Bartender turns teacher - Shavonae Wallace takes inspirational journey from bar life to teaching excellence

Once serving drinks behind a bar, 31-year-old Shavonae Wallace now stands confidently at the front of a high school classroom as a history teacher -- living proof, she believes, that perseverance, faith and self-belief can completely rewrite one's story.

"We all have our own time line. We just have to keep it together, have a vision and stay motivated," she said.

Raised in Red Hills, St Andrew, Wallace left The Queen's School in 2013 with eight Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) passes, including mathematics and English. While her academic foundation was strong, financial hardship meant she could not transition seamlessly into tertiary education. Instead, she entered the workforce, determined to create her own pathway forward.

"I started working with the National Youth Service and used that money to begin nursing school. After two years, I had to stop because of financial limitations," she shared.

As tuition costs mounted and the lack of a guarantor closed off further options, Wallace made the difficult decision to travel to the United States of America in search of opportunity. That experience, however, unfolded in ways she never anticipated.

"Due to racial issues, I found myself involved in an assault case. I represented myself and won the case," she said.

In 2019, Wallace returned to Jamaica, arriving with just "a bag of clothes", but with a quiet determination to rebuild her life. During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, she relocated to St Ann -- without family, housing, or certainty -- armed only with a possible job lead she had seen on Facebook seeking bartenders.

"I never imagined myself working in a bar because growing up, we were taught that education was the way out. But during COVID there were no jobs. I tried call centres and many other places, but nothing was available. When I saw the post offering $17,000 per week, I decided to try," she recalled.

From the outset, Wallace viewed bartending as a temporary sacrifice, not a permanent identity. Her time behind the bar exposed her to its instability as she moved between establishments in St Ann and St Elizabeth.

"The longest I stayed at one bar was three weeks," she explained.

Yet even within uncertainty, Wallace remained alert to opportunity. While working in St Elizabeth, she decided to put down roots. After four months of careful saving, she made a bold entrepreneurial leap.

"I borrowed money from my sister and used what I saved to get a bar up and running. I then leased a piece of land and started farming, planting watermelon and carrots. The carrots didn't work out because they were stolen, but I eventually started planting more crops, like peanut and corn," she told THE STAR.

Despite owning a bar and managing small-scale farming, Wallace felt an emptiness she could not ignore. In 2021, she acted on a long-held dream to further her studies and applied to read for a teaching degree at Bethlehem Moravian College in St Elizabeth.

Though she attempted to maintain the bar business while she studied, Wallace admitted her heart was no longer in it. She paused operations and focused fully on classes, initially paying tuition in instalments before accessing the Student Loan Bureau in her third year, after the guarantor requirement was removed.

At Bethlehem, Wallace was determined not just to pass, but to excel. She etched her own legacy, earning a place on the principal's honour roll for three consecutive years. By her fourth year, she secured a pre-trained teaching position at Wolmer's Boy School and later received the valedictory Class Award of Excellence in the teaching of history.

Last November, she graduated with a Bachelor's Degree in Education (Secondary History and Social Studies) with first-class honours.

"I am now employed at Manchester High School. But right now, even persons I worked for are telling me they are proud and glad I held my head up. In the bar, I wouldn't do anything to disrespect myself," she said.

Looking back, Wallace expressed gratitude for every chapter of her journey, including the bar life that sustained her when she needed it most, as "I knew it was just something to make ends meet and take me to where I want to be".

She hopes her story will resonate with others who feel stuck or discouraged, reminding them that setbacks are not endpoints.

"There is greater out there and more to achieve. If you want it just go and get it," she said.