COVER STORY
TRISHA BAILEY:
WRITING HER OWN RULES ON GENERATIONAL WEALTH THE WOMAN OF THE YEAR TALKS ABOUT BUILDING LEGACY AND GIVING BACK. BY YOLANDA BARUCH
K
nown to many as “The Great CoDr. Trisha Bailey encapsulates the grit, exceptional work ethic, and altruism laid down by her Jamaican heritage, which caused her to become the wealthiest woman in Jamaica's history. Growing up, she resided in a rural place called Woodland St. Elizabeth, which had a population size of about 200-300 people and lived in abject poverty. "When I was growing up, we had no running water, no electricity. We walked three and a half miles to school, one way, and three and a half miles to 12 ONYX MAGAZINE
return home," she recalls. Her mother immigrated to Hartford, Conn., with Bailey's aunt, later bringing Bailey, at the tender age of 13, along with her sister to the United States. She spent her middle school years there, then went to Weaver High School and matriculated to her alma mater, the University of Connecticut. Bailey began her career as a stockbroker in her early 20s while she lived in Connecticut and subsequently left that role to venture into pharmaceutical sales; she eventually relocated to Florida to pursue her career further.
Her role as a stockbroker did not allow Bailey to start a family, "Your schedule is minimal for personal time. [For] my work schedule, I was in the office at 6:30 a.m. and sometimes didn't leave until 11:00 p.m., sometimes [even] later. When starting a family, I knew that I would not have the time to be able to give to my child the way that I would like. As a result, I ended up transitioning to the pharmaceutical industry, which gave me more flexibility with time and schedule," she says. Bailey spent eight years in the pharmaceutical industry, worked with
Takeda Pharmaceuticals for three years, then progressed to Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, where she was employed for five years. During her time in Florida, Bailey exhibited exceptional skills with her tasks, received a promotion every year at Takeda, and experienced the same advancement at Boehringer. One of her promotions transferred her to California. Armed with her master’s degree in Business Administration from the University of Phoenix, a doctorate in leadership and organizational leadership with a concentration in finance, seven finan-
cial licenses, a CFA-certified financial adviser license, a series 763 life, health, annuities insurance license, and a cardiology certificate from New York University medical school and a pulmonary degree from the University of Kentucky, needless, to say, Bailey is overqualified for any offered position. "When I was considered for the new position in California, the company policy is to interview everyone, regardless of who they are, whether they're in the company or not, but because of my accomplishments, and my accolades, I was also ranked number one in the company at the time. The manager hired me without an interview, so he didn't get to see what I looked like; when I got to California, everything was approved before I left and accepted the role. In my first meeting with him, he looked at me and said, 'I didn't realize that you were Black, and when he said that, it didn't resonate," Bailey said, unperturbed she shrugged off the prejudiced comment. However, her manager began harassing her and claiming her work was inefficient. "There were critiques and everything that they could find; they were coming at me because of that, I ended up starting my own company. I started a medical recruiting company, and the reason is that I knew physicians that were all my clients. I figured, since I already know physicians, it will be easy for me to get them jobs across the country," she expounds. In 2008, a severe health scare inspired her to launch a medical equipment and supplies business. Bailey slipped into a coma for eight days in California. Upon flying back to Florida, she had a layover, but she was alone, even though she had an associate speak to the flight attendants to care for her during her travel. "They put me in a wheelchair because, at the time, I couldn't walk or talk because my larynx was clipped. I had no vocals. I was in Atlanta, and I sat there trying to signal someone to help me because they took me off the plane and sat me in the wheelchair at the gate. I was trying to signal for someone to help me; it took me three hours with lots of tears, and a young girl helped me
translate to someone else to take me to the next connecting flight. During that moment, I realized that the disabled were invisible to the world, and I wanted to make a difference. I wanted to make a change, so I started the medical equipment and supplies business, which is now my core foundation business," she says. While she no longer has the medical recruitment business, she has expanded into owning 15 different companies that encompass: a pharmacy, selling medical scrubs, an equestrian property, entertain-
ment, Bailey's real estate that owns real estate companies and buildings throughout the United States, as well as, two real estate development companies in Jamaica. "I'm building a couple of things; a few projects are going on; I have two phases into luxury condos that are ongoing right now in Red Hills, Kingston. I own half of an island off of Jamaica, and the person who owns the other half is Ian Fleming, the creator of James Bond. I am building my luxury 32,000-square-foot beach house there as well. So those
are things that are ongoing right now in Jamaica. I spent January 1 in Jamaica at a concert with the prime minister, and then the next day, we met to discuss some of the developments of the island and how to impact the island in positive ways," Bailey informs. She is in conversation with government officials on how to improve the hospitals through her philanthropic endeavors and lends her input to enhance the island's economic development. "I'm working closely with some hospitals directly involved in develop-
ONYX MAGAZINE 13
