This young self-motivated and goal-oriented woman is a senior associate at one of the oldest law firms in Ocho Rios, St Ann, Abendana and Abendana.
Attorney-at-law, 29-year-old Cieanna Smith, is the embodiment of perseverance and determination. She has displayed a sense of independence and commitment to reaching her goals that she has set out clearly for herself. She can also be described as passionate, driven, a go-getter and people-oriented.
However, Cieanna Smith’s story is one of resilience, survival and overcoming challenges.
On June 6, 2007, the young woman, who had already been the youngest person to be awarded the Governor General’s Youth Award a year earlier, was involved in a car crash in Mammee Bay, St Ann.
SURVIVING THE CAR CRASH
“When the accident happened, I remember people telling me by the roadside that I was going to die… But something inside of me was saying ‘you are not going to die. You have so much to do’ and I just kept firm at the time. I wasn’t afraid of death. I just knew I was going to survive,” Ms Smith recollected, in an interview with the North Coast Times.
She had already begun her final CAPE exams at Brown’s Town Community College. In literal pain with poor vision after waking up in the hospital the following morning, Ms Smith’s concern was completing her exams.
A car crash could not derail Cieanna Smith’s quest to achieve. Armed with her inner strength, courage and determination, Ms Smith did her exams from her hospital bed, although her mother had initially objected to the idea. Fast forward months later, she was rewarded with graduating on top of her class with the most outstanding academic student and student of the year award in 2007. She was also the valedictorian.
“I cried at graduation, because at that time, the scars and everything were still fresh in my face. I still couldn’t walk properly, so like everything was just surreal… I was saying ‘oh my God, I did it.’ I knew it was possible. I knew I could have done it. I always say that sometimes, we don’t achieve greatness, because we don’t realize the greatness within us,” Ms Smith explained.
With her completion of her final year, it prevented her mother from having to find another year of tuition for college.
Despite her sitting out a year after her car crash, Cieanna Smith got right back on track and was more determined than ever to achieve her dreams and goals. Fast forward, three years of pursing her Law degree and two years at Norman Manley Law School, she was rewarded with being called to the Bar. She officially took her place as an attorney-at-law.
UPBRINGING
Cieanna Smith’s early upbringing in Mile End, St Ann had an early impact on her character, where she gained valuable leadership skills and independence. She was born to Maria and Delroy Smith.
“My mother nurtured me physically. She was innocent, pure-hearted and also kind-hearted. She taught me to share and be nice to others. I got that from her. My father nurtured me mentally, because he taught me from a very early age to be conscious of who I am, to always love who I am and that meant a lot for me, because over the years, I used that as a guiding force,” she explained.
Ms Smith recollected that her father had stopped her from basic school, because the tuition at the time was too expensive. He became the teacher at home and would give her books about Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Junior to read on her own. She admitted that it was hard initially to read these books, however she eventually managed to read them.
“What this taught me was that even though you don’t have somebody there to walk side by side with you, you can still do it and do it well and you can do it on your own,” she added.
There were also helpful persons in her community of Mile End, and on Saturdays and Sundays, she went to some of the elders’ home, where she sat and talked to them.
“I combed their hair and read to them. I enjoyed doing that. I learned a lot talking to older persons,” Ms Smith noted.
She attended Newstead All Age (now Primary) School and later Ferncourt High School. During her tenure at the latter, she received the Dr Osmond Tomlinson Trust Fund Scholarship Award, which assisted her with her high school studies. She is a trustee/coordinator of that scholarship award.
YOUNG LEADER
From a very young age, Cieanna Smith engaged in community service activities that helped in crafting her leadership skills.
At the age of 14, Cieanna was a teacher at the summer programme at the Mile End New Testament Church. She was responsible for the youngest of the children, between ages three and six. She loved children and after a fantastic job at teaching and caring for all these young ones, she inherited this task for the next five years.
While still at Ferncourt, she was the deputy youth mayor for St Ann between 2004 and 2005. In addition, Ms Smith started a teaching programme in the community of Mile End from 2004 to 2007. She saved her lunch money during the week and used these funds to cover transportation and other costs to conduct classes at the church offices/space. In some instances, she prepared lunch for the youths so there was no need to miss classes due to lack of lunch.
