Pride & Industry: Ishara Interviews Barbados' Ambassador to the U.S.

In this unforgettable episode of Ishara's Reading Podcast, Ishara sits down with His Excellency Victor Fernandes, Ambassador of Barbados to the United States, for a heartfelt conversation about family, hard work, service, and the power of believing in yourself.

As a fellow Barbadian by heritage, Ishara felt an immediate connection to the country and its people. Together, she and Ambassador Fernandes discuss his remarkable journey, from discovering broadcasting at a young age to representing Barbados on the world stage as a diplomat.

Along the way, they explore what it means to pursue your dreams with determination, why curiosity and creativity matter, and how every child can build a future through hard work, integrity, and a willingness to keep learning.

Their conversation also takes a delightful turn into literature, Shakespeare, and what life was like before television, when families and communities gathered to tell stories, perform plays, and entertain one another through imagination.

This episode is a celebration of heritage, identity, and the values that unite us across generations. It reminds us that we can honor where our families came from while embracing the opportunities of the country we call home.

As someone proud of her Barbadian heritage, Ishara is honored to dedicate this episode to the people of Barbados and to the memory of National Hero Sir Garfield Sobers. His life reminds us what can be achieved through talent, character, and a deep love for one's country. The values found on Barbados' Coat of Arms, Pride and Industry are reflected throughout this conversation. They remind us that where we come from can inspire where we're going.

Whether you're interested in leadership, history, journalism, or simply hearing a thoughtful conversation across generations, we hope you'll enjoy watching this special episode. And be sure to listen/download this episode from any of your favorite streaming platforms.

Learn More About Barbados

🇧🇧 Barbados Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade
🌎 H.E. Victor Fernandes – Ambassador of Barbados to the United States
🤝 Permanent Mission of Barbados to the Organization of American States (OAS) 

#IsharasReadingPodcast #Barbados #VictorFernandes #BarbadianPride #YouthLeadership #FutureLeaders #DreamBig #HardWork #Heritage #Diplomacy #KidsCanLead #LibraryOfCongress #Family #Education

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:05

Hi, welcome to the Shara's Reading Podcast. And I'm Ishara. Right now I'm with Ambassador Victor Fernandez. We are inside his office. He's to be Ambassador of Barbados to the United States. Welcome, Ambassador Fernandes.

SPEAKER_00 0:20

Thank you very much. Pleasure to be here with you and to be interviewed by a young interviewer.

SPEAKER_01 0:26

Tell me. And also thank you. What is it like being an ambassador? Because you're inside an embassy on about the country you're representing and you can have heritage from it. It's like, what's it like having that kind of honor on representing your country?

SPEAKER_00 0:46

Well, if you'd asked me that question a couple of years ago, I wouldn't be able to answer it because I wouldn't have had the experience before. Um, because you know I spent all of my life in radio and television. But um being an ambassador, I was asked to take on the role and uh by Prime Minister Motley and then uh senior minister. Um uh and therefore I felt obligated, uh, once asked, to uh do exactly what I was asked to do. What is it like being an ambassador? Well, you are the voice, the face of your country um in the country that you are stationed in. So you you have to be that representative. You have to be, you have to be that connection between your country and the host country. And in my case, I am ambassador. Uh, the title is extraordinaire and plenipotentiary. So I'm ambassador both bilateral and multilateral, which means that I am ambassador to the United States of America, but I'm also the ambassador to the Organization of American States, which is like, in a way, the UN of the Latin America and the Caribbean. That's the best way to put it, because there are 33 countries in the Organization of American States, which is headquartered here. And it's a very, very busy organization that probably keeps me, it's probably the busiest part of my work is uh all of the meetings and so on that I have to attend and all of the documents that I have to read on a daily basis from the Organization of American States. We provide services, consular services, uh, as needed to our people in the diaspora. And diaspora definition, people say, what do you mean by diaspora? Well, it simply means the Barbadians who are living in the United States, whether they are Barbadian-born, Barbadian first generation, second generation, people who have a connectivity, who are Barbadians by citizenship, by birth, by descent, or whatever. So if people need passports and that sort of stuff, most of that is handled in New York and in uh Miami, where we have um uh consul, we have a consulate, so you have a consul general there. But the ambassador sits on top of all of that and it really is the person dealing government to government. The consulates don't deal with the governments per se, they deal only with, you know, consular issues and so on. So it's a great opportunity. You represent your country, you you you ensure that your country's position is is is always known. You you write papers and advise uh head office on developments that are taking place that may be impactful uh to your country and important of importance. Uh you ensure that your position is is communicated to the host government or to any other government uh that happens that you happen to come into contact with. So we're also building relationships, trying to look for opportunities for our people, educational opportunities, you know, scholarships, that sort of stuff, and so on, business relationships, building commercial relationships, people looking to invest into Barbados, telling them what Barbados has to offer, showing them what are the opportunities to come, invest, and be a part of this magnificent little country that we have called Barbados. Here that's a mouthful, by the way.

