Miss World contestant in love with farming

For Toni-Ann Lalor, mediocrity was never an option. For as long as she can remember she has been dedicated to achieving her dream of becoming a movie star.

Unbeknownst to her though, her path to Hollywood glamour would be paved by farming. Lalor is a 27-year-old farmer, teacher, actor, model and philanthropist. She is also among 15 young ladies who will compete for the Miss Jamaica World crown at the grand coronation show on September 26.

Born in Kingston and raised in Portmore, St Catherine, Lalor said she knew from a young age that she needed a way to escape the financially grim reality of her life.

"My mother is a higgler and I've never wanted to be a higgler. My mother doing that kind of job I'm like Lord, I need to hurry up and go to college, get my degree, be an actress, be a movie star so I can do better for myself and do better for her as well because this is definitely not what I want her to be doing," she said.

Social mobility

Lalor said even after moving to Manchester she had no idea that farming would have been her vehicle to social mobility.

"I had a year off from school when I just got there with my younger siblings," Lalor told THE WEEKEND STAR. Lalor recalled that every morning they would see farmers in their fields, and being personable, would stop and question them about their crops.

"It was just older men and they'd take it as joke when I'd say I want to be a farmer. (I would say) 'Help me nuh! I want plant that too', and they'd be like 'Bwoy baby, yuh think a easy work! You too pretty fi this'."

But Lalor was determined to learn. After weeks of befriending the farmers and helping them out, they finally began to teach her the business. Lalor says she attempted to grow cucumbers on two acres that she leased near her house. But results were poor. She explained to the farmers that she wanted a tertiary level education and needed a way to pay for it.

"And it was at that time when they start to kinda give me some real guidance and attention. And I started and bwoy it just going uphill," she said.

Soon Lalor was planting crops such as carrots, Irish potatoes and yellow yams. She also raised both layer and broiler chickens. But Lalor still had the strenuous task of getting an education while farming.

"I had good help. The same older men would tend to the crops for me during the week. So I'd go to school Mondays through Fridays. On Saturdays, it was my day to give back with my mentorship programme. And then on Sundays it's just work work work," she said. "Sunday morning as early as cock put on him draws, I'd go to the bush."

Lalor said that by the time she finished on Sundays, she could only spend a few hours with her family before she had to pack her produce for market the next day. She used to take the market truck to Kingston, getting in as early as 1 a.m.

Pack out and try selling

"I would go in the market and pack out and try selling as early as Monday morning and try see how best I can finish selling my goods. And when I finish selling Monday morning, I go into the bathroom, take off my bib, brush up my hair look like somebody pikney and then head to school and go straight into class," she said. Sometimes she was late for class, which drew the rebuke of teachers.

"I really don't want to explain what it was cause I don't search for pity so I don't tell you where I come from, I just thoroughly apologise. They'd say 'Get it together, get it together. Hollywood doesn't wait on anybody' cause everybody at Edna Manley College (for the Visual and Performing Arts) knows that I'm going to Hollywood so they'd use it against me" she said. "I knew that the end product would have been great, so that was just the encouragement right through. Being a farmer keeps me grounded to all the greater things but then the modelling it makes me feel like I can achieve anything. These are the two pillars in my life that hold me together."

Lalor says the love and support from her mother, mentors, family and friends have been the greatest blessing in her life. She marvels that she has moved from "not having a red cent" to having a bachelor's degree.

"(I'm the girl) who has worked and lived abroad, who has a piece of land, a girl who has a truck, a girl who no longer sells in the market but sells to the higglers who sell at the market and a young lady who now supplies local supermarket. So, I'm just staying grounded and being thankful," she said.

Now Lalor is working on her dream of being a Hollywood actress while still running her farm alongside her mentorship programme where she teaches children how to dance and do farming.