8 minute read
WRITING HER OWN RULES ON GENERATIONAL WEALTH
from March_April_2023
THE WOMAN OF THE YEAR TALKS ABOUT BUILDING LEGACY AND GIVING BACK.
BY YOLANDA BARUCH
Known 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 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 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, 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, 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- 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 wanted to make a difference. wanted to make a change, so 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. 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-
"There were critiques and everything that they could find; they were coming at me because of that, ended up starting my own company. 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. 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 ing Jamaica, not only for jobs but also with young women. I was talking to the first lady about being able to impact young women and boys as well. But my focus is young women and how to get them scholarships in different formats to enhance and collectively get them in the places they need to go to thrive," she adds.
The economic prowess she employs today stems from the steps she took to build her lucrative enterprises by focusing on providing service to the medical industry. Providing optimal service is paramount to Bailey's vision and essential to building "any successful business [through] service and consistency." This concept is simplistic in thought but challenging to implement.
Her first foray into entrepreneurship began in a 600 square feet space because one of Bailey's business methodologies is predicated on sustaining a low overhead, "With a low overhead, the stress of maintaining a large overhead and not knowing if sales are coming in will become the death of you. When I started, I had a very low overhead; my office rent was $600. I ensured that the first employee hired was a sales rep. Why is that important? I'm in the office, taking care of the clerical things and patients, but I need someone to bring in the business. So, my first employee, who is still with me today as my CEO, was a salesperson."
Utilizing the Medicare Competitive Bid, which is technically still in existence but to a certain extent, the bidding program permitted suppliers to submit bids to provide particular services or supplies to people with Medicare.
"If you win the bid, you get to provide services to all Medicare patients within the geographical area that you win for [like] all disabled and elderly, patients over 65 are Medicare patients, whether it's Medicare replacement plan or straight Medicare. If you're an equipment business, you don't get the bid; you're out of business, essentially. So, when they implemented it, it was not in the area where I was; my home offices are in Vero Beach, Fla. said, let me try to see what will mess up on, and that way, if they come to my area, will know what I did wrong and what to correct so I can continue having the business," she says, and continues. "I applied for most of the South Florida, Central Florida areas, and I ended up winning all of the bids I applied for."
She then had three months to expand to Central Florida, such as the Orlando area and South Florida; from there, everything Bailey had planned for began to rocket upward.
"Then the second round of bids came about, and won all of them. I was doing more and more expansion at the time. Subsequently, later on, there were no more bids because they decided it wasn't financially feasible for the government to continue the bidding process," she says. Instead, the government allowed all providers to service any area that Bailey saw as an opportunity and expanded throughout Florida, Georgia, Texas, Tennessee, Connecticut, Illinois, and New York, to name a few.
In her first year, the business drew in revenue of approximately five million; in her second year, she landed a government contract. Her company is in its twelfth year of operation. As a mother of five, Kayla,8, and Ocean, 4, Bailey is actively training her children how to become entrepreneurs. Her oldest daughter, Tia, 23, is enrolled in medical school, her 20-year-old daughter, Natalia, is part of the Innovation Academy program at the University of Florida, however, her 13-year-old son, Gabriel, is heavily engaged in planning and developing to one day take over her company.
"I've been prepping him where he's joining the first official meeting that have will be with my estate and trust attorneys to go over all the assets and the company," she proudly states. Balancing motherhood while building her business was challenging; Bailey had to work 18-19 hours daily while raising little children, and her mother sometimes brought them to the office to visit her. Bailey declares all of her hard work was for the benefit of her children, "My foundation, which is my children, is essential to my success outside of the home because success outside the home it's not relevant if there's none inside. I've always made sure I take time, even though was in the process of building; when had a little personal time, it was always theirs. I didn't even engage with friends at all."
Bailey's advice for Black girls and women inspired by her story and who would like to follow in her footsteps is to become disciplined when managing their money.
"I always say be disciplined first and consistent with money, which affects every aspect of your life. If you are working somewhere and you are not the best employee at that job, you won't be the best employee when you start your company. So, you should stay employed. If you're working somewhere and you're there early, you're leaving late; you do all these extra things, you're practicing behaviors of being an entrepreneur. When you become an entrepreneur like myself, what will naturally happen is you won't feel like you're killing yourself because you have developed this skill over the years. So, when you get into your own space, you will apply it and be successful. As long as you've been consistent with what you're doing, service well, you will be successful in your endeavors," she advises.
Bailey continues to pay it forward by donating a significant amount to the University of Connecticut, being the lead platinum donor for a scholarship program, and funding after-school activities. She also oversees another program for young Black girls interested in science that awards recipients full scholarships.
"I also did this with Sandra Fatmi-Hall and served over four million meals since the pandemic for a food drive. I also donate to cancer research societies and a plethora of others. But my Christmas toy drive is very near and dear to my soul and heart. I've been doing this since I owned the company, so this is the 12-year mark, every city we're in, we choose one or two charities for the children. We buy Christmas toys for each charity so that children can have the things they need or at least bring a smile to their faces. I do because when first came to the United States, we lived in a one-bedroom apartment in the ghetto. My mom didn't have much, my sister and I were sleeping on the sofa bed, and she didn't have money for toys or Christmas presents. So, she took my sister and me to a toy drive, and the first toy I ever had in my life was at age 13, and it came from a toy drive. So, that part of my charity is near and dear to my soul and heart; it's something will always carry forward," Bailey says.