Mother of renowned actress Sheryl Lee Ralph, she designed for rhythm and blues singer Patti Labelle when she attended the Jamerican Film and Music Festival gala awards ceremony in Jamaica.

Ivy Ralph

Picture former Prime Minister Michael Manley in one of his famous looks, a cross between a high-necked jacket and a shirt. Ivy Ralph was responsible for that look.

The veteran fashion designer who received formal education at a fashion design school institute in New York made her mark in the 1970s with the kareeba. Manley was not the first to wear one, and he certainly was not the last, as the trend was a big hit with not only Jamaican males but foreigners as well. President Julius Nyerere of Tanzania commissioned one when he visited the island in 1974.

Mother of renowned actress Sheryl Lee Ralph, she designed for rhythm and blues singer Patti Labelle when she attended the Jamerican Film and Music Festival gala awards ceremony in Jamaica.

In 2002 her store Ivy Ralph Design was destroyed in a fire at Devon House.

Ralph, known for designing cool, comfortable styles suitable for women of all sizes, is still active on the local fashion scene.

Sharonmae Shirley

Environmental and industrial chemist Sharonmae Shirley, began her career on the same campus she studied for her B.Sc. in pure and applied chemistry.

Since that first job working as a demonstrator in the department of chemistry at the University of the West Indies, Mona, Shirley has built a proven track record for excellence in consulting over the past 12 years. She is now the principal consultant, and manager for quality and environmental health services at environ-mental solutions limited (ESL).

As an environmental chemist, she is responsible for the design and conduct of water-quality monitoring programmes, environmental audits and air-quality studies, and has also done studies on water and air quality of across the island.

Generally, her expertise spans Phase I and II environmental assessments, environmental and food industry audits, petroleum contamination remediation and closure plan assessments, air quality studies, solid waste and water quality monitoring studies.

She is also an educator, having taught over 400 (graduate and undergraduate) students, including public health officials, in professional development Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) and auditing courses.

But Shirley's contribution is not limited to the scientific community. She has also met her civic duty to her community. She is the immediate past chairperson and current project officer for the St. Catherine Parish Action Committee (a non-governmental organisation), and is also a member of the West Indies Union of Seventh-day Adventists (SDA), executive committee and first elder of Tredegar Park SDA Church, St. Catherine.

Since that first job working as a demonstrator in the department of chemistry at the University of the West Indies, Mona, Shirley has built a proven track record for excellence in consulting over the past 12 years.