Amitabh Sharma
Features Coordinator

She is what the sign posted on the door announces, 'On top of the world', which sums up the Jamaican Olympic glory.

Joylene Griffiths-Irving, director, public, corporate and government affairs, Scotiabank, professes that she is an outdoors person and has incorporated all the elements of nature in her office space. "I have tried to incorporate all the outdoor elements in the office and connect with them; I want to get that feeling inside of the office," she said.

Griffiths-Irving's office in the Scotia tower in downtown Kingston pans a spectacular view of the harbour, Palisadoes and the mountains. "The sea, mountains and the sky destress me," she said, gazing out at the bright, sunlit day from her window. "The view is wonderful!"

No symmetry
There is no symmetry in the office space; a wall is decorated with paintings from her favourite painter, her daughter. "I love art and saw that my daughter was painting, so I decided to keep her work," she said.

As appreciation, she pays her daughter for her work. "It is not free; I buy the paintings from her," Griffiths-Irving said.

Another wall has T-shirts, a cricket bat, a shovel and a helmet. "These are from the work done by the Scotiabank Foundation," she explained as she posed for a photo with shovel in hand.

As Griffiths-Irving's job is a high pressure one, she says she gets inspiration from the assortment of nature in her office, frogs for starters, not live, but paintings and glass variants. "They are a form of purity, they breathe through their skin and need clean air to survive," Griffiths-Irving said. "Clean air gives pure thoughts."

Collecting memorabilia is also her hobby. Two ledgers, one from 1892 and the other from 1894, adorn Griffiths-Irving's bookshelf. "I remind myself that's how banking used to be in the olden times. They are a treasure and I love the smell of them."

Photos: Amitabh Sharma

amitabh.sharma@gleanerjm.com