KINGSTON, March 01 2015, CNS – Petre Williams‐Raynor is a development worker, multi-award winning journalist of more than 15 years, writer, and university lecturer. She joined the team at the regional communication NGO Panos Caribbean as Senior Programme Officer in 2012, having previously worked with the Jamaica Observer newspaper as the Environment Editor and Editor for the Career & Education publication.
Williams-Raynor is author of the environmental children’s book ‘Project Climate Save: A Jamaican boy looks at the effects of global warming’ and is now working on her second.
In addition to her work with Panos, she lectures in media and communication at the International University of the Caribbean and is Contributing Editor at the Jamaica Gleaner.
A sociologist by training, Williams-Raynor received her Master of Science degree in Sociology (specialising in Development) from the University of the West Indies in 2008, having earlier graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree, also in Sociology, with a minor in Criminology.
- What do you love most about the Caribbean? Its natural beauty and warm people
- What brings you the greatest joy? Knowing that there is a God. Time spent with my husband. Conversations with my father. Exchanges with my mother. Seeing my family members thrive
- What is the best advice you’ve been given? Be a leader of yourself — advice given to me by my father and reinforced by my mother
- What is on your bookshelf? A world of books — one of them written by me, called “Project Climate Save: A Jamaican boy looks at effects of Global Warming”. The others include works by Richard Bach, Deepak Chopra, Paulo Coelho, Kahlil Gibran, Robert Greene, Malcolm Gladwell, Stieg Larsson, together with Sandra Brown, Judith McNaught and a host of sociological and media and communication texts — to name a few
- What charity do you support? The Salvation Army
- What is on your bucket list? I don’t have one
- What is on your perennial to-do list? Exercising patience
- Who are your Caribbean heroes? I don’t know that I have any per sé — though there are people whose contributions I have a great deal of respect for. They include the late Jamaican Prime Minister Michael Manley; poet Ms. Louise Bennett-Coverley; and academics such as the late Professor Barry Chevannes, and historian and late Trinidadian Prime Minister Dr. Eric Williams
- Who is on the guest list for your ideal dinner party? Maya Angelou, Nelson Mandela, Malcolm X, Marcus Garvey, Paul Bogle… You see where this is going
- What quote do you live by? It is this: ‘Interest is the field where knowledge and intelligence grows’
- What is one thing people would be surprised to know about you? I don’t know. They would have to tell me, if and when they found out
- What is one thing you wish you knew when you were younger? People are seldom who they present themselves to be, though who they are is readily apparent – if you take the time to look
- What would you want to say to the Caribbean about any one of these: Agriculture, Arts & Culture, Climate Change, HIV/AIDS, Tourism? Climate change is a clear and present danger, with implications for almost everything else, including arts and culture, HIV/AIDS and tourism. It is necessary therefore that we each identify at least one way in which we can make a difference and then collaborate to effectively respond to climate impacts.
- Any final words? I hope not. Still, LIVE YOU.
