Flair | ‘I am always going to tell myself yes,’ says Zoyah Kinkead-Clark

The most surprising reaction Zoyah Kinkead-Clark received to her promotion came on the home front. It was from her 5-year-old son, Stephen.

“He told me he did not know women could become professors. I said, ‘Well, here is your Mommy.’”

Inasmuch as she had cause to celebrate the career milestone, the academic who has been in The University of the West Indies’ employ since September 2013 and is also mother to 11-year-old twins Gabriel and Jonathan, pointed out, “I realised what it says to my boys. I can still be mommy, I can cook dinner, I can help with homework and pick you up from school, but I can also advance my specialisation and contribute to the university. I think what it does is highlight how phenomenal and flexible women are.”

Her journey to this point began after graduating from Immaculate Conception High in 1997. “I went to Shortwood Teachers’ College because I always knew I wanted to work with young children,” shared the mirthful professor, whose zeal for little ones led to a specialisation in early childhood care and education.

Post-Shortwood, Kinkead-Clark, the last of three daughters for her late father, land surveyor Robert Kinkead and his domestic goddess wife Elaine, Zoyah pursued a bachelor’s degree in early childhood education at Temple University in Pennsylvania, then a master’s in reading at Northern Caribbean University.

This was followed by a doctorate at The University of Sheffield, across the pond, in educational studies with a focus on early childhood education.

Against the background of her ascent in the tertiary hierarchy that had long been male-dominated, Kinkead-Clark said a glass ceiling still exists for women in the workplace, generally speaking.

“In the humanities, we certainly have more females than males, but there certainly still is a glass ceiling. The thickness of the ceiling may be thinner, but it still exists. Women still have to push down far more barriers and overstep far more hurdles than men. There is no question about it in my mind. I think there is a belief that men make better leaders, and if you look at tertiary education globally, you have far more men than women leading.”

She is cognisant that while she has risen in the ranks at home, the story for black female colleagues in universities abroad is far more challenging, noting the “significant barriers that prevent black females from progressing in academia, especially in the United Kingdom”.

She said within the UWI fraternity, principal and pro-vice chancellor Densil A. Williams has bucked the trends that previously obtained. “He has really made strides and has been committed to supporting the advancement of young faculty members [and] of females, to leadership, and for me, that is significant.”

Does she fancy herself a testament of this shifting tide?

“I have never held on to this perspective that anything is going to stand in my way. I have always believed that I am my biggest hurdle, and I have a mantra, ‘just give it a try’. If you tell yourself no, no is always going to be the answer. I am always going to tell myself yes. That has been my mantra that I have carried with me for decades,” informed the professor, who coyly told Flair she is in her “early 40s” when asked her age.

On the matter of work, Kinkead-Clark is currently in the midst of several partnered initiatives with colleagues at the Manchester Metropolitan University in the United Kingdom, while also supporting early childhood practitioners locally through professional development work with the Early Childhood Commission.

She is particularly proud of her long-standing Caribbean research collaboration and friendship with Dr Sheron Burns, who is now head of the global campus in Montserrat, and Dr Sabeerah Abdul-Majied, who retired recently from UWI St Augustine, resulting in several publications and earning them the Vice-Chancellor’s Award for cross-campus collaboration in 2020.

Away from the job, the veteran UWI professor makes time for reading and “loves lounging on a beach and trying new foods”. There is also the occasional getaway with engineer hubby Wayne, whom she wed more than 20 years ago, to the Couples resort in St Mary.

“We try to slip away every now and again to take a weekend, that is one of the things I look forward to. We have been there many times, even if it’s just for a day. Sometimes we will just go for lunch.”

She is thankful for Tescetta Vassell in her life. “She has been a phenomenal support, and having not had her, I would not be able to reach where I was able to,” Kinkead-Clark credited the woman who manages her domestic affairs. “With all of the other issues you have to deal with in terms of mothering, cooking and cleaning and whatever else, she took a lot of the workload off of me.”

lifestyle@gleanerjm.com