Jewels of the Virgin Isles is a feature series profiling Virgin Islanders in the diaspora who are excelling in their respective fields and/or positively representing the USVI abroad.
Sometimes life has to knock you down in order for you to find your true direction. Just ask Donna Rojas, an offender workforce development specialist who works with the incarcerated population to prepare them for life after imprisonment.
Born in New York but raised since infancy on St. Thomas by her grandmother, Miriam Prince, Rojas says she uses her personal experiences to show her clients that there are other options in life besides the hustle of the streets.
Rojas attended Lutheran School and Sts. Peter & Paul School through the 11th grade and says she lived a rather sheltered life. Later, as a teen, trying to find her own voice, she made a series of decisions that would result in her being sent back to her mother in New York at the start of her senior year of high school to attend St. Raymond’s Academy for Girls.
It was a decision that would alter the course of her life in a major way and force her to grow up in an instant. “I chose to deviate off the path my grandmother had me on – college, a career she could be proud of – and got into trouble. Unfortunately, my return to New York was the first time I had ever lived full time with my mom and she worked all day as an executive. Though I was an older teen, I was essentially a ‘latch key kid’ and, boy, did I take advantage of that freedom,” Rojas recalls.
She says she also held a lot of resentment about having to leave her friends during her last year of high school and, as a result, Rojas acted out by hanging with a faster crowd than she was used to in the Virgin Islands. She would soon find herself in a volatile relationship that left her with a young daughter, a shattered sense of self, and a fire in her spirit to make a better life.
After trying her hand at numerous careers, Rojas later moved to Montgomery County, Md., where she began to take college-level courses, completed various industry certifications and eventually worked as an office services coordinator and program specialist.
She was ultimately guided into her calling to help others, first as a tobacco addiction specialist for the county and, most recently, as an offender workforce development specialist and global career development facilitator, where she helps to train inmates and ex-offenders in job and life skills that help to prepare them for reintegration into society.
Rojas says she finds it rather ironic that she would be working with criminals because of the impact that crime had on her own family during her youth. Her grandfather, St. Thomas shopkeeper Alfred Prince, owner of Prince Grocery in Contant, was violently gunned down more than 30 years ago by armed robbers, with Rojas within hearing distance. This tragedy has ironically become an important part of her outreach to her client base as she shares with them the long-lasting impact on the lives of the victims of the crimes they commit.
“Never in a million years did I think I would be working with the offender population, but I guess you could say my path went from personal tragedy to helping others triumph,” she reflects.
Additionally Rojas has started a coaching group for female offenders, helping them to dissect the long-term effects of the decisions that landed them behind bars – especially when it was for the sake of a romantic relationship. “I am now starting to follow my passion versus just being a check-getter,” Rojas says. “I counsel both men and women, and through my story, I try to show them both sides of being in a destructive relationship and also the importance of self-respect.”
Despite her time in the “school of hard knocks,” Rojas – a mother of two – maintains a positive outlook on life, a strong faith in God and a close bond with her family. “My family inspires me in that they have always been there and pushed me to the limits to be the best person and employee I can be. They were tough but it was well worth it,” she says.
It is this foundation, combined with an attitude of commitment, caring and consistency that has enabled her to find joy and a level of success in her career.
“I encourage our people to become involved and recognize how valuable our youth are, and without fear or apprehension get involved in the lives of our children because that’s what sustained us when we were young,” she says. In a nutshell, that’s really what it’s all about.
A Nugget for V.I. Youth: “For the V.I. youth, my words of wisdom/encouragement would be ‘Do not let the negative dictate where you are going.’ If you have a goal/dream, write it down, make it plain and then work towards achieving it. Conceiving it is just the beginning, but achieving it is the outcome.”
Little Known Fact: “What people would be surprised to learn is that I have two adult children who are heavily involved in the arts. I have a 29-year-old daughter who graduated from Towson University with her degree in electronic media and film who is developing her own entertainment production company, and a 20-year-old son who won first place at Amateur Night at the Apollo in New York in October 2013 and continues to pursue a career in dance.
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Loán Sewer is a marketing and tourism consultant and proud Virgin Islander who resides in Washington, D.C. She is also a founding member of the USVI Alliance Inc., an organization focused on reconnecting the Virgin Islands diaspora with the local community and host of the USVI Economic Development Summit on the U.S. mainland. Follow her on Twitter @LoTalksTourism or e-mail her at info@LoTalksTourism.com.
