Ships are often seen as something masculine, but 37-year-old Joyce Rozenhout doesn't care about that. Since 2008, she has been a director at NV Scheepvaart Maatschappij Suriname. A special job and Joyce has something else special; she has never relaxed her hair.
Ships are often seen as something masculine, but 37-year-old Joyce Rozenhout doesn't care about that. Since 2008, she has been a director at NV Scheepvaart Maatschappij Suriname. A special job and Joyce has something else special; she has never relaxed her hair.
The reason she has never relaxed her hair is simple. "I have always liked my frizzy hair and I don't like fake hair. I wouldn't know how to deal with relaxed hair either," says the woman from Suriname. The fact that she has always been proud of her frizzy hair is also due to the positive reactions she has always received. "I have received and still receive many compliments about my hair and hairstyle." Joyce would like to address the women who are still insecure about their frizzy hair: "Hey, cheer up girl. Your hair is beautiful, you are beautiful, you are unique, you are who you are. God created you this way and don't let anyone tell you otherwise."
She will also pass this message on to her daughter if she ever wants to relax her frizzy hair. "My girl is now six and says she wants long hair, so we have discussions about that every now and then. If she wants to relax her frizzy hair, I will do everything I can to convince her that her hair is unique and beautiful. You just have to be yourself and wear your frizzy hair beautifully, so I make sure she gets beautiful hairstyles just like when I was young, so she can be proud of her hair."
Joyce often wears her own curly hair in a bun. "As a young girl I usually had Curaçao curls, but now I wear it in a bun for convenience." Joyce also likes to wear her hair in a bun when she goes to a fancy party, such as the Shipping Company. "I go with my everyday bun or sometimes I make Curaçao curls first and then put it up. I like high buns and I think it suits me."
Joyce Rozenhout has always been tough. "As a little girl I wanted to be a police officer." As she grew older, that dream changed. After VWO Joyce studied Agogic Sciences and Educational Sciences at university. "So I am an Agoog, that is a change expert," says Joyce. After her studies she did Social Work in a children's home for three years and worked for eight years at the SUCET foundation as a project leader, staff member and trainer of teachers at primary schools. About four years ago a great opportunity came her way and she became director of NV Scheepvaart Maatschappij Suriname. "Shortly before I became director I served for a year and a half as Chief Civil Servant at the Ministry of Transport, Communication and Tourism (TCT), in the position of Head of Human Resources. After a conversation with the then Minister of TCT I decided to apply for a job at the NV and four years ago I became a director. In principle I don't have much to do with shipping, but now I have learned a lot.''
It was not easy for Joyce to be taken seriously as a director of the shipping company. "There were sometimes nasty remarks, such as that I, as a woman, would not be able to manage the company. But I could laugh at some remarks. For example, they joked that I would only bring canoes into the company." Canoes are primitive boats, such as hewn tree trunks.
Her work as a director takes up a lot of time, but in her busy schedule she always finds time for her hobbies. "I love shopping, swimming and fishing. Laughing and having a nice chat are also hobbies of mine." If you want to get Joyce out of bed at night, you have to make sure she has a nice portion of bami with chicken sauce, podosiri with kwak or cassava bread. "Those dishes can really steal my sleep." The director prefers to go on holiday to the state of Florida in the United States, but if you ask her what the most beautiful place in the world is, Joyce answers: "Suriname of course!"