To Bloom Initiative is the realisation of a vision that Chin had had for years. She is satisfied that, finally, it is coming true.

She left with a gem: "My mother was married to Derrick Walcott (winner, Nobel Prize for Literature 1992), so when I was little, I used to hang around the theatre, so maybe some of that rubbed off on me. I'm not a genius like him, but (laughs) I was inspired by him."

rural@gleanerjm.com