Tamika Forrester: A Jamaican journalist in Canada

A chance encounter with the head of news for the Toronto-based Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), at a conference in Barbados, put then Television Jamaica (TVJ) journalist Tamika Forrester on a path which, some 20 years later, sees her as a senior producer at one of Canada’s leading media entities.

At the time, Forrester (formerly Grant-Moodie) was a familiar face at TVJ, writing stories, producing and presenting news, as well as a wife and mother to a young child.

However, she was also audacious and driven by ambition for a bigger stage, and that emboldened her to approach a man she had never met.

“He didn’t promise me anything. He said ‘The only thing I can do is, if you migrate to the country, have your papers correct, then, when that’s in place, you can give me a call’,” Forrester told The Gleaner.

In 2006, the St Thomas native did just that.

“I am sure he must have been shocked when I called him to say I am here (in Canada), but he said ‘Ok, come in for an interview’. He didn’t give me a permanent job, he gave me basically a small contract position which got my foot through the door and, to this day, I am very appreciative.”

Nearly 20 years later, Forrester is a senior producer at CBC, managing her own unit, but admits that, despite landing her dream job, the journey was far from easy.

CULTURE SHOCK

“Remember, when you are migrating, you are coming in with your family, there is the culture shock just coming into a new country. Your living arrangement is different, all the things that you were comfortable with back home no longer exist, your support system is not there. Then again, you are in a new newsroom, fresh with all these bright people.”

Forrester shone though in a new role as an associate producer with CBC’s News World, a live, daily, four-hour news and current affairs show, where she was tasked with chasing guests each day.

It could be life-threatening fires in another Canadian province, a terror attack in another part of the world, or Canada being crowned world champions in curling, a sport she had never heard about, her job was to find guests who could speak authoritatively with the hosts and to ensure that the presenters were adequately briefed.

“I remember feeling scared, like being inadequate, you know, like feeling, ‘Oh my gosh, how can I make sure that I am able to do what these people expect of me’? I felt that, whatever my colleague was doing, I had to make sure that I was doing twice that.”

Forrester spent over 10 years as an associate producer, and considers those years a great training ground.

“It was not easy. Many of my colleagues did not have a family yet, they were younger than me. Sometimes when my son was sick and I had to call in order to stay home with him and, I mean, your employer can only be understanding up to a point. So it was always juggling whether it was me or my husband, who was going to handle the sick time today and, I mean, it was a tough time, it really was a tough time. Eventuall,y we were able to bring up my mom for six months at a time to help take care of our son and my daughter who was born here.”

Forrester next joined CBC’s digital team, as news entities were forced to repurpose their content to face an emerging competitor – social media.

“Social media became a huge thing for newsrooms. We had to put out our content where the audience was. You couldn’t just wait for them to come and sit down to watch you on TV, or listen to you on the radio, we needed to go and find them where they are and we were on their phones.”

Forrester told The Gleaner that producing for this new space changed the trajectory of her career.

“Before that, I was mainly in broadcast journalism but here it was really opening my eyes to different levels of treatment. One thing with social media, they wanted to see stuff right now. With TV, you know you could draw the story out a little bit because the audience is going to sit around and wait; social media, the first 10 seconds, you must have whatever it is that’s going to grab them. I enjoyed my time there. We were one of the first publishers to get on the SnapChat platform, and that really paved the way for the next step in my career.”

And, though going through a period where she felt she had lost her voice as she made the transition from a familiar newsroom to an unfamiliar space, Forrester is now senior producer with CBC’s initiative Being Black in Canada.

STRATEGIC PLANNING

“I am organising CBC’s strategy for Black History Month, we do a lot of content discussion about what it is we are going to be putting out to the public for the month of February, and then there are discussions about what our focus will be for the rest of the year. And it really took my career experience from being the worker bee to being in the room with conversations about strategic planning, thinking more about the audience, seeing how best we can serve them, what are the issues they want to talk about.”

CBC recognised her leadership qualities despite the imposter syndrome which threatened her vibrant personality, and she benefited from training which helped her to rediscover her voice.

Her job means while embracing her own blackness, she is part of illuminating issues, including inequalities or systemic racism, as well as the achievements and success of the minority community.

Forrester maintains her connection to Jamaica by simple things like speaking Jamaican Creole (Patois) in her home, as well as through two organisations.

“I am a part of the Morant Bay High School Alumni Association. I mean, every time we talk about alumni associations in Jamaica, you know Morant Bay High School is very loud and proud, you know us in our green and white, that school up on the hill. And my charity is very close to my heart. My mom Millicent Moodie was a nurse. When she passed away in 2017 [in Canada], I started it as a way to honour her. So the Millicent Moodie Foundation Nursing Scholarship offers a one-year tuition of up to US$5,000 to the successful candidate to attend whichever nursing institution in Jamaica, and so it takes away some of the financial stress for a year. My mom was a proud daughter of St Thomas and she always believed in leaving the world a little bit better than how you found it.”

karen.madden@gleanerjm.com