SPEAKER_01 4:05

It's okay. It's completely fine if you say a mouthful because it's just what it's actually like being an ambassador. Right now, in your office, you have a picture of the Barbados coat of arms, I'm guessing. Tell me. Why is it called tied in industry? And each country, like several countries, have different coats of arms. What's it like having the Barbados one right above your chair, right there? With a pelican and a fish. Fish are very tasty, my way. I am sorry.

SPEAKER_00 4:39

I noticed you didn't say anything about pelicans to me and tasty. Not that we would eat pelicans.

SPEAKER_01 4:44

In a pelican, the fish is tasty. To me, the fish is tasty. And several people, the fish is tasty, so the fish must be tasty.

SPEAKER_00 4:53

Yeah, well, you know, I'm I'm I'm always aware that uh, you know, pride and industry, well, pride in the sense that we we are a proud nation. Yeah, we we are proud of what we have become. Um Kofi Annan, the former Secretary General of the United Nations, once said of Barbados after visiting Barbados, that Barbados was a country punching above its weight. Um and in boxing terms, anybody who understands boxing, you understand immediately what that means. Um and that was a that was a tremendous compliment. But essentially what he was saying is that this country is extraordinary. Um and for a country its size, we believe that we are. So pride, we're proud of who we are. We are proud, not always, of everything in our past, but we are proud of what we have built. People vast, the overwhelming majority of Barbadians are of African descent, people who were plucked by the slave trade out of their homes in Africa, and who travel that tortuous journey across the Atlantic, many sacrificing their lives and losing their lives along the way, being enslaved for centuries, and that slavery built the empires of the colonial masters. And so uh we are very proud that coming out of that very difficult, harsh, um, cruel, inhumane um uh period in history, that we have been able to build a democracy and to build a civilization that we are proud of, so pride. Industry, because we have been industrious. We have used our skills, we have used our education to become industrious, to build industries, to be leaders in in in many respects, in some aspects of of sports, and entertainment, in in several of the cultural industries. Um, in tourism, we are we have a world-class product. So we are industrious in the things that we have built and the products that we have created. So pride and industry.

SPEAKER_01 7:04

You were a radio show host, at least that's what it's right.

SPEAKER_00 7:07

Radio and television, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:09

Tell me, me as a podcaster, it's fascinating doing it. What was your experience when you just first started it thinking, I'm just gonna do this, and I'm what if you thought the way I did, I'm just gonna do this for fun. That was my first thought. What was the first thought that popped into your head?

SPEAKER_00 7:26

Okay, so it's um it's the story might be a little longer than you intended it to be, but it's fine. But I was how old are you now, if you don't mind me asking?

SPEAKER_01 7:34

I am ten.

SPEAKER_00 7:36

Ten years old. Yeah. Okay, so at exactly your age, 10 years old, I had an awakening. I want to be a broadcaster. Um, we didn't have television in Barbados yet. Um, so I knew I wanted to be on the radio. I knew, I knew, and every day on the school bus, you know, I would I would mimic um a particular local sportscaster who was he was very um his delivery was very earthy, so he was unique and different. And um, and so I would regale the team um on the bus, you know, with my recitation of the of his commentary on either a boxing match or some event that took place and so on. And um, and and so this this I I knew then, I sensed then. And then at school, um, you know, I I got involved in in drama and and uh and my mom would make me when we had friends come over. Remember, we didn't have there was no television uh yet in Barbados. Um there was television all over the world, but it wasn't yet in, it was only now developing in Trinidad and other parts of the Caribbean. We didn't have television yet in Barbados. And um, so when friends would come over, you entertain friends, you you you know, you have conversations, you played music, you chatted, and so on. But my mom would always insist that I would come and recite um passages of Shakespeare for her for her friends.

SPEAKER_01 9:11

You know Shakespeare? Do you know the like Thou dost Out of My Sight, it infects my eyes, or something like that.

SPEAKER_00 9:18

Which, which, which, which one was Shakespeare? I have the whole collection of his uh his works, but um my favorite was Julius Caesar, and one of my favorite passages was um um, you know, Caesar saying, you know, friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears. I come, well it wasn't it wasn't it was after he had been murdered. So this is Mark Anthony, I believe. Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears. I come to bury Caesar not to praise him. The evil that men do lives after them, the good is often turred with their bones, so let it be with Caesar. So I would come in and I would have to do this, traumatize this thing, and then I'd get lots of applause and so on. I started saying, you know what, I kind of like this stuff, you know. And um the the the the obvious uh outlet for me was that I wanted to be a broadcaster. So um immediately after school, and my my my professional uh educational uh education came subsequently. I I had to work and study, work and study. Because fast forward, I I I left secondary school and I applied uh and I got uh an audition. Um and there was a British company managing the the national radio station. And um I did the audition and the guy came around afterwards, and the the the manager, and he said to me, He said, Have you done this stuff before? And I said, No, sir. And he just looked at me and I was like, Well, what's the score, you know? And he said, Look, he said, You're 17 years old, I've never heard an audition like this anywhere in the Caribbean, and it's one of the best that I've heard in my long career in the UK. I'm going to find a job for you. And so I got hired, and uh that was the beginning of my my career. Now, how was it? What was it like? I was as nervous as an expectant father. Um that's how nervous in the delivery room. That's how nervous I was.

