Up Close … with former Miss Seychelles Marquise David-‘When I was abroad my dream was to come back home’ |31 May 2011
Myrna Hoareau, Marquise David and Christina Pillay were among those who had what it takes to win the pageant. More than a decade has passed and we have not heard much about these young women.
Seeing Marquise at the National Information Services Agency’s sales office recently I on the spot decided to find out what she has been up to during all these years. By the time I ran downstairs to get her contacts she was gone, but I managed to get hold of her and we met at her grandma’s pizzeria, Baobab, at Beau Vallon.
Now a mother of three -- one nine-year-old boy, and a five and two-year old girls – Marquise is a consultant and also owner of Clef des îles guest house which is right next to the pizzeria.
At 39 years old, Marquise has just quit her job as a technical adviser at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to become a private consultant.
“Being a mother of three is a fulltime job, it is not easy to handle work and family life at the same time, I am sure this is the story of many Seychellois women.”
”So I chose to work from home and gets the chance to be a mum,” she said, pointing towards the Beau Vallon beach to show me her two-year-old daughter who was curiously looking at some fishermen pulling a net full of sardines to shore.
Her consultancy work keeps her very much affiliated with the ministry and other government departments. Her latest was to help out with a report on the human rights universal periodic review.
“Whenever I am approached for a work and I feel that I have the expertise I go for it,” she said.
It is her love for her country that has made her write such a book and though she was born here, Marquise grew up in Reunion and then France.
Her mother, Monica Michel, is Seychellois and dad Marcel David was French.
“Ironically when my parents divorced during my early childhood my mum chose to settle in France and my dad remained here,” she said.
It was then that she had to follow her mother. But she remembered going to International School in a pinkish uniform and spend sometime in the Glacis school during the long summer holidays.
Another interesting story was how she got her first name – Marquise -- from her dad.
“My dad dreamed of visiting the Marquesas Islands (Les Marquises in French). So he travelled all the way to the coast of East Africa to catch the first vessel going there, this was in the late 1960s. But when he got to the port there was only one boat - and it was coming to Seychelles and he hopped on thinking he will do the Marquesas trip another time.”
But when Mr David got here, he was amazed and fell in love with Marquise’s mum and that’s how he gave her that name.
She had other funny stories but unfortunately space is limited. But her return to Seychelles just after her Master in Monetary and Financial Economics was a dream come true for this Creole girl.
“The beauty pageant was on and I thought this was an opportunity to mark this special return to my homeland.”
But she had more in mind, she wanted to work for her country and she made her start at the Ministry of Industry.
“I did not remain there for long as I needed more qualifications. Though my background in economics was good I wanted to do development economics as Seychelles is a developing country and this was vital,” she said.
She went for a pre-doctorate in development economics and did an internship in Geneva with the United Nations.
“I worked for nine years with the United Nations in the Research Unit where we had to produce an annual report on the least developed countries.”
An economic analysis on the economic performance of the poorest economies of the world and those that were carrying out the International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme.
It was fascinating for her to be in Seychelles to witness the IMF policies being implemented.
She is happy to have chosen to return to Seychelles, though her mum is overseas and her dad has passed away.
“My mum is very successful -- commercial director of the Port of Marseilles -- and I think you should try to write something about Seychellois who are doing well career-wise abroad too.” That was the advice she gave before I left.
By Jean Ladouceur