by Petamber Persaud
(Extract of an interview with Joy Agness, Georgetown, Guyana, July 2018. Agness, a Wedding & Event Planning Professor at the Miami Dade and Broward Colleges, recently launched her first book, Wedding and Event Planning 101, in Guyana.)
PP During my formative years, the ‘teach yourself’ series of books was very popular. As we talk, I can picture the brilliant yellow and black covers. Then as time moved on, we were treated with the do it yourself series. Great initiatives – teach yourself, do it yourself – but along the way there were many challenges, challenges with reading, comprehension and expression skills. So often we hear about the dearth of reading and the death of the book, so why have you chosen, despite all the challenges, why have chosen to put your thoughts down on paper, in a book form?
JA Good question. DIY – do it yourself; we have now abbreviated it to DIY.
Being a professor of two colleges, I find quite a few challenges with my students. You would find a conversation is not a conversation that you and I would know it to be, Petamber. You see growing up in Guyana, and I love to say growing up as a Guyanese, our major thing was perfecting our thoughts, reading and understanding. Being in North America, great conversations but there’s always that barrier to communicate – there’s always that line that young people don’t cross over. You see for me to have a conversation with my students is not a challenge but I have to be a very attentive listener because sometimes the words are shuffled and displaced and I have the privilege as I call it of deciphering what is been said to me….
PP That is also a challenge in itself – the art of listening….
JA Yes, the art of listening that has caused me to write this book …because you can’t ask me anything after having read the book…
PP That’s a reason for the book: a book is repository of information which can be retrieved for various uses.
JA So when I give my exams and if you haven’t read Weddings and Event Planning 101 which is one of their text books, you will fail miserably. So that is my way of pushing you to read and I am going to ask you questions that’s going challenge you to go to the book…So you have to read, reading is fundamental. In our society as we know it it is not that fundamental…In my time, when you get a book, there were no pictures and the reason is simply to push you to read.
You see when you are a facilitator of education which is what we do, we teach, there is a dialogue, a conversation; what are we talking about – a specific topic. The topic of this book is Wedding and Event Planning 101. The 101 doesn’t necessarily mean you are a dummy, it means that this is the basic and fundamental from where you should start elevating yourself to the next level. So yes, it is a trick question.
PP You said that you are a proud Guyanese
JA Yes, I am.
PP From Guyana to North America you have moved quite a bit, let’s trace that journey.
JA Originally, I am a Ms. Hamer, now I am a Mrs. Agness. I was born in Russell Street, I grew up in East La Penitence and that in itself a transition but when you get into North America that is a bigger transition.
PP A cultural shock.
JA You find a lot of things I am accustomed to do in Guyana, you had to shift. My first stop was Canada and I worked in the Guyana Consulate for a bit and it was quite an exposure for me. Vic Persaud was my then boss – protocol master…
PP Uncle Vic
JA Yes, Uncle Vic that’s what we called him and back then he called me ‘Pointer’ because I was so slim; we had a laugh at that the other day when I went to meet him….he was my first intro into protocol and I have no regrets.
I am a nurse by profession – an emergency RN and if you anything about ER, from the time you clock in, you’re on roller skates ….
So I was equipped medically but events like birthdays, anniversaries, promotions etc. – a lot of that went on at the hospital and I was always doing the decorating etc.; it was something I loved. So what I did was to turn my hobby into my job then a friend said I should turn it into a business and I said no, never heard of it.
When I got into the wedding event industry, it was not popular, it was unheard sort of….
PP So then you are a pioneer…
JA Yes, I have gotten a few awards as a trailblazer, that’s what they called me, a trailblazer…You see the life I live is not for me but for the others coming behind. I am just setting an example for you to follow. If you want change, Mahatma Gandhi said it starts with you. So I can’t want people to change and prefect the craft, if I don’t change. So I had to change my mindset and everything else and so here you have the birth of Wedding & Event Planning 101 because now I am a professor and I am teaching and I am looking at some of the mistakes made and I call people out there who don’t have the real know-how, barefoot contestants, not with any disrespect. But you need to know the tools and have the tools of the trade to perfect the craft and the industry you want to be a part of. So Wedding & Event Planning 101 is for people who are already in the field and want to brush up on a few things, people who want to get into the field but don’t know which direction to start and people who think they know everything and don’t know…
You may attend a wedding and it is beautiful and everything is gorgeous but you don’t know what has gone into perfecting that. This book is going to give you an insight: how many inches your dance floor suppose to be and how many people it can accommodate, how to sit.., how to eat…, how to set your table…
PP Portion size.
JA Portion size ….I put it all in there, I didn’t hide anything.
PP So we don’t have to re-invent the wheel.
JA No, you don’t.
PP One of the things, there are many things one can take away from this book but I like the concern you show for the environment whenever you’re planning.
JA Yes, very important. You must ensure you are environmentally conscious of what’s happening around you…
PP This book is about planning. I am intrigued with each new book. Let’s talk a while about planning and getting this publication out….
JA …this was three years in the making. I travel extensively as a wedding and event planner and this entails hours away from home, hours in hotels…
PP that’s gathering information. What about printing, that process?
JA That process wasn’t very hard because there are lots of publishing companies. I chose AuthorHouse because AuthorHouse has been around awhile. So I sat down with the layout of my book every step of the way. So what we have here [pointing to the book] is not some printing company that threw it together and says Joy, here is your book. What we have here is me flying to New York because I live in South Florida, sitting down with my publisher…
PP Wow, what a process.
JA Yes, a process because I wanted to take an active part in my book, I wanted to make sure that when people get this book that it was ready and worthy to be read by other people; it is okay for me to read it and say this is how I wanted it to be but in the hands of somebody else they should be able to get the same clarity. So for me to get the clarity I wanted to impart to other people, I had to be at the helm, so to speak, because AuthorHouse doesn’t know what I want, they can imagine what they would like to see…when they put it together. Sometimes things got distorted and I had to gone over it page by page by page, it’s a tedious and laborious task but it had to be done; that’s the only way I’d be satisfied….
Responses to this author please telephone 226-0065 of email: oraltradition2002@yahoo.com
(Times Sunday Magazine)
