Susan Simes

Susan Simes, the attractive 37 year-old host of CVM TV's Susan, has for the past three and a half years worked her way into the Jamaican consciousness comforting many and rescuing many more, all in the desire to "do good in her neighbourhood".

Helping people is something Simes learned from her mother, Marva McLeod, whom she describes as being a big influence in her life. "She was the one I grew up seeing giving away the food and every neighbour passing the gate 'come man, yes you can get some food, always have some food put down in the fridge'," she recalled, while laughing heartily at the memory.

That spirit of giving is also a way of life for members of staff at Simber Productions, the company she formed with her late business partner, Douglas Chambers and producers of Susan. "I figured if I had the power to put a programme on television, how can I help my people, Jamaica?" she said from behind her desk in her office on Ballater Avenue in St Andrew. "How can I put it out there in a positive light? All that came together in the Susan show."

good days and bad

Douglas, the former head of the Jamaica Urban Transit Company was gunned down in late June this year. She said since his passing there have been good days and bad as she comes to grips with the tragedy.

Since Susan first aired on April 28, 2005, it has helped families overcome misfortune, or cope with adversity, by giving them a medium through which to release their pain. She mentioned an occasion when they helped a woman build a home in Spaldings, Clarendon, after she lost her land following her son's conviction for murder.

The show, Simes said, also inspires people to go to look for work or go back to school, or just make their lives better. But it is the giving-stuff-away that has become most popular. "That is what people love most about the show," she said.

Giving things away was something Chambers was against at the outset, but when they first had a 'giveaway' show the response was so great she formed the Susan Simes Foundation.

Through the foundation they have provided scholarships to needy kids. There are some special ones that she looks out for, including a straight-A student of a Kingston high school for girls and another promising student who is on her way to high school. There are also some promising male students who are funded entirely by the foundation.

requests flood in

These days, each day Simes gets about 25 requests by phone. Other requests come in by email and letters are dropped off at the television station. The foundation raises money through donations from the show's sponsors and by staging events. There is also another source of revenue; the members of her staff she revealed, laughing as she points to a piggy bank on her desk.

"It can get overwhelming, especially after a giveaway show (aired mainly during 'back-to-school' periods)," she said.

Simes plans to take the show even further in the near future, helping more with the initial focus being on young girls. "We're coming up with an important programme for schools next year with doing good in your neighborhood in the schools and we're gonna start with girls first. We are going to choose 10 schools across the island and from those 10 schools I am going to be meeting with 30 girls and those girls are going to be given a mandate to help 30 other girls to get their grades up," she reveals. "And when they get their grades up we are going to find the funding to give them scholarships, both the girl who helped and the girl who got her grades up."

As Susan becomes more popular, Simes finds she has little privacy while out each day. People, she said, often come up to her wanting to hug her, kiss her, tell her how much the show means to them. She only manages to find privacy when she gets home each day, where she relaxes by watching anything and everything on television.

She embraces the fame because she believes it is a consequence of the role she plays in Jamaica today as people are in search of the hope of a better tomorrow. "It's not a burden for me. It's a great responsibility," she says. "My role in society is to be a good neighbour. People are always coming up to me saying 'you are the Jamaican Oprah. You are our Susan'. So I just give in - very graciously."

given a mandate to help 30 other girls to get their grades up," she reveals. "And when they get their grades up we are going to find the funding to give them scholarships, both the girl who helped and the girl who got her grades up."

As Susan becomes more popular, Simes finds she has little privacy while out each day. People, she said, often come up to her wanting to hug her, kiss her, tell her how much the show means to them. She only manages to find privacy when she gets home each day, where she relaxes by watching anything and everything on television.

She embraces the fame because she believes it is a consequence of the role she plays in Jamaica today as people are in search of the hope of a better tomorrow. "It's not a burden for me. It's a great responsibility," she says. "My role in society is to be a good neighbour. People are always coming up to me saying 'you are the Jamaican Oprah. You are our Susan'. So I just give in - very graciously."