Keisha Scott using pillows to build her career

Keisha Scott makes and sells pillows, cushions and pillow cases through her company K&F Home Furnishing and Emblazonrey; but for her it is just the beginning.

She said her long-term goal is to some day fulfil her dreams of fashion designing.

Scott hails from Bucks Common in Clarendon, and is a graduate of Central High and HEART Trust/NTA, where she did garment construction.

She has faced some challenges in her life. she looks at them as stepping stones to get to where she wants to be.

In 2014, she rented a shop in the May Pen Market, but a few months later, fire destroyed everything she owned in the business, including merchandise she was selling to supplement her income.

"I never lost hope though, cause I had faith in God," she said. She had reason to smile some time after the incident as a friend from Trelawny sent her a domestic sewing machine, and with her juggling jobs such as working in a cookshop, she was able to save enough money to purchase another serger (stitching) machine.

Scott started making market bags, still struggling to get back on her feet. She said she tried not to lose faith.

Things finally looked up for her last year when she had a meeting with Baldvin McKenzie, the Social Development Commission's parish manager for Clarendon, who referred her to Damion Young from the Municipal Corporation.

Her prayers were answered when she got into the Youth In Business programme with a grant enabling her to purchase an industrial machine.

Scott said her main challenge now is finding a suitable location to operate from.

"My ultimate goal is to get a container in a nice location where customers can easily locate me," she said wistfully.

For now she works from home, taking orders and filling them.

With many youth not being able to find a job, Scott said she hopes to eventually employ others when her business really takes off.

"It pains my heart to see so many persons walking around wanting a job or other forms of help and can't get any. I especially want to make a change in my community and across Jamaica, and if possible, the world," she said.

Because of financial limitations, Scott had to divert her dream, but she has not given up hope of some day showing her pieces to the fashion world.