By Jasmaine Payne
In August 2011, when 17-year-old Jenell Pierre decided to take a year off school and make her artistic hobby of bow making into a business venture, some opposition naturally came her way.

In fact, her decision came as a surprise to many, since the Saint Stanislaus College student had been in the Science stream during her school years and had previously expressed her dreams of pursuing a career along those lines. Yet, though she had already applied to Nursing School, and had even attended its orientation, her creative side beckoned with a strong enough voice to make her heed its call. So even though naysayers felt that “making bows” could not be a full time business, Jenell decided to follow her heart, and thus her accessory line BowJay was born.
Now 21 years old, both Jenell and BowJay have blossomed; the young entrepreneur has since been recognized on many occasions for her creativity and business savvy and has since been exposed to opportunities that have allowed her to carve her small business into the budding establishment that it is today. In fact, Jenell is a member of the Women’s Entrepreneurship Network – a local group of businesswomen who provide support for each other’s ventures. She has participated in Guyexpo, and has also represented Guyana in the prestigious Caribbean Call to Action Entrepreneurship Challenge 2015 in which she fell among the top five finalists. Most recently, Jenell was awarded first place in the Business Expo 2015, Business Pitch. Yet all these achievements speak only a fraction of Jenell, Bowjay and the passion she instills into her craft.

“I love accessories because they don’t overtake your personality or how you dress; I want to do something that gives you the freedom of how you want to wear your clothes and how you want to mix and match,” Jenell said, and a walk through her Durban Street office which houses her accessory line gives insight into the same individuality and freedom to which she refers. Jenell’s BowJay line includes a myriad of accessories apart from her signature bowties. These include knitted scarves, hats, bags, purses, earrings, headbands, bandeaus, scrunchies, hair clips, skirts, mini pillows and cardigans. It’s hard to believe that her team only consists of three full time artists and herself.

Journey to BowJay
Though her business now thrives and has become quite an attraction to her bevvy of local supporters, Jenell credits every seemingly uncalculated move in her past as being responsible for where she is today.
Born in Seafield Village on the West Coast of Berbice, Jenell moved to Georgetown with her mother and two siblings at the age of five. When she was 14, the small family would again move to Tuschen on the East Bank of Essequibo. Coupled with the strength she has adopted from observing her independent mother, Jenell knew she would somehow be part of a business of her own someday. “By looking at my mom I learned to be economical; she spends money wisely and she has proven by example that women can do anything that men can do- I’ve seen her built a chicken coop, by herself with her two hands,” Jenell said. In fact, she admits that her entire family has forever been good with their hands, most times leaning toward the creative side. “My older brother is furthering his career as a photographer in the U.S and my sister owns a salon. My mother has always been supportive of her children’s careers, once it’s something that is honest and makes us happy. I am lucky to have my mother behind me, supporting me in what I do,” she said.
It is her mother’s strength that also helped Jenell to get through the most difficult point in her life: when she was diagnosed with Scoliosis (a condition which involves the excessive curvature of the human spine) at the age of 13. Jenell remembers being teased and called names because she wore a brace in High School; it was a time when she severely doubted her own ability to succeed. “My mother helped me through everything. I would cry a lot and she would stay up with me and talk to me about it. But eventually it helped me to be a bit more confident in other ways. It helped me to realise that I was not going to let it stop me,” Jenell said, adding that as time went by, her determination to defy the odds encouraged her to become more active in school and to explore many other avenues including where her creativity was concerned.

Four years later
Now, Jenell is proud of where she is; glad that she switched her course from the field of Science to studying Business Management at the University of Guyana- a move which she feels offers her added advantage in managing her business. Most of all, she is glad that her “accidental” discovery of her talent for making bows led her to her living her dream today. “I received a package from a friend who sent me a present and it had a bow, so I took the ribbon and tried to recreate the bow. It didn’t come out the same way, but to me it was better because I made it,” Jenell said. Later, by wearing her own creations, people offered to pay her to make bows for them, and when Jenell realised she could very well profit off of this simple thing that brought her so much joy, the light bulb moment appeared for her to start her own business.
Today, Jenell is grateful for all she has achieved, but has many more plans for the future. She is also aware of the positive influence her actions has on youth who are aspiring entrepreneurs but admits that for her, it is still a learning process as well. “I am still grappling with the fact that I am an influence to young people; there are people who admire what I do especially since I started at 17. But I am just doing what I love to do and since persons admire it, I’m happy, so that I could let people know that they can do something positive and love what they are doing.”