After excelling at Ferncourt High, Ms Smith continued to excel at the Brown’s Town Community College not only in academics, but also she took on several voluntary initiatives.
She did extremely well in her first Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Exam (CAPE) Law exam. As a second year student, she taught first year students CAPE law during her lunch breaks and evenings after her classes.
During this time, she also resurrected the Optimist Club at the college and became its president. With a love for acting, Ms Smith was soon asked by the St Ann Soroptimist Club to be the lead female actress in the family movie Cherished moments. The film focused on proper parenting, child upbringing and community life development.
Cieanna Smith was the first youth of St. Ann to receive the Governor General’s Youth Award in 2006 and one of the youngest in the island. The award is given based on academic excellence and community involvement.
She now serves as a member of the Governor General’s Awards Committee for St Ann.
IN PURSUIT OF LAW
After sitting out a year after her accident, Ms Smith embarked on her academic journey once again this time at the University of the West Indies (UWI). She got accepted to pursue a degree in History and Philosophy, but Law was what she really had wanted to do. She did exceedingly well was awarded several academic awards, including the most outstanding Philosophy student in year one. She applied for a transfer to the Faculty of Law and was accepted.
She spent a year at the Mona Campus of UWI and went to the Cave Hill Campus of UWI in Barbados to pursue her degree in Law for two years.
Financially, it was challenging for Ms Smith, but she received several scholarships including Tastee Scholarship for Law, Jaghi Scholarship and St. Ann Jamaica Bauxite Scholarship Award, which assisted her financially.
“When I was younger when I was about seven or eight years old, I said I wanted to become an attorney. I think a lot of it though was based on what I saw on the media, I knew that the world was loaded with injustice and at that that time when you were young, you wanted to become a hero and wanted to make a change in the world. I said I was going to advocate for especially black people and those who didn’t necessarily have the means to cover legal fees,” Ms Smith disclosed.
However, her time in Barbados had its struggles.
Cieanna’s tradition of excellent leadership continued in Barbados where she filled various leadership capacities organizing socials, children outreach programmes and food drive activities.
After her stint in Barbados, she returned to Jamaica and spent two years at the Norman Manley Law School. While there she founded the club called ‘Little Red Dress.’ It was a “holistic group that teaches persons about the development of self, awareness of self, women’s health, women’s protection, women’s advancement and career development.” The club, which is for females at the law school, continues even today.
The tears flowed for her when she was called to the Bar as she had finally accomplished her goal of being an attorney.
“You will have some little doubtful moments when something will say to you in your mind, that you are not going to make it anyway, so forget about it, you can’t do it, it will be too challenging. Once I hear that little voice, there is usually a very big soft voice that usually reminds me that it is not if you can, you have to do it. You have to overcome everything to be an example. You have to be true to yourself. You have to keep going until you achieve your goals,” she explained.
Ms Smith is an attorney with the law firm, Abendana and Abendana, where she deals primarily with civil, corporate and commercial law, among other areas.
Cieanna Smith enjoys reading, painting, dancing, debating, teaching, writing poems and short stories, decorating and designing. She told The Times that she is writing two books and hopes to publish her poems. Her paintings, she said, are often given as gifts.
Due to her academic performance and her determination which propelled her to greatness, Cieanna Smith has been asked to speak at several graduations, several functions, many youth ceremonies and empowerment sessions.
She also travels to various communities in and around St Ann to educate, teach, motivate, and simply guide young students, children and adults.
She has received several other awards and recognition, with the most recent being the St Ann Chamber of Commerce’s entrepreneurship award. She is also a member of that organization.
Ms Smith had always been involved in various business activities for herself including farming that led to the creation of a company called Nile Valley Foods, which she, along with other members are trying to resurrect.
Her philosophy is: “It is not a disgrace to be unable to reach the stars, but it’s a disgrace not to have stars to reach.”
“That philosophy became my guiding philosophy after my accident. The first part, is basically saying aim the stars and go for all you believe in. Never stop. If you are sick, keep pushing. If you are dying, keep pushing. If you are overwhelmed, keep pushing… If you never reach the stars, it would not be a disgrace, because you would have been pushing all your life to reach the stars. But if you are living a life and you have no stars to reach, then that is definitely a disgrace. You would have wasted your life. You should have objectives, goals and stars to reach for,” she said.
