GoodHeart | Tishauna Mullings stays rooted in community

Tishauna Mullings speaks with the calm assurance of someone who has lived the lessons she shares. Born and raised in St Thomas, she understands what it means to start small and work steadily toward big goals. The Chief Success Officer of NexxStepp Lifelong Educational Services, and the 2025 Supreme Ventures Foundation (SVF) Supreme Community Hero, credits her journey to resilience, resourcefulness, and a deep sense of community.

Mullings’ story began in Morant Bay where her mother worked as a higgler, selling goods so that she and her sister could stay in school. Watching her mother travel back and forth between St Thomas and Kingston taught Mullings the value of hard work and sparked her interest in finding creative ways to strengthen rural communities.

“I saw my mother do the impossible with very little,” Mullings told GoodHeart. “She was the first changemaker I ever knew. She didn’t have much, but she made things happen. That’s where my drive for my rural people comes from.”

That connection to her community still shapes much of what she does. While campaigning in rural areas, Mullings highlights meeting the shopkeepers and residents who greeted her with encouragement and support: “Tishauna yah my girl! We cyaa read, but whatever it is, we a vote fi yuh!” she repeated, smiling at the interaction.

“Those moments meant everything to me. They reminded me that I represent real people. People who may not have access to much but who have faith in you. That’s the Jamaica I work for,” Mullings added.

Through NexxStepp Lifelong Educational Services, Mullings focuses on helping young people build skills and confidence through education, innovation, and mentorship. One of her proudest initiatives is the Little Genius Competition, a programme she created to nurture creativity and confidence among children in rural areas.

DRIVEN BY FAITH

At its inception, the prize money for the show was $30,000, $20,000, and $10,000, an ambitious sum considering that she was only earning $50,000 a month at the time. Yet, driven by faith and conviction, she used her salary to pay the top prizes and found the remaining $10,000 with help from a kind officer at the Morant Bay Police Station.

“That’s what giving from the heart looks like,” she explained. “You don’t wait until you have enough, you start with what you have and trust that it will multiply,” she said.

One of the stories that continues to inspire her comes from a young boy who participated in the first staging of the competition. He had lost his mother and was raised by his father, a one-handed man doing his best to provide. “He came up to me one day and asked, ‘Tishauna, how can I be like you?’” she said. Though the boy eventually dropped out of the competition, he stayed connected with her and continued to grow under her guidance. Today, he is studying in Canada and has published his own book.

Mullings’ Little Genius programme has grown from a one-time competition into a year-long initiative that helps students develop leadership skills and curiosity about the world around them. She remembers taking her “Little Geniuses” to a television studio and watching their faces light up. For many, it was their first time in such a space. “That spark in their eyes reminded me why I do this,” she shared. “Exposure can change the trajectory of a child’s life.”

Winning this year’s SVF Supreme Community Hero award has only deepened her resolve. “SVF has fired me up to do even more across rural Jamaica,” she affirmed, adding, “When you see people who live where you live, face the same struggles, and still make a difference, it makes you believe in your own ability to create change. That’s what this journey is about.”

She has pledged to collaborate with the other four finalists on a joint community project, emphasising unity in service. “We’re all changemakers,” she added. “This isn’t just my win, it’s a win for everyone working to make Jamaica better, one small act at a time.”

goodheart@gleanerjm.com