With work hard to find and financial constraints mounting during the coronavirus pandemic, one Jamaican woman discovered a hidden talent that opened an unexpected livelihood for her in a labour-intensive trade not often pursued by local females – carpentry.

Twenty-nine-year-old Sydonie Miller had been finding it difficult to secure a job in 2020, during the heights of COVID-19, despite having a bachelor’s degree in business management and secretarial skills.

Miller, who was a new mother at the time, said her husband, a taxi operator, was the only one working and she was determined to find a way to contribute to her family.