Foy-Connor
The Department of Gender Affairs in the Ministry of Social Development, this week, welcomed to the island Ms. Drea Kelly of Atlanta, Georgia. She had been in Anguilla, over the past few days, engaged in a program of motivational meetings particularly designed for women. The meetings formed part of Women’s Week 2019, under the theme: “Women of Faith, Hope and Love”.
Ms. Kelly is the former wife of R&B music celebrity, Robert Kelly (R. Kelly), who has been a prominent figure on American media lately. The Anguillian was invited to join Ms. Kelly over dinner, last Sunday night, at the cozy Madeariman Restaurant at Shoal Bay. There, she spoke of her life, not just as a celebrity, but as one who is being used as God’s instrument to bring healing and empowerment to battered women in broken relationships.
She spared no effort in stressing what such instrumentality entails as she spoke of her faith and her work: “Being a celebrity is my fake life — but being a mom and touching the lives of others for good is my real life. I only use the celebrity status to allow me to open up doors to serve others. Celebrity should not be about the perks or what you get out of it. It should be about enriching the lives of your fellowman, and that is what I do.”
When asked what is her vocation or profession in life, Drea answered: “I am a dancer by profession, and I do what is called motivational speaking, but I do not really regard it as motivational speaking. Rather, I call what I do transformational conversation. I seek to facilitate women with the empowerment that would transform their lives, rather than just to motivate them. Transforming women is my passion and my calling, and I would choose to do this over any high budget movie. Yes! I would choose this over riches. I love to share my life story with people so that their lives can be transformed and changed.”
She continued to place a high premium on her service to others by saying: “Everybody is so celebrity-obsessed these days. They use social media as a means of showing a fake life on Instagram. But they’re not really living by showing a façade to live up to a standard. Life and service is about how we interact with other human beings. It is what you do to help to transform people’s lives.
“We are placed on this earth for a purpose. There is a dash [—] between the day we were born and the day we die. That dash is important because it defines what you do between birth and death to affect other people’s lives — not just your own. So that is how I live my life.”
On that note, Ms. Kelly was asked about the spiritual aspect of her life and how her faith influences the kind of work that she does. She responded: “Actually, I see my life as being God’s vessel. I believe that I was chosen for my journey and for the work that I do. But I did not always think that way. One day, however, I was praying and I asked God ‘why’ I was facing such trauma and pain in my life. God asked me ‘why not’. From that moment I knew that I was chosen to impact the lives of others.”
She noted that often God allows tragedy and pain in our lives so that He can be glorified by the work that He prepares us for. “He takes us through tragedy and pain and He becomes real in our experiences,” she said.
Dr. Ronya Foy-Connor, Gender Development Coordinator, was Ms. Kelly’s dinner host. She, herself, has great passion for women’s issues and the plight which abused women face. She was elated over the fact that Drea had accepted the invitation to come to Anguilla, and spoke of what motivated her to invite her here:
“For this Women’s Week, the theme is ‘Women of Faith, Hope and Love’, and as I was researching on programs and projects about building women’s self esteem, I came across a video of Ms. Kelly and I was excited about not just her story of being an over-comer and a survivor, but I noticed that she has such a light and a grace about her. She is a true testament that if a woman has faith in God she is able to have hope for a better future.
“After seeing the video, I decided that I would reach out to Ms. Kelly, and I invited her to come in person to share her story and her experiences with the women of Anguilla. So I contacted her manager. She readily agreed to come, and so we made arrangements for her visit.”
Dr. Foy-Connor said that at a women’s “hats and heels” event earlier Sunday, Ms. Kelly touched many women’s hearts and emotions as she related her remarkable story. She said that she was looking forward to Monday night’s event at the CuisinArt Ballroom where Ms. Kelly would have met the women again and seek to empower them as Women’s Week continued.
Dr. Foy-Connor wishes to thank all the businesses and individuals who played a part in making the visit of Ms. Kelly a possibility and a great success.
