Dr. Joan Marques' personal web page

Dr. Joan Marques'

Personal webpage

"It is better to live in serene poverty than in hectic affluence. Everything has a price. The price for nurturing your soul is turning away from excessive stress, destruction of self-respect, and the constant strive in lifestyle with the Joneses. But it's worth it."
(Joan Marques, 2003)

I was born in Paramaribo, Suriname in the year of the rat
Sunny Suriname is a republic,
located on the northeast coast of South America.

My native language is Dutch,
but we speak our own language (lingua franca) as well: Sranang Tongo.

The Dutch prefer to call it: "taki-taki", probably because it sounds like that J

In the seventies I attended the
Mr. Dr. J.C. de Miranda Lyceum
and in the eighties I studied Business Economics (HEAO).

Communication has always been my first love.
From my early days on, my path always crossed those of media people,
and while doing research for one of my term papers in highschool,
I was requested to take a voice-test at the SRS
(Stichting Radio Omroep Suriname/ Foundation Radio Announcement Suriname)
That's where my career started.

From 1977 on I was successively:
radio-announcer, advertising agency employee and radio- and tv show-host.
In 1979 I started my own advertising agency,
while continuing producing and hosting my own shows on radio and tv.

In the nineties I started producing documentaries about my country
in an effort to increase self-esteem among my fellow countrymen.
In 1996 I founded "de Stichting Vrouwen voor Vrouwen"
(the Foundation Women for Women) , producing and presenting programs
about Surinamese women, their struggles, achievements and possibilities.

I am the mother of three wonderful youngsters:
Coert (30), Evita (27) and Mercedes (25)
and the grandmother of Jo-Anne, Coert III, and Ashique.

In 1998 I moved to Burbank, California, where I resumed studying.
In December 1999 I earned my MBA at Woodbury University,
where I am currently an instructor in Business and Management.
In February 2004 I earned my doctorate(Ed.D)
in Organizational Leadership at Pepperdine University
Click here for my resume.