SPEAKER_01 11:24

I don't know that feeling and think I know someone who does, and that's my dad, because I came like a tiny bit early. Okay, so your dad think maybe to my dad.

SPEAKER_00 11:36

He can he can uh I saw him nodding, so he can he can relate to what I what I'm saying, you know. And even now, if if I go to read a newscast or I'm delivering a speech or something, I'm still just before I start, I still feel butterflies. And I hope that I never stop feeling those because that is uh for me the essence of caring.

SPEAKER_01 11:58

It's it's I know you've talked about Shakespeare being one of your like favorite things you read as a kid. Tell me what's your favorite book up or the Shakespeare, if you have but I want you to know Shakespeare counts if you it's so bad because anything left writing, a lever band, a paper, scroll, it counts as a book, depending on.

SPEAKER_00 12:18

I don't I don't have a favorite book. Um I like to read, I like to read about people's lives, and uh I I take inspiration from from people who've had a journey. Um so I I write I like to read a lot of autobiographies where you know I I find out more about a person and and and their journey. Very often in life, people see where you have arrived, but they don't understand your journey. And sometimes it's a journey from very humble beginnings um to reach into stardom and uh or or fame, or sometimes, if you're lucky, fortune. Um, so for me, uh I th those are my my types of readings, but then I for for complete relaxation, I do a lot of media reading. I I read, I'm always I'm a I'm a news junkie, so I'm I'm forever following because of my job. I've just it's just in me. I have to wake up every morning. What is happening in the world? And you know, and I want to go a little bit deeper behind some of the stories and so on. So I I I I tend to track a lot of of reading in that regard. So industry reading.

SPEAKER_01 13:32

Well, I just became the first man president of a subdivision of one like place. It's an organization called Pennies in Action, and one of the divisions for the kids for is called Kids in Action. I just became first Madame President. What kind of advice would you give me, please?

SPEAKER_00 13:53

Well, I think I think that you are already a I would say you are a born leader. Um, but what I would say to you as you grow, um, and you are you are well ahead of the curve in terms of your confidence, um, your articulation, your knowledge, um, remain humble. For me, humility has always been uh my secret weapon in a sense. Um remain grounded, never let uh the fame or the adoration and the love and the affection that people give you, because people are very fickle and and uh audiences are too as well. And and so today, your flavor of the week, flavor of the month, um somebody else comes along, never feel jealous, be be glad for them, celebrate. Let us celebrate the success of every one of us, because when we when we celebrate the success of others, we lift everybody up. So if you're going to be a leader, set an example, your integrity, your word, when you give your word on something, you have it has to mean something. When I do this and I shake somebody's hand, uh my wife would tell you, or any of my children would tell you, my my father gives his word. That is that is his bond. It is unbreakable, unshakable. Um, you the respect that people have for you will not be about who you are and what you're doing. It is about the type of person that you are. What are your values in life? What do you stand for? Never be afraid. My mother always said to me, respect everyone. So whether you are the gardener or whether you're the CEO, I treat you with the same respect. Um because we are all people, we are all God's children. And so I believe in giving respect to everyone, but never let anyone disrespect you. So I would stand up, I will be respectful, but I would stand up and I would speak out, and you will know where I stand. So your integrity, the values that you have, your bond, those are the unshakable things. Your character, in essence, is to me the most important thing. Not the jobs we do, we we all have to work, we all have to have a career, uh, because we all have to live, we all have to provide for our families, we have to, or for ourselves, and so on. We have to have shelter, we have to have food, we have all of these things that, yes, that's what we do. But who are you? Who are you? And I don't want anybody. My mom used to introduce me to her friends as this is my son, the broadcaster, because she was so proud of me. And and if she were if she was with us now, I know she would have been all of my siblings a day that they the news broke that I was going to be the ambassador to to Washington and so on. They all, in a word, said, you know, oh my gosh, I wish mom was here now to witness this. And I said, but she is, she is witnessing it. She is very much here, she's very much present. And um that's what is important. Not not the job that you will do, not the fame that you will acquire, but who are you deep down inside? What what moves you? What what is your humanity? And when those values you maintain true to those, you will always shine, as I'm sure you are going to.

unknown 17:22

Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 17:22

Does that make any sense?

SPEAKER_01 17:24

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 17:24

And congratulations on being such a young leader.

SPEAKER_01 17:29

Thank you, Ambassador Fernandes, for talking with me.

SPEAKER_00 17:33

You are most welcome. And I I hope one day that I will be listening to you, because I I think you have the makings of an excellent young broadcaster, and I look forward to um being on the other side of the radio or being on the other side of the TV screen and seeing you deliver with the same confidence that you're able to do at the age of 10. And I thank you for choosing me uh to be your subject here this morning and giving me an opportunity to chat with you.

unknown 18:04

Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 18:05

Thank you for listening to this episode of the Shars Ringing Podcast. Don't forget to like, review, and smash that subscribe button. Bye.