Lisa Hanna

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Lisa Hanna bigraphy, stories - Miss World Jamaica 1993, Miss World 1993

Lisa Hanna : biography

August 20, 1975 –

Lisa Rene Hanna, MP is a Jamaican politician and former beauty pageant titleholder who was crowned Miss World 1993, becoming the third Jamaican to win the title. A member of the governing People’s National Party, Hanna currently serves as Member of Parliament for Saint Ann South East and as Jamaica’s Minister of Youth and Culture.

Life after Miss World

Career in entertainment

In 1998, Hanna acted in How Stella Got Her Groove Back. In 2003, Hanna tried her hand in broadcasting, hosting a Jamaican talk show Our Voices and was a guest presenter on Xtra in the United States. She returned to her country a year later and was a communications consultant for the Hilton Hotel in New Kingston.

Education

Lisa went on to achieve her Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts degrees in communications from the University of the West Indies in 1998 and 2000 respectively. As an undergraduate student she was voted by the student body as the University’s External Affairs Chairperson for the Guild of Students. She served with good friends Basil Waite and Senator Floyd Morris. During her tenure, she raised the funds and built the Computer Facility for the Faculty of Arts and the Humanities, accessed several thousands of dollars in scholarships and grants for UWI students, trained over 2000 Jamaican children in character development through the Lisa Hanna Workshop and taught women in the skills training programmes in Jones Town Kingston.

Through her studies she was able to do a technical transfer to the Technology University Malaysia and the University of Singapore to study the impact of Information Technology on developing economies. More recently, Lisa has worked extensively in project management, media, marketing and public relations both locally and internationally. In conjunction with her corporate responsibilities, she continues to focus heavily on community service and quietly works in various Jamaican inner city communities.

Jamaican Parliament

In the 2007 general election, as a member of the People’s National Party, Hanna contested and won the seat for St. Ann South East. Hence, positioning her as a Member of Parliament for that Constituency. She is one of the youngest women to be elected to the Jamaican Parliament. In addition to her duties as constituency representative she served as opposition spokesperson on Information, Youth and Culture up to December 2011. In the December 29, 2011 polls her party was elected into power. She was subsequently appointed as Minster of Youth and Culture.

Early life

Lisa Hanna was born on August 27, 1975 to parents Rene and Dorothy Hanna and grew up in Retreat, St Mary, Jamaica. Her father was a farmer and her mother was a hairdresser.

As a young girl she worked as a volunteer with the World Hunger Project and the JAMAL programme in Jamaica alerting people to the global status of hunger, starvation and the local plight of adult illiteracy. She also worked in conjunction with UNICEF to spearhead the Jamaican candlelight vigils to launch the International Convention on the Rights of the Child. She continued her community service throughout her young life and blazed a trail as Head Girl at The Queen’s School, Television co-host for one of Jamaica’s most popular television programmes, Rappin, and became one of the youngest United Nations Goodwill Ambassadors ever to be appointed by the United Nations Development Programme in Jamaica. Miss Hanna was also an active member of the Jamaica Labour Party youth arm (G2K).