From board house to boardroom - Kizzy Reynolds winning in business after rough beginnings

When Kizzy 'Prosperity' Reynolds found out she was pregnant, she felt as though her whole world was falling apart.

Living in a small board house in gritty 100 Lane off Red Hills Road with a schizophrenic father and down-on-her-luck mother, things couldn't have appeared more dire for the 19-year-old expecting mother.

"I thought about having an abortion but, with a mother like mine, it was not an option. When my mother find out mi get pregnant, she nearly kill mi with lick. But she ensure that she didn't hit me to lose the baby. She was upset because she struggled to send us to school and she tell mi say, anywhere mi catch mi cold, mi must blow mi nose," she said. After her son was born, Reynolds said that her mother kicked her out of the house and raised him until he was five.

"However, I had to take care of him and would pick him up from school every day, but I couldn't stay in her house. She is a radical woman and it was the best thing that she could have ever done for me. She was a tough-love mother but it was for the better for me and my brother," she said.

Fast-forward 25 years, she is still a single mother, but also the CEO of three successful businesses, New Oceans Shipping Co Ltd, which offers port services; entertainment company New Wavez Entertainment Co Ltd; and New Waste Company Ltd that deals with solid waste management. She is also a justice of the peace. Reflecting on her life, Reynolds told THE WEEKEND STAR that she has come a long way from the days when she and her mother, sister and brother were homeless for about eight years.

"My mother's friend had to 'put we up' from I was age 10 until about age 18. My dad had a mental condition, so he became abusive and my mother didn't want to expose us to that. So she took us and left. My mother couldn't read well but she was very big on education," she said.

"It's been a long ride. Most of my friends who are males are dead. A lot of people I know didn't make it to live to see this age, so I am grateful. The hard work and sacrifice paid off. All I can tell people is that, from God inna it, it must work," she added. .

As Reynolds began to flourish in the business world again, tragedy struck in 2014 when her twin daughters Oliviah and Neveah died just months apart from illnesses.

"That was a horrible weekend for me. My father was distraught over the death of my first daughter and he took it to heart and died. Thankfully, we had reunited and I had forgiven him for everything. I buried him the Saturday, and my other daughter, Oliviah, died two days later on Monday .

She however, turned her pain into inspiration to launch her Nolivia Foundation, which caters to the less fortunate and those who are mentally challenged.

"Mi send over 300 kids back to school over the years, because I know what it is like to not know if I am going back to school tomorrow or this semester," she said.

Reynolds' son, Jamari 'Bronco.don' Taylor , just graduated from law school and is a successful music producer whose latest release, Chronic Law's Scars from War Part 2, is trending on local YouTube charts.

"It's not an easy road. You have to put the child before you. So, if you can, wait until you're ready to have a child. You hear Buju say ' Is not an easy road'. It is really not an easy road, plenty of sacrifice, plenty of heartache," she said. As a teenage mother, Reynolds would often carry her son with her to classes at Excelsior Community College before she matriculated to the University of Technology.

"From God inna it, it haffi work. Him (Jamari) all inna the class ah answer questions. Anything you put your mind to, you can do it, you just have to believe," she said. These days, she has tried to 'pay it forward' by mentoring other single teenage mothers through charity foundations, and by giving pep talks to teens about making informed sexual choices.